Yesterday morning Nick and I ventured over to snowshoe in Tyler State Park. We are so lucky to have this amazing park right across the street. No matter what season, we are over there enjoying the beauty and serenity that the park has to offer. I have to admit that it's much more peaceful in the winter when we pass far fewer people on the trails, but it was still nice to see fellow snowshoers, cross-country skiers, and photographers on and around the trails. Apparently snowshoes aren't too common around here, as almost every car that drove by us on our walk over to the park had the driver turning their head to try and figure out what we were wearing on our feet. I think we may have even convinced a few people to invest in some snowshoes! I can't get enough of our snowshoes, which Nick got us for Christmas. They are awesome and a great way to enjoy the outdoors in the winter.
Most people that I talk to have no idea what snowshoes are or why you would use them. The basic idea behind snowshoes is that your weight is distributed over a larger area, prohibiting you from sinking a far into the snow as you would if you were just wearing boots. Basically, they allow you to go hiking even when there is snow on the ground. The folks at EMS suggested that Nick get us some trekking poles as well. They make it easy to keep your balance and make it a lot easier to walk through all of that snow. I don't think I would like snowshoeing without them. Plus, you can get adapters for the bottom of the poles so they pair as hiking poles. This will be perfect for our roadtrip to Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon later this year!
It's about a mile to get to Tyler from our house. We cut down the distance a bit by first cutting through a retaining basin and then through the woods that surround our development. These evergreens line the walking trail that winds through our development. We can see them from the couch in our living room and they always look so pretty when it snows, even if we lose a few limbs each year because of the weight of the snow.
The snow was clinging to the side of the trees in the woods. We couldn't figure out why this was, but our best guess was that it had to do with what way the wind was blowing at the time.
I love the way that snow lays on nature. We got about 15 inches on Wednesday, on top of the 5 or 6 inches that we already on the ground. On Friday, we got an inch of fluffy snow that coated everything, making it super white and clean. Doesn't this bush look like it has balls of cotton all over it? I love the way the branches look against the white background of snow.
I'll admit, I don't know the names of trees and birds, but I can recognize when things look neat. Whatever kind of tree produces these light brown leaves in the winter looks awesome against the black brown of the rest of the bare trees and the snow. This leaf was only covered by the snow that we got on Friday, making it almost glow. Unfortunately my camera doesn't do this justice, but you get the idea. Look how crystallized the top layer of snow looks!
If you couldn't already tell, I am obsessed with trees. Especially crazy-limbed ones like the one below, and the winter is the perfect time to see the true craziness of trees since the leaves aren't in the way.
Tyler has one of the best disc golf courses in the area. Nick and a few buddies played a round a few weeks ago, when we only had about 4 inches of snow on the ground. I'm not sure how they would handle 2 feet. It definitely would be much harder to get the disc in the basket with all of that snow!
Here you can see the teeing area of one of the holes. There is a small wooden map to show you where there are obsticles and water hazards, as well as where the basket is. More often than not, I end of throwing my first throw right into a tree. It's sad.
This is one of the trails that we use for running and biking in the warm weather. This hill kills me when we're running. It's steeper than it looks in this picture, and with the route we take, is usually toward the end of our runs. Soon we'll be taking these trails to train for the Broad Street Run!
Here I am posing with the snowy trees. I love my new snowpants, even if they are super big. They are the kind with suspenders, which I insisted upon getting so I didn't have to keep pulling up my pants.
Below the trail is a ravine that leads to the Neshaminy Creek and one of the dams that they set up in Tyler. There was a layer of ice on most of the creek, and the water flowed out from under it over the dam. It looked awesome!
Here's a picture of the creek above the dam. It looked like a huge skating rink!
This goose was the lone member of the local wildlife that we saw all morning. He was all alone chilling by the edge of the creek, contemplating something, I'm sure.
A lot of the trees were bent over from the weight of the snow, causing makeshift tunnels. This one had fallen over but was being held up by another tree.
I just can't get enough of the snow on evergreens. By the time we got back to our development, we had been gone for 3 hours and traveled about 3 miles. I have been wanting to go snowshoeing since our last major storm after Christmas and I'm glad we finally got the opportunity. We're supposed to get another storm this week, so I have my fingers crossed that we'll be venturing our again!
Happy Winter!
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