15 December 2017 Walking West Branch

We had a rare chance to spend some time alone together today. I was finished with work travel for the year, and had a couple hours before the short daylight faded away. It had been some time since our last visit to the trails of West Branch, but it is relatively close to my office which weighs heavily less than a week before the year's shortest day.

It was in the mid 20's with a brisk wind so the trails weren't comfortable. The woods helped break the wind.

In this smaller cove, the water was frozen and the trees were snow covered. We met one other person and his dog on our quiet journey.

Geocaching in this weather means your vehicle's snow brush is your friend. The hunt for a container can be a slow process in the snow. It takes extra care to hunt for the hide without damaging the container. Each year, we see at least one container destroyed by someone searching aggressively during the winter.

It wasn't supposed to snow this afternoon, but about an hour after our arrival the flakes started to fall.

By the time we started our walk back to parking the wet park road from our drive in was snow covered with more falling as we walked. It would be a longer, slower drive home than planned.