After The Blizzard

At the time you are reading this, we have had a huge winter snowstorm here, about two days ago. There was about ten inches of snow that fell on us in a matter of only a few hours. I had to drive to work right in the middle of that storm. I couldn't really get any photos until after everything was over.

I decided to show you a few places near me, so that you can see some of the results of this storm. This was the biggest snowstorm we have had in several years. They had to use plows to move the snow out of the way, so the streets could be cleared enough to drive on them.

In several places this snow was piled as tall as I am, and I'm not a short person. The last time I remember the snow having to be piled up this high was when I was a child of maybe ten years old. That was a very long time ago. It seems like only a few years ago to me.

Back then, I remember my grandpa shoveling snow and ice out of the street, so that he could get his car out. The small streets weren't plowed back then. If you wanted to get a car out, you had to dig it out yourself. Times have changed a lot since then. I miss my grandpa, he was the best.

Here is a photo from behind my house of the snow that fell on us. Notice how nothing at all has disturbed the surface of this snow yet? I plan on going out there very soon, and messing it all up. I'm going to walk back to those trees and look for animal tracks.

It's not going to be very easy for me to get back there, because the snow is very deep. That makes it really difficult to walk through, but I want to see if any living creature has been back there yet. Normally, there would be no snow back there yet, and there would still be animals to find.

The funny thing is that the first official day of winter is today, December 21. When this snowstorm hit, it wasn't even officially winter yet. With all the snow we've had already, we might be in for a long winter. This is something we haven't really been used to here in Michigan until recently.

I wonder if I picked the right winter to hike in it for the first time. This makes things really difficult for me, a very inexperienced winter hiker. I can't go out to my beloved nature trails nearly as much as I'd like. It gets very frustrating at times.

At least I know that if I'm going to learn to deal with hiking in winter and snow, this may be the perfect year to do it. If I can learn to get around successfully now, I'll be ready for years to come. I'll come out of this winter as a very confident winter hiker.

Even though we were hit very hard by this storm, it wasn't nearly as devastating as it could have been. The government around here seemed to be well prepared for it. They had snowplow trucks, and salt trucks out immediately, so they could keep the roads as clear as possible. It took over a day for the roads to be cleared, but they did it.

Again, they had to pile up the snow wherever they could, to get it out of the way. That's what they usually do with it, but this year there is so much more they have to move out of the way. Sometimes they can't really do much with it at all.

This makes it hard for anyone that is walking, because the sidewalks just can't be cleared very quickly. Most people that have to walk in places like you see in this last photo, have to do so in the street. That's very dangerous around here with the fast moving traffic. I won't walk anywhere except for a place away from any moving vehicles.

I hope I'll be able to have access to the hiking trails soon. I'm not sure if they'll be able to clear those areas enough to get close to them yet. There is also supposed to be more snow on the way. It's beginning to look like I'm going to have my greatest challenge yet this year. How will I do new things out there if I can't get there? I'll have to think of something. This should be good. I'll be back tomorrow with something new.


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