Browns Woods

I get out cross-country skiing maybe once or twice each winter. The rest of the year, it's the ski machine in the basement, which isn't quite the same experience. It was about -4F when I headed out this morning, and I wasn't sure I was dressed warm enough. Fortunately a little adjustment of my sophisticated equipment - my stocking hat - kept my face warm enough.



I had a better picture of my gear, but the, um, nasal discharge issues are less vivid in this reflected image.

I went to Browns Woods, which is my favorite place to ski around here. It's an old-growth forest full of big Walnut trees, like the lightning-scarred oldster.



I love getting out in the woods on the skis. I Love the quiet and the solitude. And the snow was perfect. These woods are old-growth, never farmed, and so some of these trees were here in pioneer days. The woods are on the south side of the Raccoon River; the last glaciers stopped at the river is, so the south side has had an extra 70,000 or so years to erode, making it a much more hilly and fun place to ski.

I like this hollow tree.



Now here is 16 seconds of solitude on the south side of the Raccoon River.