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kareinaToday I spent the morning in the office and walked home at lunch time. Since it was still daylight I opted to take the forest path through the nature reserve. The last time I went that way was before the holiday break, which was before the last batch of snow we got, and also before the weather warmed up and melted the top layer of snow, and then cooled off enough to re-freeze the snow. Much to my delight the forest path turned out to be reasonably well-trampled when I got there. Not perfectly flat, of course, but even this morning's few cm of new snow had foot prints in it.
Since the way was clear, the day was lovely, and the sun not yet (quite) below the horizon (remember, we aren't all that far south of the arctic circle here), I set off down the path. Around the time my shoulders started complaining about the weight of my backpack (I brought home my computer as I need to take it with me to Stockholm for a short course next week, and I intend to do more work from home this evening) I reached the bird watching tower in the nature reserve. At that point I was 3.26 km from my office, and it had taken me 48 minutes to get there. Sadly, it turns out that the bird tower is the destination of all of the footprints that had made the path reasonably easy to walk upon.
From the bird tower further north towards my home there was a single set of footprints, clearly days old. However, I didn't care to turn around, walk all the way back to the road, and then walk along the road home, so I continued on my way, making the other set of footprints a bit larger than than had been as I went. This went well, for a short distance, then I reached the place where the main path curves west towards Gammelstad, but my path heads north to home. The old foot prints, of course, followed the main path. I could have gone that way, and a long way further along they would have hooked up with the snowmobile track that runs through the forest on my side of the water. But it was hard going wading through the snow, breaking through that crust, and that would have been a long way out of the way, and I was tired.
So instead I continued the straight north, first person to break path since the last snow and wind erased signs of my passage that way before the holidays. The crust of snow is just strong enough to hold about 25% of my weight (guess based on how long it holds before I broke through it each step). At first it was just hard going, but then I got to the open field. Remember that bit about the strong winds we had before it warmed up? The snow is much deeper on the field than in the forest. My boots go to my knees. The snow is well deeper than that. Of course, I didn't break through that far with every step. Sometimes I sunk only to my ankles, rarely the crust held my weight for a single step, then I would sink to mid thigh on the next one.
After getting really tired and frustrated, I decided to give up on walking and just crawl. That went much better. While I could hear the crust break with each placement of knee or hands, I only sank a few cm, and could make much more rapid forward progress. Yay! However, it was still very hard work--I would crawl a few meters, then stop and pant a bit, then continue on my way. If I had known when I left the house this morning that I would be crawling in the snow I would have put on snow pants. But it was reasonably warm (-10 C), so instead I had my good winter boots, wool tights, a pair of jeans, shirt, sweater, and my long wool coat. The coat hangs below my knees, so when crawling I was kneeling on wool, not snow, which is good, because it kept my knees from getting cold.
From the bird tower till I crawled over the snow-berm onto the end of the road I live upon the distance was only 0.76 km, yet it took me 33 minutes to go that far! The last half a kilometer walk on the road (10 minutes more) was such a relief!
I had commented to a friend that morning, who said that she and her daughter were going on an adventure, that I wished that I had time for an adventure. I should remember to be careful what I ask for, since I got exactly that! Luckily, I still managed to get home well before dark.
Since the way was clear, the day was lovely, and the sun not yet (quite) below the horizon (remember, we aren't all that far south of the arctic circle here), I set off down the path. Around the time my shoulders started complaining about the weight of my backpack (I brought home my computer as I need to take it with me to Stockholm for a short course next week, and I intend to do more work from home this evening) I reached the bird watching tower in the nature reserve. At that point I was 3.26 km from my office, and it had taken me 48 minutes to get there. Sadly, it turns out that the bird tower is the destination of all of the footprints that had made the path reasonably easy to walk upon.
From the bird tower further north towards my home there was a single set of footprints, clearly days old. However, I didn't care to turn around, walk all the way back to the road, and then walk along the road home, so I continued on my way, making the other set of footprints a bit larger than than had been as I went. This went well, for a short distance, then I reached the place where the main path curves west towards Gammelstad, but my path heads north to home. The old foot prints, of course, followed the main path. I could have gone that way, and a long way further along they would have hooked up with the snowmobile track that runs through the forest on my side of the water. But it was hard going wading through the snow, breaking through that crust, and that would have been a long way out of the way, and I was tired.
So instead I continued the straight north, first person to break path since the last snow and wind erased signs of my passage that way before the holidays. The crust of snow is just strong enough to hold about 25% of my weight (guess based on how long it holds before I broke through it each step). At first it was just hard going, but then I got to the open field. Remember that bit about the strong winds we had before it warmed up? The snow is much deeper on the field than in the forest. My boots go to my knees. The snow is well deeper than that. Of course, I didn't break through that far with every step. Sometimes I sunk only to my ankles, rarely the crust held my weight for a single step, then I would sink to mid thigh on the next one.
After getting really tired and frustrated, I decided to give up on walking and just crawl. That went much better. While I could hear the crust break with each placement of knee or hands, I only sank a few cm, and could make much more rapid forward progress. Yay! However, it was still very hard work--I would crawl a few meters, then stop and pant a bit, then continue on my way. If I had known when I left the house this morning that I would be crawling in the snow I would have put on snow pants. But it was reasonably warm (-10 C), so instead I had my good winter boots, wool tights, a pair of jeans, shirt, sweater, and my long wool coat. The coat hangs below my knees, so when crawling I was kneeling on wool, not snow, which is good, because it kept my knees from getting cold.
From the bird tower till I crawled over the snow-berm onto the end of the road I live upon the distance was only 0.76 km, yet it took me 33 minutes to go that far! The last half a kilometer walk on the road (10 minutes more) was such a relief!
I had commented to a friend that morning, who said that she and her daughter were going on an adventure, that I wished that I had time for an adventure. I should remember to be careful what I ask for, since I got exactly that! Luckily, I still managed to get home well before dark.
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Date: 2013-01-04 04:37 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-01-04 05:53 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-01-04 06:45 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-01-04 07:42 pm (UTC)Also, it sounds like the weather you get there is similar to the weather in my new town (Fort St. John, BC). No wonder I'm feeling more viking-y since we arrived, since it's that similar to Scandinavian weather. :)