The temperatures reached a high of 10 above zero today – what a warm spell for us! With the wind chill factored in, it was about -4 this afternoon. Minus 4 isn’t bad compared to the temps and wind we had last weekend. Warm enough to give us a pile of fresh powder last night!

Fresh powder does weird things to my psyche – I get antsy to be outside. Yeah, I know, it sounds crazy, especially to you non-winter people.

I decided to take the afternoon off and hit the trail. It was a lovely afternoon and I was lucky enough to have the outdoors all to myself.

It took me a few minutes to find my pace in the powder. Snowshoes are wide so you have to walk a little different than normal to keep the shoes from hitting each other. I also had to get used to breathing the painfully cold air. The scenery was breathtaking too!

When I reached about the halfway point, I realized I had been hiking awhile without a glove on. I had taken one glove off a few minutes earlier to take pictures. Then I realized how hot I was, even sweating outside on this frigid January day!

The wind was gently blowing snow, sculpting these delicate waves.

This cool creation of snowy “dunes” was mesmerizing to watch and exhilarating to feel.

Hope you are finding ways to stop and smell the roses (or watch the wind) today!