Breaking Trail

Another snow day. Vacation extended once again. Conditions were a far cry from yesterday with the new snow pretty much wiping away all of the packed trails. Yesterday morning I was flying around in the woods feeling like the King of Winter, ruling all of the land. Today, I felt more like a finless trout trying to swim upstream.

Since I would be breaking trail no matter what, it made sense to reestablish the trail I blazed three weeks ago that connects two snowmobile trails (~one mile). This gives me more future route options. 

The mission was a success, though given how fine the powder is with this arctic cold, it was really more of moving the snow around rather than packing it down. My legs were already tired from the 15+ miles of snowshoe running over the past two days, so my already tired quads were really given a good pummeling. If I can replicate this throughout the winter, I'll be more than ready for the downhills at Boston in April. 

The run hike itself was awesome. Very scenic. Sun started to come out, creating a slight illusion of warmth despite the single digit temperatures. I saw a leaf whose stem was stuck in the snow, leaving it to spin around when the wind blew, drawing perfect concentric circles in the powder. I saw many deer tracks to boot. I suspect their hoof prints will be all over the tracks I made next time I'm on this trails (tomorrow).

Snowshoe Ran 2.0 miles @ 24:45/mile pace.
Trails, 12" to 18" of unbroken fine powder.
Very hilly.
5F to 8F, partly sunny, breezy.
Dion 121 snowshoes, New Balance MT1010, warm-up pants, long tights, windbreaker, long sleeved shirt, beanie, mittens, doubled up socks.