Well once again I’ve left updating this blog waaaay too long. Although at least this time I’ve been keeping some notes on what I’ve been up to which should make writing this post easier. Snow had started to become a bit of a theme in the last post and that will continue and this one… and probably the next one!
I wrote the last post sat indoors on a day we had a shed load of snow. Next day was a bit of a write off from a get into work perspective and the highlight of the day turned out to be snowshoeing to downtown via a roundabout route. That Wednesday I went for a walk along the dykes in Wolfville. Can’t remember how that fitted in with work although I did start quite late in the afternoon. What I do remember was the lack of snow on the dykes. Everywhere else was still covered in at least several inches on snow but the dykes had pretty much none on top of them due to their exposed position and the wind. It was rather nice, for a change, doing a reasonably proper hike without dealing with snow. That day I also saw a pheasant in my car park (parking lot) which was cool although it had gone again too quickly to get any good photos – what I did take are here. The next day again it snowed in the afternoon and into the evening and I took the opportunity to go and take some photos of Wolfville in the snow before the wind removed the snow from the trees.
Saturday I went snowshoeing at the Woodville trails. Turns out that no one had snowshoed the first path I used so I was breaking trail, uphill, in more than a foot of snow. Which was hard work! Eventually I made it to the top of the hill and picked up trails where other people had already been which made things easier. Shortly afterwards I reached the viewpoint from which I took all my photos that day. Shortly after the view point I heard and finally spotted a woodpecker, which was very cool but unfortunately it spotted me and flew off before I had a chance to take any photos. Carrying on I soon reached the other main parking area and deciding to be adventurous I started off on another unbroken trail although I reasonably quickly looped back as time was getting on a bit. It was then that things started to get a bit interesting. I could not find a connecting trail that was meant to exist anywhere so eventually I walked down the road to where it intersected the main trail, which I found at the second attempt. It was obvious, although I’m not sure it officially exists anymore as it didn’t appear to be marked. After walking down it a bit I was close enough to a marked trail that I cut across to it but then couldn’t find where that trail intersected with the trail I had been on. That resulted in leaving the hiking area and a long walk back along roads to the car. Still just about made it before dark. A rather enjoyable day despite the mishaps.
I can only assume I did nothing interesting on the Sunday as I made no record of what I did. That Friday however I did do something interesting – I drove to New Brunswick for a three day weekend. Much of the write up of the trip is here but there are a couple of things I don’t mention there. Both were unfortunate but also quite lucky. First off someone drove into the back of me at a junction on the way to New Brunswick. Thankfully no damage was caused to either car so we just shock hands and went on our way. That could have been a lot worse. Secondly I stupidly left my camera gear at a parking lot on the Saturday and I think knocked the bag over with the car as I was leaving. I don’t believe I properly run it over as the only thing I damaged was one filter which I replace for 8 dollars. When I realised what I’d done I went back and found a couple that were just about to go snowshoeing and who it put the bag in their car for safekeeping. So that also could have gone a lot worse, both in the damage caused and in not finding the people there. So although both things were unfortunate I count myself lucky as they could have been so much worse!
The Saturday after New Brunswick I think the highlight of my day was going for a swim. I certainly don’t seem to have done anything exciting! Unlike the Sunday. Sunday I had arranged to go snowshoeing with some of the regulars at the boudlering gym. Wasn’t the longest snowshoe ever but I had a good time and took more photos. After snowshoeing we went to the pub for food before I headed to the bouldering wall for some route setting. All in all a fun day. The highlight of the next week was doing a timed km swim (breast stroke) for the first time in a couple of years. Turns out those swimming lessons I took in Kansas paid off as I was about four minutes faster than I used to be. And I think I’ve still got a little more in my. I was really rather pleased!