Outwhimming Mother Nature
Source: Reformer.com
This is certainly one of the more interesting times of year for active outdoors enthusiasts. Endless opportunities, but almost as many challenges.
Mother Nature is at her most changeable at this time of year. Depending on her whims, on any given day you might find a fast forward to spring or a rewind to deepest winter. Rain, snow, sleet, warm sunshine, bitter winds; sometimes, you get them all in one day. You just never know . . .
The one thing you won’t get anywhere in New England is any true commitment to spring until late April or early May. So don’t even think about it.
When Mother Nature is up to these kinds of tricks, your only sensible choice is to be ready to go with lots of different options and then simply pick the best one for that day. That’s precisely what my sweetheart, Marilyn, and I have been doing for years: outwhimming Mother Nature.
Now I have to confess that Marilyn and I are both enthusiastic “appreciators” of winter. We’ll travel to find snow if there’s none near home, and we hold on to winter sports until there’s just no alternative. Personally, I think that’s the only way to avoid driving yourself crazy. I feel genuinely sorry for the poor souls who yearn for spring and cut themselves off from the wonders of late winter. But even traveling north to where the snow is still deep, deep, deep this year isn’t necessarily a guarantee that you can escape the whims of the weather.
For example, there’s almost nothing nicer than cross-country skiing at this time of year when the sun is shining and the snow is soft. You carry a picnic lunch in a backpack, maybe a half-bottle of wine, ski as far as you want, enjoy every minute.
But even on a sunny day, you’ve got to be a little flexible to get the best of any outing. Take yesterday, for example. The temperature was in the teens in the morning (it’s been a cold March), and if you got out at the crack of dawn, the snow was as hard as Vermont marble (not quite as hard as New Hampshire granite . . .). But by 10 o’clock in the morning, the sun had done some work and it was a perfect day for enjoying the trails.
However, if the day starts out above freezing, you might want to get out early in the morning for great skiing before the snow softens too much-although cross-counry skiing is fine on slush if you have the right wax (ask at any ski shop).
Conversely, if it’s a cold, gray day and there’s little or no chance of the sun softening things up, we might strap on snowshoes–a heavy crust makes for ideal traveling on modern snowshoes with a traction claw underfoot.
Personally, I think this is a much, much saner alternative than grumbling because the weather isn’t exactly, precisely what we might wish for.
As I write this, the last days of March are winding down and there’s more snow in the forecast. Typical. Mother Nature’s just having her whims. But, we’re waxing up our skis and by the time the last crumb of winter has finally been savored, we can usually find real spring nearby–sunny days and hiking and mountain biking trails that have dried out enough to be really enjoyable
Life isn’t a spectator sport. Get out and enjoy!
SURE SPORT FOR SPRING–As close as you can get to a “sure thing” in outdoor sports at this time of year is whitewater paddling with a canoe or a kayak. All that snow that’s lying deep on the hills has to eventually go somewhere, and even a slow meltdown like we are having this year fills the rivers to ideal paddling levels.
Because you have to wear protective clothing anyway, you can paddle if it’s raining or snowing just as well as you can on a sunny warm day.
Unfortunately–or fortunately, depending on how you look at it–whitewater paddling isn’t something you can just jump into a boat on your own and try. Not safely anyway. It’s a sport best learned in tiny increments with others around to help you.
You start on flat-moving water, learning to direct your craft to where you want it to go. Then gradually move up through the increasingly difficult challenges of Class I-IV whitewater. If you choose a kayak rather than a canoe, at some point you have to learn how to do an “Eskimo Roll” to turn your craft upright should you accidentally flip it.
This all takes time. That’s part of the fun. If you start now, you’ll be better by the end of spring, ready to have even more fun next year. Imagine looking forward to late winter!
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