The Four Seasons

THE FOUR SEASONS

Wednesday, March 07, 2007 (Napanee Beaver)

Friday, March 09, 2007 (Picton Gazette)

There were times, I’m sure when the three of us felt like the Pied Piper of Hamelin as we trudged along on a well established trail in the Big Swamp. There weren’t 130 as in the famous folk tale, but there were 46, and on a winter walk, that is indeed an encouraging number. This was only one of numerous winter walks that I have conducted, or assisted in, this winter. It was likely the last winter walk we will enjoy, for it is March, and a time when the weather begins to flirt with rising temperatures and signs of spring.

I would have to search hard to remember a winter that I have enjoyed more, albeit late in arriving. I have cross country skied, I have snow-shoed, and the weather each time was what hikers fantasize about. In each case, below freezing, but not so cold as to take away the enjoyment of the experience. We had a few major snowfalls, and we have had overnight dustings, ideal for brushing up on animal tracks. The other morning, I was following a set of dog or coyote tracks down the road I walk every day. The two are difficult to distinguish, and I have never been able to confidently separate them, but the gait suggested a coyote. However, meandering along side were the perfect imprints of a fisher. It isn’t often we get to see field guide quality prints in the snow like this, but it is something we can often see early in the morning, before traffic begins, and if conditions are correct. The question of who was following who remains. Only Davy Crocket and Daniel Boone could do that.

Winter walks are special, for it is then we hear the sounds of winter – rumbling ice, great horned owls hooting as they prepare to nest, coyotes howling in the distance, and trees creaking in the breeze. All good sounds. It is a time when trees, now bare of their leaves and etched against the winter sky, reveal a story of their struggle against the elements. We found several such silver maples on our swamp walk, old and twisted, some with burls, and others with loose flaking bark. Unhappy trees. But there were others with smooth tight bark, straight and tall. Happy trees.

Peterborough Examiner columnist Doud Sadler, who wrote for more than 50 years in the same paper, is a man from whom we could all gain some inspiration. He embraced winter, actively winter camping in his younger days, and became an authority on its offerings. He enthusiastically penned columns on aspects of winter most of us routinely overlook – about winter insects, identification of plant remains and winter wildlife, and devoted an entire section in one book on ice. He saw beauty and inspiration in the season, and captured the abstract in outstanding photos. I have one of his books and I read it often, hoping to acquire some of the same wisdom that this man gleaned from his intimate relationship with the outdoors for so many years. He joined me at a table during a dinner meeting in Peterborough two years ago where I was guest speaker, and during my presentation I paid tribute to this person who had contributed so much to our understanding of the four seasons, especially winter.

Has his work fallen on deaf ears and blind eyes? Perhaps kids today should curl up with one of his books and gain the same inspiration I did, for we surely do not see them outdoors in winter in the same numbers we once did. The electronic age is luring far too many people, young and old, indoors during weather that is anything but warm and balmy. We have such memories of the hillside at Macaulay Mountain at Picton seething with kids on toboggans and sleds of every description. Is it only the snowmobiler, sled dog racers and those who frequent ski resorts the only people left who truly appreciate what winter has to offer?

Years ago, I trudged through deep snow at Presqu’ile, out along a finger of land thick with white cedars that reached into the cattail marshes, thinking I was all alone. Rounding a bend, I came across an entire family of adults and their kids, gathered around enjoying lunch and hot chocolate. We need to see this kind of winter embracement again, and you can find it, here and there, but it needs to unite and perpetuate. If we drive to Algonquin in winter, we can still find it, at the Mew Lake Campground, where hardy campers can be found sprinkled throughout the campsites. One Mississauga couple we came across last winter had just emerged from a small tent where they had spent the night in absolutely frigid temperatures. As they prepared breakfast over a campfire, they volunteered that they would not have missed this experience for the world.

We need to get away from this notion that winter is necessarily a bad season. If there is anything bad about winter, it is the sea of salt and slush we have demanded in our attempt to control it. And we need to stop droning on monotonously every time we meet about cold temperatures, winds, snow and cloudy conditions. We should consider ourselves very fortunate to live where we do, where hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes, landslides, avalanches, and for the most part, floods, tend to happen elsewhere. To have four equal seasons in a year is truly a blessing for each one has its special offerings. We need to read more of Doug Sadler and we need to attend more winter hikes to understand and appreciate that exciting discoveries are out there – it’s just a matter of looking for them and gaining a true appreciation for the special offerings that each season brings us.

Although March is upon us, we can assume that winter will continue, until it is finished. Then it’s spring flowers, bird migrations and the unforgettable sound of that first song sparrow or killdeer. Until then, let’s enjoy the rest of winter, for there’s not much left.