A Walk in the Frigid Cold

 

It’s 9 pm and it is 9 degrees outside.  We are in the midst of a good old fashioned winter cold spell.  For the next week, the temperature is not forecast to be over 16 degrees.  The lows will be in the low single digits.

As I suggested in my Walk in the Snow piece, I ventured out in the afternoon for a walk on this cold and sunny day.  Well, it was not the same as taking in the walk in the snow last week.  It was windy and snowy that night, but it was 30 degrees.  Today?  It was 10 degrees.  It was flipping cold. 

Being an Eagle Scout and having hiked and camped outside back in the 60s, I knew the secret for being out in such weather is to dress properly.  I only planned to be out for a half hour, but at these temperatures one had to the “dressed properly” maxim seriously.  A nice wool sweater, a heavy anorak, a balaclava, a knit hat, heavy duty gloves, and some winter boots.   I could have, and in retrospect should have, worn some long johns.  I’ll do that tomorrow when I go out.

As the paths were used by school children, they were cleared, but snow packed.  It was quite windy, and a small layer of snow had drifted onto the path.  The combination made for a cushioned and crunchy walk.

It was good to be out.  I took some photos, a few of which I have included here.  I had to take a glove off to take the photos and could nto wait to put it back on.  It took longer than I expected for that hand to warm back up/

I had two classes this morning.  I encouraged my students to take a walk on this glorious cold day.  I told them is that a walk in really cold weather clears my head a different way.  The act of bracing myself against the cold and not slipping on the ice
and snow seems to clear all the other thoughts and inner dialogue.  It is thus refreshing in a unique way to be in the cold.  I will venture out again in the next week.  There might even be a day this coming  where I can walk on a cold day in a snowstorm.  Can it get any winter better than that?

I saw photos of my sister and brother in-law on a plane heading for Florida.  I also saw photos of other friends in Florida enjoying the weather.  I remembered when I used to travel for business to Latin America.  I would spend three to four weeks in January and February in Central America or the Caribbean where the weather is always nice or further south where it is actually summer when it is winter here.  It made the winters go quickly.  I always felt a bit cheated at not getting a full winter.  More recently, this feeling of being cheated out of winter persisted as our winters have been so temperate due to global warming. 

That is not the case this year.  I am enjoying the heck of this winter.  We have had some good solid snowstorms and now, this cold spell.  Wonderful.

Now, don’t get me wrong.  I am also looking forward to the coming of Spring and Summer.  Every time, I open the door to go into the garage I see my new classic roadster and cannot wait to ride around with the top down. 

In the meantime, I will continue to bundle up and head out into the snow and cold.

 

Rugged Outdoorsman or
just some old dude?