The corg and I put in about 3-5 miles of wilderness walking most days, and I have to say, I really do quite adore it. Especially right now with a new dusting of perfectly white powder snow almost daily. There's something restorative about walking in Nature, especially when that bit of nature is isolated and unspoiled by any sort of human activity. The silence is almost otherwordly.
One of my favorite loops is the one we do almost daily to go check on the dam and to see if hunters are using the easement road through the north part of the ranch. Our daily patrol super excites the corg, as she knows it's squirrel hunting time! She probably does about ten miles with all the festive hopping and dashing that she does as she bolts off the road and into the forest at times to say hello to those taunting creatures.
One thing I like about snow time of the year, aside from imminent, copious amounts of snowshoeing, is that I can see ALL the tracks of everything that is wandering about the woods. The other day I tracked a massive elk for a bit, it was most likely a bull judging by its size, which is kinda cool. I can't wait to cast my eyes on that biggin.
We have so many whitetail deer of all sizes, so their tracks are always present, as are snowshoe hare and cottontail tracks, little rodents, and the occasional member of the mink and martin family. Once in a while I spy a grizzly print, wolf prints, and bobcat tracks too. Everybody is always on the move in the silence around here.
Plus, the crunch of my feet across the snow in the forest cathedral gives me plenty of time to practice being present. My mind is a busy little bee, always flitting about, prone to anxiety, and flights of fancy, so an hour or so stroll in the woods gives more more than a bit of time to practice some mindfulness. Learning to just be in the moment is a lot harder than it sounds. I am much more like a busy little honeybee than a guru of be, but I am practicing.
As my first ever Christmas without my heathens approaches, I find I am more than a bit pensive. The hubs and I are very much enjoying our time together, but I also feel more than a bit excited that I am going to get to spend the week after Christmas with all my kids. Some are flying in across the country, the boy has already driven home from Chicago, and you can be there will be some interesting blog posts from the shenanigans that are going to result!
And as most of the time, all of the images in this post were taken on the author's very well adept at counting steps iPhone.
