Snow is here - can you come out and play?
By Lisa Brainard

Courtesy Bluff Country Reader

As we close out another year and head into a brand, spanking new version called 2010, it can only mean one thing. Yes, winter has arrived in vivid reality, the season welcomed by Dec. 21 on the calendar.

That date always brings joy to my heart. No, not because of Christmas, although I hope the proximity of the holy holiday brings joy to your lives.

Nope, I'm overly happy for a whole different reason. The days are getting longer. I'm writing this on Dec. 22 - and can't you just feel the longer period of daylight?

OK, maybe you didn't because it was cloudy. Or maybe you didn't because you think such joy at an extra second of daylight - likely not even seen - is, shall we say, absurd??!?

I've probably shared this with you before, but lest you've forgotten (or I haven't shared), let me remind you I think I likely have SAD - Seasonal Affective Disorder. As days get shorter and winter sinks in, I may get extra moody. (Me? Extra moody? Shudder the thought!) I feel tired - a lot. And I have a crazy need for light. You'll find me at home with nearly every light on that I can get my hands on.

So, yes, I'm extra excited to know that the march toward the longest day of the year has begun, taking all of us up through June 21 (or as I like to think of it, July 4, although days are already shortening by then).

Celebrate with me, friends: a toast to that extra second or two of light we're gaining every day.

There has been one welcome change this winter, however. I found myself strangely(!!) looking forward to snow. Winter used to be a season of nearly pure hibernation. I would run outside to my car to go play in volleyball or wallyball leagues, followed by the requisite analysis of the matches afterward at a favorite establishment into all hours of the night. It was certainly fun while it lasted.

Then I got out of the leagues and just kind of vegged out in the winter, lying around, reading books, watching TV and using the computer.

But winter has called to my soul the past few years. I took up snowshoeing. You can go anywhere - and I mean anywhere, unless it's pure and hard ice - on snowshoes. Offtrail? No problem. Just keep an eye out for sneaky, snow-covered logs ready to trip you up.

Fun local snowshoeing spots are the Isinours Forest Unit near Preston, the Oak Ridge/Wet Bark Forest Unit between Bratsberg and Houston, and Forestville-Mystery Cave and Beaver Creek Valley State Parks.

The other bit of winter joy added to my life has been cross-country skiing. I still may look like the most ungraceful person on the trail, but what the heck. Cross-country skiing is the very sport that the ultra-effective elliptical trainer at your fitness center is based upon. So you know it's excellent exercise.

It's also fun when you get onto it. I'm working on experiencing the "zen" of the sport, where I'd be gliding along freely and effortlessly, one with the skis and surrounding terrain.

Well, I am surely not at that point yet, but still greatly enjoy it. The gliding aspect of cross-country skiing is especially sweet when you get it figured out.

Also, it's just being out in nature - often pristine and white with just wild animals and birds around. They provide a welcome distraction - at least in my skiing world, where my tunnel vision is mostly pointed straight in front of me in a huge attempt to stay upright.

After the first big snowfall this year, I grabbed the skis, boots and poles and headed to the Harmony-Preston Valley Trail near the confluence of Camp Creek and the South Branch Root River. The DNR (Department of Natural Resources) trail groomers deserve credit for getting out fast to groom this and many other portions of the Root River Trail system.

So I headed off toward Harmony, skiing along the lovely, bubbling Camp Creek. Heavy snow still hung on many trees, which at times arched over the trail. I also laughed at the many deer tracks I was seeing, It seems deer also lay claim to the trail.

When I got to the first bridge, over a small stream, I saw a bunch of geese ahead fly away from Camp Creek in a pasture. It all proved to be a lovely trail, one that I had never skied before in the winter. I'd also noticed the trail groomed past Isinours, heading off to go along Watson Creek. I'm not sure how far the grooming continued, but I'll want to try that part, too. Last winter for some reason it was not groomed.

It's going to be a spectacular winter, I can just feel it! (Or, maybe my old bones are just acting up with the watches and warnings currently announcing the pending Christmas snowstorm.)

It all reminds me of being a kid. "Back in the day" we always had lots of snow and huge snowdrifts. Unless I just missed it all those years playing volleyball, I think it might be back. And this kid-at-heart is ready to get out and play in the snow - as far from sad (or SAD) as I can be!

Lisa Brainard is the news editor for the Republican-Leader and Chatfield News. She writes for the Phillips Bluff Country Publishing group of newspapers, which also includes the Spring Grove Herald, Bluff Country Reader, News-Record, and Spring Valley Tribune. She can be reached at: lbrainard@bluffcountrynews.com. She also photographs many scenic landscapes in her travels near and far, in addition to taking numerous newspaper photos.

Article Published: 12-29-2009