Blind shooting!

This is what my cool weather 'gear' looks like. I have over the glasses snow goggles which really have been so helpful protecting my eyes against the white glare of the snow.

Unfortunately on a hard long hike, eventually my glasses fog up inside. This is caused by me pulling the goggles up to peer through the camera viewfinder and then settling the goggles back down.

Since I can't see distance well anyway, but can tell where I am putting my feet, I took my glasses off on Sunday morning and stuffed them in a case in my backpack. 

I had to take the battery out of my Olympus camera and put it in my mitten to keep it warm enough to hold a charge. My small camera pocket which is water proof was stuck in my inner breast pocket.

It was convenient to use, pull out, use Auto Focus/Snow Scene and squint to see a blurry landscape and press the button. 

View of a row of pines on the ridge top.

This is the snowmobile trail where it cuts through the neighbor's land and drops through the woods into a steep valley.

The light was beyond enchanting. The sun is so low in the sky that everything had an eerie glow to it. Add the ice/snow coating and everything also glistened.

As I went deeper and deeper into the valley, it got significantly colder. I navigated along the creek towards my goal of the Big Spring. When there is a sudden cold spell, the Big Spring will produce some of the most fascinating frost on the mossy rocks that are in the spring. The warm water from the spring [something like 45 degrees F] causes a steam affect when the warm air above meets the frigid air.

Sunny side of the valley along
the creek.

Shaded side of the valley along the creek.

I find it interesting that I took these two shots only minutes apart, yet the camera read the white balance so differently in the bright sunlight vs. the cool shade. Or...my yellowed cataract eyes just can't really see what the true colors are. I did try and run this through a simple program that I could 'click' on the white part of the snow and 'get' the proper white balance. 

And the difference in temperature from one side of the valley to the other was about 5 degrees and noticeably much colder.

The going was very difficult because the long tall weeds, brush, and trees were all bent over. I had to duck, weave, and push through places I didn't normally walk to follow the creek.

Getting to the Big Spring on a good day is quite the effort. Getting to in this terrain was a bit more difficult. However, I finally made it.

The Big Spring

I was facing the sunny side of the valley while taking this shot. I don't know if you can see it or not, but there is a slight fog above the water towards the middle of the photo above --- near the bent over trees.
Normally I can walk in under those trees and walk along the edge of the spring. 

There was no good way back out so I had to backtrack when I turned around to go home. I'd used up my allotted time away from the house and needed to get back.

Going home along the creek was an adventure on its own as all the usual trails up the valley were blocked by snowy foliage, bent limbs, and in some cases tree tops that had come down because of the heavy snow/ice.

I found one of my routes blocked by an oak tree top so I had to do some creek leaping to get around it. Finally I decided to brush bust and follow a faint deer trail up the valley wall.

The light was so amazing at times I just stood and looked at it. Even with no glasses and poor vision, the colors and light was incredible.

I got into the open meadow and headed on home.

My tracks across the Meadow.

I was really surprised at how well my little point and shoot
camera did and how well I sort of
was able to compose things even without
my glasses. Mother Nature

did the work. I just tried to 
record some of it.

I do truly love snow and winter. I am sometimes torn between snowshoeing, hiking, or cross country skiing. Generally I will pick the snow shoes as they do not limit where I can go. 

We are supposed to get a storm starting Wednesday evening, so I will have plenty of snow to enjoy. The roads and the winds will get nasty.

But we have food, shelter, and a full tank of LP. 

I'll just squint through my goggles and enjoy it.