Today I visited Morton Arboretum, It's located in the western suburb of Chicago, Lisle. I don't live far from it so I decided to go in spite of the cold weather. There's probably 6 to 8 inches of snow on the ground in the area, I heard they rented snow shoes for hiking their trails so I decided to give them a try.
I was surprised when I pulled into their parking lot, it was near full. The reason? They were having a dog sled show. The dogs were truly amazing beautiful dogs. All of them large and very wolf like in appearance, well trained and friendly and very strong. They pulled sleds, real sleds, like you see in the Alaskan races. The dogs really loved being in the snow and worked extremely well together when hooked up as teams, it truly was an amazing display of dicipline and teamwork to watch.
Anyway, I rented a pair of snowshoes, they have an aluminum frame, are hinged at the front so the heel part falls down as you shuffle along in the snow. They have large aluminum gripping teeth on the bottom for traction and really do keep your feet from sinking deeply into the snow. After you have them on and start walking in them you really get the hang of it, it actually was a lot of fun. I hiked a little over 3 miles in the Arboretum, it was very winter postcard like everywhere, the lakes were frozen over, you could see only animal tracks across them. The pines were beautifully covered in snow, the snow crunched as you walked along the path. It was very serene, quiet, throughly relaxing and invigorating at the same time.
I can't wait to go again!!
I don't think I would have enjoyed this when I was younger, maybe I would have in different ways.
I do know I really enjoyed it today, livin the gray life.
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