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After heavy rain last Friday, it snapped very cold overnight and turned to snow - the layer of ice made the snow stick to everything, so it was beautiful running down to the farmers' market Saturday morning!
This section of trail is usually quite wide open, but the snow load on the saplings bent them down so there was barely room to pass through without crouching.
The tall grasses in the field (frequented by deer and wild turkeys - you can also just make out the osprey nesting platform among the trees on the right) were quite dramatic under their white blanket
It was pretty chilly (-11c/12f), but the sunshine was marvelous!
Second run on Saturday started just as the sun set, though there was still plenty of light in the sky
It got darker as I pushed further into the tract, finding tunnels of snowy branches to run through
(I love the "night sight" setting on the Pixel 6)
Sunday brought another sunset run - a little less dramatic due to 2 sunny days having led to a lot of the snow falling out of the trees, but still plenty of drama
The lake at Shade's Mills Conservation Area is a dam-controlled reservoir, and very popular for ice fishing - the strange objects you see on the ice surface here are stumps exposed from the reduction in water levels implemented every winter (I suspect to concentrate the fish in the deeper portion of the lake), covered in snow that blew away from the ice itself.
This is the creek that flows into the reservoir
Still some delightfully marshmallow-y branches in the shadier spots.
Of course, it mostly went and melted yesterday! We had freezing rain overnight, then mild air causing some incredible fog to rise from the remaining snow.
First race of 2023 up on Saturday - a 25k trail race put on by a friend of mine, in a brand new location whose (privately owned) trails I've never seen. Supposed to rain a whole lot tomorrow so instead of a snowy romp it's more likely to be a mudfest, but those are their own kind of fun!
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ill advised racing inc.