And so it goes, another week or so and the bog slowly melts. Our options for hiking at this time of year are subject to climate, equipment, and motivation. It seems odd that the blogdog and I have not gone out for walks as often as we can due to higher-than-comfortable wind! This year has been interesting in that the usual lower temperatures of a Maine winter have been experienced but the added feature of 20+ mph winds are the reason we have declined walks. The typical issue of snow depths has been more noticeable this year than in recent years. Once snow cover gets over a foot, the use of cleated-boots gives way to snowshoes, and that makes hiking with an eager, muscled, 90-pound shepherd of the German persuasion a problem for a 70-year old man.
Our snow season started really slow and then, by mid-February, we got 3-6 inch snow storms every three days or so. As mentioned, our temperatures have stayed lower, on average, than recent years. In mid-January, the open fields in central Maine were bare; then we got snow, then the temps stayed low, and here we are. For March, there has been not much additional snow, so we are slowly getting back to a reasonable hiking routine.