Di, Scotty, Dover, Fred and Jackie met at Brandon Hills parking lot at 12:30 P.M. on Sunday December 8/13 for a 2.5 hour snow shoe.  We travelled north east in mostly sheltered trail conditions.  It was a bright sunny crisp day.Somehow the weather forecast of below average temperatures and windchill seemed not so bad with the sunshine and perfect snow shoe conditions.  Some of the trail was quite fresh which meant we broke trail on some of it…actually Di and I were happy to have Fred and Dover break trail.  Fred and some friends had done a 8 mile trail run the day earlier and he took us on part of their tracks.  I think we all enjoyed being in the sheltered areas of the hills as on a few ridges it did feel breezy.  About half way into the snow shoe we were all peeling off  layers of clothes. At this time of year it is always good to dress in layers that you can take off so as not to sweat and freeze later.  The dogs enjoyed the afternoon playing and bouncing through the snow. At some points we had to take a few rest stops for both of them to chew snow balls out of their paws.  Di and I commented that no matter how hard we try we will never be able to keep up to Fred, but we kept him in our sites as to ensure we were not lost.  Overall we had a great time and it was perfect with the bonus of being 5 degrees warmer than Saturdays temperature of -25 degrees.  We started around -20 and the car temperature gage read -18 when we finished. 

 

Jacqueline Goods