Walking in Winter Woods

We only had about 3 inches of snow and that was plenty as far as I'm concerned. It was enough to be pretty without being too much of a hassle. I had to work in town Wednesday afternoon so I took Bailey and Elvis out for a walk early Wednesday morning. It was 18 degrees when I started out, and that was cold, but I dressed appropriately for it, and the cold made for a better walk than we would have had at 30 degrees. On a warmer day our hike would have been on the roadway that runs through the park because the trails would have been too muddy. But today those muddy trails were firm and solid so we ventured into the woods.

We started at the trailhead behind the library. 

This is one of my favorite sections of the trail system and we were the first ones on it since the snow, as evidenced by the undisturbed virgin snow on the small foot bridge just ahead of the dogs.

Being the first human/canine combo on new snow is always fun. The only tracks are wildlife, which adds to the wilderness experience. The snow has a bluish tint to it in the shade.

Sparky's watering hole was covered with a thin layer of ice.

Squirrels were spotted.

Bailey hopped up and gave me a nice pose on this boulder. She was looking for squirrels of course, or anything that moves for that matter.

Elvis is healing up nicely but I'm not ready to let him go hunting in the pasture just yet. He was happy to get out for the walk in spite of the cold, as was Bailey.