Winter Walks

Welcome 2021. 

Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years have come and gone and with very little fanfare in our house. After making the decision to be cautious and not spend time with family during the holidays, it was hard to get excited about any type of celebrating. Very little decorating took place and I couldn't even bring myself to listen to Christmas music this year. 

I have been worried that surviving a long, cold Minnesota winter was going to be especially difficult this year. But God has been gracious. Outside of an intense, pre-Christmas blizzard, our autumn and early winter have been relatively mild. Not t-shirt and green grass kind of mild, but temps have stayed in the positive range and we have very little snow. It took some bundling up, but we actually were able to ride the 7-mile bike trail around our lake a few times in December!

On a sunny day this past week we took a drive across the state line to the state of Iowa. On my All Trails app, I had found a promising looking hike in the Okoboji Lakes area. Part of the Iowa Great Lakes bike trail, this portion followed a path between Minnewashta and Lower Gar Lakes. 

I had hoped that the snow would have been cleared from the trail (as it is here on our bike trail) but that wasn't the case. It appeared that the trail is used for snowmobiling in winter so it made sense to keep it snow covered. The snow was packed hard and wasn't too bad for walking, even without boots. With the sunshine and temps in the upper 30's, we were quite comfortable.

The trail began in a small picnic area where we parked our car. The trail followed the shoreline and across a bridge between the two lakes. We saw a few fishermen had set up their ice houses on the lake.

The trail was only 1.6 miles long out and back, but for most of it we felt as if we were walking through a remote forest. A marker along the trail explained that the area was the homestead of the Henderson family in the mid-1800's. Prior to that it had been a Native America campsite.

Long winter shadows.

Perhaps we will return in the summer with our bikes.

We were unsure...was this a BLUE birdhouse or a birdhouse for BLUE BIRDS? 😉

By mid-afternoon the sun is sinking low in the sky.

The trail ended at a city street where we turned around and retraced our steps back the way we came.

It felt good to be outdoors and visit someplace new. In "normal times" I would spend an hour everyday at water aerobics in the warm YMCA pool, but usually avoid walking outdoors when the weather is too cold or windy. This winter I am learning that I really need to get outside, both for my mental and physical health. Bob is more disciplined and walks everyday regardless of the conditions, even in blizzards! Lately he has been spending time snowshoeing on the golf course.

There is still a lot of winter left here in our part of the country so we shall see how I cope with the coming months!