Saturday, February 25, 2012

Friday afternoon ski

Self portrait
We finally got another good snowstorm, five or six inches of wet snow.  I headed out Friday afternoon to Yankee Springs to check out the skiing.  I’m sure it won’t be great, as the temperature has risen above the freezing mark, but it’s still snowing lightly.  At the trailhead, I apply wax for the warmer conditions and head off.  Someone had been here before, including I a dog sled that has torn up part of the tracks.  I stop at Hall Lake, where the water is mostly open with only ice around the edges.  Normally, when I’m here in winter, they’d be a few fishermen sitting out, watching intently their lines dropped into a hole through the ice.  Taking off my skis, I explore around the edge of the lake and see ripples in the water, which looks like fish are active and feeding off the top only there are no insects.  Then I see it’s clumps of snow dropping from overhanging limbs.  I ski through an area where the pines are thick and the snow is light, most of it having been captured on the overhead limbs.  Thankfully there are few rocks as I often find myself occasionally bottoming out on the soft and still warm ground.   Leaving the lake, I begin to climb up Graves Hill.  The snow conditions changes and I begin to have problems with it sticking to the bottom of my skis.  Occasionally, the buildup is so bad that it feels as if I’m wearing platform skis.  Then, I have to pick up my skis as if I am walking.  At the top of the hill, I swing over to Devil’s Soup Bowl, a kettle bowl left behind when the last of the glaciers retreated northward.  There’s no hot soup on today, only cold soup ; fitting for Dante’s Lucifer who’s encased in ice at the bottom realm of hell.   I explore around the bowls (there are several in this area), before circling back around on a dirt road that runs through the forest.  It’s not a long ski, but it was nice to get out in the weather, sticky snow and all.
Looking into Devil Soup Bowl

Hall Lake with ice close to shore





13 comments:

  1. Wonderful photos - even the one of you! LOLOL (just kidding of course)

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  2. They have dog-sleds here with wheels that they send down forest tracks. They have a sort of pivot allowing them to do hairpins at full tilt.
    We don't have enough snow that we ever become au fait with the sh stuff. And certainly we're by now getting the vernal window from the NAD. That will change out the other side when the weather system are pushed up between the Faeroe's and Iceland and we get wind from Perm.

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  3. I enjoyed that vicarious ski trip. Don't see that kind of landscape here, of course. I might have a walk later. :)

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  4. Looks quite serene. That's why I love winter hiking so much: the solitude and ability to be alone with my own cogitations.

    Cheers.

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  5. Such a different winter than last year....but I'm glad to follow along on whatever snow walks you can muster up this time of year....ours are far and few between...of course I have to travel tomorrow for work and wouldn't you know they predict snow..of course.... Your photo of Hall Lake is exceptional...what beautiful country out there...and the names you mention all new to me...but they do give impressions of what it's like there....except for the Devil Soup Bowl not quite sure what that is! But I think one to be very careful around! Enjoy your winter days ....not too many left until the birds are singing ....spring time melodies!

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    1. It has been a different winter--I was canoeing yesterday (I'll post about it later)

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  6. Beautiful.. I love that last image.. almost and wonderful as the first.

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  7. "Devil's Soup Bowl", you guys sure have a way of naming things, over there. From the photo's, it sure looks an idyllic spot. 'Fraid the nearest I've got to skiing is only on the dry slopes (and even then I managed to slam into a tree).

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    1. I actually find this name a bit odd--it's just a round depression in the ground. This one isn't that rocky and all grown over. Most places that get named devil are void of plants and are very rocky. There's Devil Raceway (or racetrack) that's a big rock slide along the Appalachian Trail, Devil's Postpile in the Sierra's (large post-like rocks that are probably 100 feet long and a foot in diameter, left over from volcanic activity), Devil's Racetrack in Death Valley (flat area void of life that rocks mysterious move across), etc.

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  8. Jeff- Simply stunning my friend--Thanks so much for letting this Southern Boy feeeel and experience something I'd really love to do!

    J

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  9. I like that last photo of Hall Lake. A place that's asking to be explored.

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