In praise of cold weather

Except for needing to wear more clothes, winter walking has a lot of advantages over the other seasons:

1. The absence of bugs, not just fleas and ticks, but also the spiders that build webs across the trails that end up in your face, and the unidentified insects that buzz around your head. Virginia is a buggy place in the summer, much less so in the winter.

2. Frozen ground is better for walking than muddy trails. There are portions of the trail system that I avoid in the summer if it has rained recently.

3. Speaking of moisture, summer around here is almost always stagnant, humid air that you could cut with a knife. Your skin tries to cool itself by sweating, but the humidity is such that the sweat doesn't evaporate to produce any cooling.

4. There are fewer people sharing our trails, and fewer off-leash dogs. The sportsing fields aren't packed with kids playing baseball or soccer, there are no weddings, track meets, or 5k runs. I like the fact that Pleasant Grove supports a lot of different activities and gets a lot of use, but I really enjoy the more peaceful experience of hiking without seeing a lot of other people.

I'm not a fan of the really bitter cold that we had, with temps in the single digits, but the last couple days have made it above freezing and the sky has been blue and not windy, that's good hiking weather. Sunday I did over five miles with Maya and TJ. On Monday I did four miles with Maya, TJ, and Trooper, and then later in the day did another four miles with Maya and Theo.

I'm tired tonight and will be heading to bed as soon as this blog is posted. I think the dogs are already there.

This bridge was new, part of the disc golf
course that is being developed at Pleasant
Grove. I haven't found or followed the entire
route yet, and it's not yet fully installed.

TJ standing ankle deep in icy water. This is
probably a pleasure for a husky who has to
suffer through Virginia summers.

Maya testing the thin ice on the stream.

TJ after Sunday's hike. A tired husky is a good husky.

TJ, Maya, and Trooper on Monday's first 4 miler.

Maya after spotting some deer. TJ is much less interested.

Maya on full deer alert. She even
is raising her paw like a pointer.

Four miles was enough for both TJ and Trooper.
Maya might have been satisfied too, but she
was more than willing to go along on the next hike.

Trooper and TJ both got a good brushing
after today's hike too. 

I hadn't taken Theo hiking for quite a while and he was ready.

The new stage at Pleasant Grove made
a good posing platform.

This is Maya and Theo both alerting on something, but I
think this was people and another dog, not deer.

Theo testing, and breaking, the ice. He decided
we didn't really need to cross this stream.

I see him everyday, but I'm still struck by
what a handsome dog Theo is.

He has a very fine shepherd head.