BETWEEN SEASONS

IT’S CRAZY

how Winter overlaps with Spring, the seasons battling for supremacy. Yet the days are noticeably longer, more and more migrating birds have returned; moths have hatched and are mobbing street-lights; Woodfrogs have woken from their frozen winter state, ready to mate; numerous small plants, shrubs and trees have started to poke up their green shoots or branches to bud. Nature evidently runs on its own cycle. Just because we mark time with our silly calendars and make exhaustive notes of the "signs of spring", the earth is not constrained in any fashion. It is probably not concerned with us. That may deeply disturb many people who have been raised to think how powerful we are, that the earth somehow revolves around our tiny little selves. On top of all that, climate-change is real and is contributing greatly already to drastic changes the earth (and us) are experiencing. That being said, and even taking into account what (obviously) crazy months March and April can be, Spring is still "just around the corner" (exactly which corner, I’m not sure). I can see the effect that the higher sun-angle adds to the longer days on our recent white "snow-gift", encouraging more - and more rapid - melting than we would experience in the shorter days of mid-winter.

WINTERSPRING

As you can tell, I love Spring (who doesn’t?). The only issue I have with it is that it take seemingly forever for it to come to fruition. All of the other seasons fairly zip along by comparison. For one thing, with March as an excellent example, early Spring is really hard to distinguish from late Winter. We’re still apt to go below freezing and to have snow. It is some consolation to know any snow we get won’t last because of the sun’s higher angle and the ground is warmer than it had been, yet it always frustrates us. Maybe it would help if we made four minor seasons in between the four major ones - Winterspring; Summerspring; Summerfall and Winterfall. Then it might be easier to adapt from one to the other. Still I think Spring will always suffer from our green expectations after so long without verdure.

FOOTWEAR

I can't emphasize enough how important the correct footwear can be. Without the correct shoes people have a tendency to walk around muddy spots, thereby going off the trail and possibly damaging delicate endangered plants-to-be, still buried just off trail, and making the trail-keeper's job more difficult by unnecessarily widening the trail. Remember - please wear the right footwear and walk through the mud. Thank you all for your continued encouragement and support. Let's try to enjoy this early spring, but please be safe in doing so and I also suggest that we try to be extra-considerate of each other in this time.

Take Care,

"Ranger" Dave Holden

Woodstocktrails@gmail.com

(845)594-4863

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