Winter Woodland Walk
With gray skies and the typical late winter palette of grays, browns, and dirty whites (that’s my name for the snow that hangs around and stops being pretty—instead just growing dirty), I find it hard to get moving and inspired. I can deal with rainy days in summer or cold but sunny winter days, but the combo of cold and gray is a motivation/mood killer for me. Still, we salvaged the morning with a drive to Franconia Notch State Park and a walk along the Pemigewasset River.
Walking trails we’ve only before walked in summer was a bit disorienting but incredible to see the sights in a different season. The Basin, for example, looked magical—dare I say even more beautiful than in summer.
While I love taking photographs of the Pemigewasset in spring and summer, there’s something awesome about the way snow mounds cling to the rocks in winter.
And then, the oddest sight of the day, one that turned into tonight’s art project: a random tray table perched on the snowbank overlooking the river. I’d love to know the story—
And finally, tonight, I finished painting the sketch I made last night based on one of yesterday’s photos of the view looking out from the gazebo to the White Mountains.
While the weather wasn’t the most inspiring today, it did feel great to be outside and in the woods. The recreational trail we’ve walked in summer gave way to snowmobiles today, but as we walked some of the familiar trails—but today, snow-packed—we marveled at the beauty of the water rushing through and over snow-capped rocks and tree limbs.
