I don’t usually do series-type blahg entries but you never know what I will do next (and neither do I). I left off yesterday with a quick drive-by at the moomincabin after which we headed south to the Brevort Lake area for a group hike with our fave Hiawatha Shore-to-Shore North Country Trail chapter. The GG “led” this hike. I’m still not totally sure what that means although he did do a safety talk and made sure to keep an eye on who was the farthest out. In this case, it was pretty hard to get lost, since you could just follow the snowshoe tracks back to where you came from. But still. Anything can happen…

This was a snowshoe hike for sure. When we started out, the sky was cloudy and the snow was cold enough that the snowshoeing was pretty much okay for me with my old-fashioned snowshoes.

We snowshoed around 5.5 miles that day. It was an in-and-out hike and when the GG and Dan and I got to the point where we figured we needed to turn around, THE SUN CAME OUT!!!! Sorry for the caps but… The GG and Dan went on just wee bit further but I just stood there and watched (and tried [unsuccessfully] to video) the snow falling from the trees. Gorgeous!

I was terrified of this bridge on the way out but I somehow managed to traverse it by hanging on for dear life. I managed on the way back too. It was a bit easier on the return trip but I was still freaked out. This couple did it with aplomb.

And finally, a mini-snowman.

By the time I met the snowman, things were pretty slippery for my old-fashioned wood and sinew(?) snowshoes and I struggled with the hills. When I encountered those, I would head off to the side into the deep snow and things got a little dicey sometimes. So glad I took ski poles with me… And that the GG thought to pack some in the Frog Hopper… When I finally got back to the bonfaaarrr, my boots and feet were absolutely soaked through but I felt fantastic. Like I had [again] used some muscles that needed to be used. We ate dinner with the group in St. Ignace, then headed down to the UU’s house in Gaylord…

Alas, I left my soaking wet boots in the Frog Hopper in the UU’s garage OVERNIGHT!!! Guess what? The next morning, when I was mobilizing to take my walk, I opened up the Frog Hopper to get my boots and the STENCH of my still-damp boots slammed me in the face. Yuck. I wore them anyway. With YakTrax on the outside and Smartwool socks on the inside, I felt safe on ice and warm at 20 degrees, even with wet stinky boots.

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