Creatures in the Woods

If you go into the woods today, you're in for a big surprise...

There are creatures beyond your imagination lurking...

Scary three-eyed creatures and large purple bunnies...

They'll eat all of your food, drink all of your drinks, and then play until the sun goes down.

Oh, and one more thing, they have knives.

We got the chance to go out yesterday for a few hours despite the temperatures in the low 30s so we went. We layered up, loaded our packs, and picked which tasks we were going to attempt and which gear we were going to test.

The mission of the day: Find pinecones to turn into bird feeders.

We also planned on some hot cocoa and maybe a cup of soup to warm our insides so I brought my Swedish Army Trangia Stove and some fuel.

We knew the natural occurrences of conifers in our area was very, very low but we also wanted to get out and explore a bit so we chose a different area for our excursion. I think it was a good call. There were no evergreens but there was plenty to see and the kids had a great time just being out.

And eating snacks...we can't forget the value of bringing enough food for Jake.

We actually did quite a hike considering the kids are 7 and 9 years old. It was 0.4 miles to the trail, a 2.7 mile loop, and then 0.2 miles from the loop to the playground where they hunkered down, ate, and then played and played until the hot cocoa was ready. Once the hot cocoa was finished, they went right back to playing and snacking until the sun went behind the trees.

While they were distracted, I cleaned up the mess I made when I let the hot cocoa boil over. Then I snapped some more pictures that really represent what we were experiencing. I've been here in the Fall, Summer, Spring, and Winter and this transition period, between bare trees and frozen lakes but before the snow falls, is pretty bleak. There's just no color out there and so little animal activity that you'd think they were all hibernating. We were out for a few hours and we saw just one squirrel and a handful of birds flying overhead.

The temperatures today should be about 10° warmer and the skies are still clear. The kids had enough fun yesterday that they're already up and making plans for today's hike so that's a good sign that we're going to get dirty again today...

Thanks for reading,


B