The Joy of First Tracks of the Season

Something happened this past week; winter happened! From 68 degrees to wind chills below zero, it must be December in Maine! The large storm on Wednesday has made winter sports a reality with very good snowshoe conditions, although skiing is less than ideal until more snow comes.

I spent the afternoon checking snowshoe trails and was very happy to see that 75% had already been 'broken' by other trail users! This is a sure sign of how popular Libby Hill is becoming for snowshoers. Three years ago the snowshoe trails were almost unknown and it required that I had to break all 2.5 miles (we now have 4 miles). Now maybe 2.5 miles doesn't seem far but if snow is more than 6 inches you get quite a workout if you are the first one out on the trails. Today though I only had to break about 1/2 mile of trail. We also met another couple out on the trails today. I was pleased to learn they are 'regulars' and already have made the Ghost and Lynx trails their favorites. They even took on breaking the winter trail that continues past the Ghost trail.

Not many birds in the woods today, only a small gang of titmice who came by to see what were up to. Even deer tracks were pretty sparse. After a couple of hours we returned to the parking lot. I did my weekly check of the donation post and found we had no donations this week. Either the Grinch or Scrooge must have been on the trails today! Regardless, take a couple of hours off from the busy holiday season and get some great physical and mental relief on the trails.