Maxwell Mays Wildlife Refuge
Posted By auntie on January 9, 2014
4 miles; coventry, ri
you know how, when you stub your toe, if you then whack your head, your toe stops hurting? today’s hike was like that. it was so durned COLD, i forgot about my ankle. almost had frostbite in my thumbs, but i forgot about my ankle.
i revisited the maxwell mays wildlife refuge today, this time in the company of the usual suspects. and thank goodness they were there! i managed to save my thumbs with the timely application of some hand warmers that i got from a suspect (thanks DN!).
we didn’t get as cold here in southern new england as they got up in the upper midwest, but it was 5-degrees when i got up this morning. five. degrees. and i discovered something very cool about about bodies of water that freeze suddenly, like carr pond did. they make eerie noises. the pond sounded like some kind of bird hooting. i poked around online to see if i could find a similar sound, and the closest i came was this video, but without the laser-y noises and not as frequent. but in the stillness of the very cold winter woods, the sound carried all over the place.
it LOOKS cold, ammirite?
it hadn’t snowed that i know of, but there was a very light dusting on the ground. i think it was just solidified coldness.
upstanding in the forest
and here i am holding this GIANT BOULDER up. not really. but you can see the scale. i love coming across these massive glacial erratics throughout the woods.
end of the blue trail
end of the blue trail, or perhaps the beginning, depending on your direction. the trails here are very clearly blazed and marked.
you can find the maxwell mays wildlife refuge in the hikefinder.
But it was so beautiful, you could actually get to love winter hiking, right?
uh, i actually wouldn’t go so far as to use the verb “love.” i love to hike in the spring and fall. i could come to enjoy winter hiking. but love?