The Mercury Rises and I Try not to Sink

Another post from the Great Out-of-Doors.

We've had a bit of a heat wave Up Here, with several days climbing above zero degrees for an hour or so in the afternoon. I've been told by some of the locals that by now we should be seeing many days at -30, but currently the average daytime temperature seems to hover at around -10.

My ice wreath has taken a bit of a beating due to the strong winter sun and is only about half the thickness it was when I made it, although all of the berries and branches are still embedded in the icy circle so it still looks pretty, minus the icicles.

I decided to take advantage of the lovely weather by, what else, taking the dogs for a nice long walk. This time I pulled some snowshoes out of the basement that we had received as a gift last Christmas. They're made by Yukon Charlie Winter Systems. I have no idea whether they're good snowshoes or not, as I had never snowshoed before, and was anxious to give it a go and see how they worked.

We've had about two feet of snow fall since winter has set in which, despite the warmer days lately, has refrained from melting. I was curious to see how the snowshoes would stand up to the powdery covering. They were easy to put on, simply sliding my shoe into the bindings and pulling the buckles until tight. They were also pretty comfortable to walk in; I really didn't have to take exaggeratedly wide steps, which was nice since I had to walk at a decent pace to keep up with the puppies.

I didn't really think that I would stay on top of the snow, as like I said, it's pretty loose and fluffy as opposed to wet packing snow, so I knew that no matter what I would sink a little. Still, I was surprised at how much I did sink. I was a bit disheartened by my first attempts at stepping through the deepest stuff I could find down by the beach. 

It wasn't until I took them off that I was made aware of how much they actually had been helping. Without the snowshoes I sank even deeper, in certain places up to my knee (I hadn't dropped lower than my mid-calf with the shoes on). Also, the snow caved in on my foot and made it harder to take the next step, whereas the snowshoes kept that from happening. Also, the grips (called crampons) on the bottom made sure that I didn't slip and slide in the snow. I was walking quite comfortably, in fact. I'll definitely use them again.

I was also excited to go for a walk with my new gloves, a Christmas present to myself. As I've said before, I use my iPhone to take all of my pictures, lacking a better quality camera that would me more suited to blogging. The iPhone has a surprisingly good camera that can result in pretty good photos, or great ones after a few touch ups. The problem with the iPhone camera is that it doesn't deal well with low light or motion, so I do hope to get a "real" camera someday. Please bear with me until then.

Anyway, the iPhone, as you all know, requires the touch of a finger which, in the cold, is not the easiest feat. Back in December I was often experiencing a burning sensation in my fingers when I had my gloves off for even just a few seconds due to the -20 and below weather. Now, with these gloves from The North Face, I can keep my fingers relatively warm as I snap away on a walk.

The reason that my fingers can stay warm is that the tips of the gloves, or the E-Tips, are made of X-Static fabric, which is able to activate the touch screen buttons. As per The North Face's website, "X-Static fabric has a layer of all natural pure silver permanently bonded to the fiber face. This inhibits the growth of bacteria, and helps manage moisture and regulate temperature, allowing the high speed user to stay cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter." These gloves are quite thin, I imagine that they're more for joggers in the fall or early spring, or for those in more temperate winter climates, but for me they're tight fitting so I can wear them under larger mittens and simply take those off when I want to take a picture.The pads work really well; I'm relieved that I don't have to expose digits to the cold anymore when I take pictures like this...

When the sun is shining and the air is free, 'tis the Northern Life for me!