Anne, Shelley, Travis and I Snowshoeing

The morning started off really cold, relatively speaking, it was -4F. We got up for sunrise which did not disappoint. Anne had wanted to hike to this waterfall only she knew about, something she'd wanted to do for a long time. So she invited Shelley, Travis and I to go along.


We're trying to figure out which way to go. Good thing Anne was with us to guide us in the right direction.


One of the many cool things about hiking with Shelley is her eye. She is always seeing things on the side of the trail to investigate. (She used to be a photographer too)


This is one of the things she found. Don't have a clue what it is though but it's kinda cool.


When in doubt follow an animal track. Speaking of animals we saw 2 wolves as we were hiking this road. I wasn't fast enough to get a shot of them plus they were a ways in front of us. Travis got a decent shot though, he usually does (-;).


Notice how Anne's wooden snowshoes are about as long as she is tall? We're just standing around taking in the day. Did I mention the day was spectacular for a snowshoe hike.


Did someone bring a bottle of wine along? If they did I didn't see it, darn !!


Travis and Shelley stopping for a pose.


Shelley animating while Travis decided it's time to move along. Shelley and I tended to lag behind Anne and Travis. Actually I didn't see much of Anne since she led the way. Shelley is a walking encyclopedia about Ojibwe customs and history. As we walked along she told me about how the Indians would pick up small pieces of birch bark as the walked along. When it came time to start a fire, which they did regularly, they wouldn't have to go looking for kindling, they already had it. She also told me when they found dead logs in the forest they'd lean then up against a tree so the wood would dry instead of rot. When they needed firewood it was ready to go.


One one occasion when we were stopped I heard this popping. We both investigated and found a nearby birch tree popping every once in a while. It was just like it was growing right before our ears. It was quite exciting for me since I rarely hear things like that in the forest with my poor hearing. It was also really wild to actually hear a tree actually growing.


See I told you. It was a very beautiful day.


Those snowshoes of Annes are really great on the flat snow. But I was up on a little hill that needed some grippers on the bottom of the snowshoe to get the traction needed for climbing. Well Anne needed to find another way around the obstacles in the river.


I think Shelley needed a little rest so she plopped down on her back. No, actually she decided to back up which doesn't work so good when the back of your snowshoes digs into the snow and stops while your body keeps going. Oh but the snow is soft.

We ended up turning back before we got to the falls. There was so much junk in the stream bed we decided it was best to turn around. So we hiked back to our car, actually Travis truck, and went back to Annes place where she cooked us a very nice meal. Anne is heading to Nashville to pursue her dream in the music business and before we left she treated us by singing a couple of songs she wrote. Thanks Anne.

It was a beautiful day with beautiful people.

Roger
(-:)