Monday, December 21, 2015

Where's Winter?

Mild weather continues in the northeast, much to the dismay of winter sports enthusiasts. Though the first snowshoe race of the season is still a month away, the what-if-there-is-no-snow grumbles have already reached a loud whisper. Knock on wood, but for Bradbury it's always worked out, even if Old Man Winter has cut it close. Time will tell.


Several Trail Monsters decided to take advantage of the relative warmth by doing repeats on Pleasant Mountain in Bridgton the other day. Just a little bit of thin ice near the top, but not too bad. I shot out an email to our team with the plan and expected maybe three or four people to be in, but it was awesome to see that nearly a dozen showed up. Because it was repeats, everyone could just do their own thing and still see everyone. That was a lot of fun.

Half Bomb and I went up and down to the peak three times for just under 14 miles and were about a thousand feet short of a mile for elevation gain. Great workout. I had hoped for four repeats, but I'm not there yet. Going up for the third time, it was clear that would be it.

I followed that up the next day with a shakedown run in the woods out back. No snow still, so I used this run as a very early scouting trip for turkey hunting season this May. Found a promising area. I feel really fortunate that trail running really helps with hunting as well as fly fishing. Trail running has directly contributed to success in both, not just for scouting but also being in shape to reach those farther out areas that many overlook and do whatever else needs to be done. Conversely, I also see the woods through different lenses when out running and those added dimensions make it all the more enjoyable.

So we'll continue to hope for snow. In the meantime, the fly fishing has been a lot easier for this time of year and running on the dirt isn't entirely bad. Still, I'd rather be hitting the trails on snowshoes or flying down a well groomed trail on skate skis. There is still time. After all, it's still another day before it's officially winter.

No comments: