New Snowshoes: Perry Nature Center/Arboretum

Santa brought me a contemporary set of snowshoes, so I set aside my wooden and rawhide pair and headed out today to give the new ones a try.  Contemporary aluminum tubing and some kind of durable material that seems something similar to leather snowshoes have their advantages, but they lack the Sgt. Preston look of my traditional ones.   

The harness is much easier to step into with only a strap that quickly cinches the shoe tight.  The bottom of each snowshoe has two claws that provide traction and make climbing up hills and grades very much easier.   Moving into the woods is not an issue with these snowshoes; with my wooden and rawhide snowshoes, I was concerned about snapping a strip or the frame of the shoe itself.

I don’t know that the modern “high tech” snowshoes are as good on deep snow.  They don’t have quite the surface area of my old traditional snowshoes, but I did not experience any difficulty today.

Today, I took a slightly different path at the Perry Nature Center/Arboretum.  I parked in front of the Jasper Educational Center and then walked down the hill to the large meadow that spreads north of the building and continued out to the tree line that borders the Big Sioux River.

There have been several light snowfalls recently, and most tracks from others venturing out into the cold have been covered.  Today was the single “warm” day forecast for the week, and the temperature was about 20 degrees under sunny skies with a stiff wind out of the south.  I felt compelled to get out this afternoon.

There were few traces of others walking in this area.  I walked along the tree line looking into the woods for any sign of wildlife, but I didn’t see anything, not even a single bird.  There were a few tracks of rabbits and deer, and some faint traces of a cross-country skier, but generally mine were the only evidence of passage through the snow.

I trudged along in the snow, congratulating myself on getting out of the recliner to experience an hour and a half outside in the sun.  Snowshoeing is strenuous; it is not a stroll in the sunshine.  Sometimes I tend to walk further than I might have planned, only to realize that I have to walk back as well.

Snowshoeing along the tree line of the river offers something different each time.  The winter landscape is constantly changing with new snow and winds.  As the snow gets deeper and stays longer, drifts are sculpted on the meadows and the woodland takes varying looks.  The winter sun and the white snow create interesting shadowing, and all this changes daily.  So, I think that a person can visit the same few places and get enough variety over these next three months to sustain interest.

The complete set of photos can be found at the following Flickr page:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/jayheath/sets/72157639362307556/

Snowshoeing at the Perry Nature Area

We have had a relatively early start to winter here in the Sioux Falls area.  It has been quite cold and snowy here the past two or three weeks, and it seems likely that the snow cover over my favorite hiking areas will only increase over the next three months. 

Today seemed like a good day to get my snowshoes out and take a hike at the Perry Nature Area/Mary Jo Wegner Arboretum.  This has been one of our favorite hiking areas over the years; it is also where I have tended use my snowshoes whenever I felt the urge to walk about the landscape and observe winter conditions.

Many years ago, when I got my bent-wood, rawhide, Sergeant Preston-type snowshoes, I felt like an outdoorsman, an adventurer walking along snow-covered terrain in my isolation.  Today, these snowshoes seem quaint to younger people.  The aluminum, modern snowshoes with easy to attach straps are so much handier to use and have popularized snowshoeing.

Much more effort is required in snowshoeing than just strolling along on paths through the woods.  At this time of year, such a workout helps reduce the “winter weight” that seems to stretch out our waistline.  It also offers a good alternative to “going to the gym” and working out on machines.  Going to the gym is, to me, always the last option, one that I have avoided the past few years in favor of hiking, kayaking, biking, and now snowshoeing.

On my stroll this morning, I ran across a couple of guys on cross-country skies and another couple of guys with four big dogs romping in the snow.  For the most part, however, snowshoeing can be a solitary activity that offers an opportunity to look at the tracks of wildlife, observe the way snow covers the landscape, and check out the trees, bushes, and tall grass as they settle in for the winter months.

Perry Nature Area and the Arboretum are just on the east edge of Sioux Falls and provide a great location for snowshoeing and cross-country skiing.  I walked along in the path of others who had recently taken the same route along the margin between the grasslands and the wooded area on the edge of the Big Sioux River.

I will continue using my snowshoes over the course of the winter.  The Outdoor Campus in Sioux Falls offers lessons and snowshoes for those interested in trying out this aspect of winter hiking.

Arrowhead Park in the Early Winter

This is an especially interesting time to go out to Arrowhead Park in Sioux Falls for a stroll around the quarry ponds to view the geese and ducks who have decided to remain in our area during the winter. 

The ponds have aerators to keep a portion of the surface ice free, and the city parks department spreads corn kernels along the shore within the park for their dining pleasure. In addition, visitors distribute corn and other food to the birds at the pond nearest the parking lot at the entrance.  

So, hundreds of geese and ducks, maybe thousands, gather throughout much of the winter and present quite a show for visitors.

For the past few years, the parks department has kept the paved trail that runs through the park open from the parking lot along far east 26^th Street to the Wallace Dow designed barn. 

The trail along the back section of the park has not been cleared in years past, but perhaps this may come to pass at some point in the future.  For now, however, the snow has melted, and the trail throughout the park is clear of snow and ice.

There is not a lot of traffic along the trail at this time of year.  For the past few days, my wife and I have bundled up and made the 30-minute hike on sunny afternoons.  The temperatures have not been too cold – in the 20s and 30s - but the wind can be uncomfortable.

As they say, though, there is no inclement weather; there is only inappropriate dress. If we dress for the weather, most of us will be fine strolling throughout the winter.