Winter Outside the Door

Late afternoon in the ravine woods

One of my favorite parts of living in the home we bought ten years ago is being next to a wild and wooly ravine woods. The woods stretches only a block or so north of our place but it hides the other neighborhood during the growing season. It feels like a secret place.

Situated near the top of a bluff overlooking the Mississippi River, this unkempt ravine woods winds from the bluff top down and around a couple of neighborhoods and comes out on the Eagle Bluff Park access trail out of La Crescent's Veteran's Park. There is one small trail that connects our neighborhoods used by runners, dog walkers, kids and bikers that stays open year-round through their use.

While not high quality woods (especially after the black walnut was logged out seven years ago), it still harbors a surprising riot of plant and animal life. The dense and tangled understory is home to deer, squirrels, mice, coyotes, wild turkeys, possums, mice, snakes, voles, moles, fireflies and plenty of ticks. The calls of woodpeckers and barred owls accompany the flocks of other birds year-round. 

A few of our woods next-door neighbors in winter

The woods and it's plant life provide endless fascination (and challenge as the woods is always seeking to move into our yard). From our windows, we see plenty of wildlife action - especially through late fall into early spring's see-through season. 

I seldom get into the woods in spring and summer because the forest floor is so overgrown with brambles and invasives and littered with fallen trees and branches. And then the ticks... 

Deer tracks show me the way

But it is my favorite spot to jump into the winter woods and snowshoe following the deer trails up and down and around to lookouts and steep ravine sides. Following those trails lets me set a snowshoe track all over the woods and even down to the park's access trail. The freedom to slap on snowshoes and hop into the woods to see what I can see - deer beds, deer, turkeys, birds, overlooks and steep bluffsides - makes it a great daily routine.

I hope you find a nearby piece of the wild whether woods, wetlands or prairie (or tame like parks and golf courses) to tramp in when winter graces us with her less often snow cover. It's good for the soul - and the eyes!

Stopping by the woods..

Images, unless noted - Marge Loch-Wouters

You can read my quarterly column on seasonal hiking suggestions in Inspire(d) Driftless Magazine available online or pick up a free copy at businesses and organizations around the Driftless areas of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa.

ORA’s Community Trail Farm is Open!

Hot off the presses! ORA announced at 9 am on Wednesday, December 17 that the Community Trail Farm in La Crosse is now open to hikers/bikers. Check out more info on the Trails, vision and fundraising at ORA’s website. 

🎉 The gate is open! The Community Trail Farm is now officially open for public pedestrian and bicycle access! There is no parking available on site but you may park at Pammel Creek Park and run/walk/ride in. While this opening comes earlier than anticipated, we believe it’s important to welcome the community into the space as soon as possible, inviting public enjoyment while we continue building and restoring the Community Trail Farm.

🚶‍♀️🚲 Pedestrian & bike access only

⏰ Open daily | 5:00 AM – 10:00 PM

🚗 No public parking on-site yet

👉 Public parking is available at State Road School and Pammel Creek Park

📍 Walk or bike in using the existing bridge

This project is still actively being built  and restored, and you’re getting to explore it in the early stages. Trails, restoration work, and future amenities will continue to take shape over  the coming months and years. Please follow all posted signage as you explore and help us care for a space that’s still being built.

Thank you to our community of donors, volunteers and change makers who made this vision come to life. This is a true community effort and we are so honored to open this space to the public. 

Check out their FB post announcement here.

Naturalist's Corner - What's Cool? What's Hot?

You may be expecting a post on the trendiest hiking gear or maybe climate change...

...but instead I want to reflect on two recent curiosities of nature and our seasons that I encountered. It's also about the delight we can find in learning - and learning more - on our hikes and interactions with nature.

The Cool

Northern-facing algific talus limestone cliffs

I spent time recently in Decorah, exploring a loop trail in Phelp's Park, especially at the start of its Trollkor's Trail. As we began our hike, we immediately went past a series of high limestone cliffs with a profusion of broken rock at the bottom and many small crevices and holes. Hmmm, what was this? We soon came upon a kiosk, detailing the algific talus slopes that are quite common in northeast Iowa. 

Checking out the cold-air flow

Then, past the kiosk, we noted large swaths of bright delicate fern moss covering the hillside. While moss isn't unusual at this time of year, the absolute masses we were seeing were. On that first hike on a 39F day, we were puzzled by this proliferation. 

It took a second visit, later in the week in much warmer 70F weather, to put two and two together. We were within touching distance of the north-facing algific (cold producing) talus (loose rock) slopes venting cold air from the beginning of our hike! Cool!

A chilly 55F in 71F weather

On that second warmer weather hike, as we passed the first short broken cliffs and the subsequent mossy slopes, we were blasted with cold air coming out of those vents.  The verdant moss on the hillside surrounded and covered those blast holes which were emitting 55F air. I had to hop into the sun after lingering there while confirming the temp! Our first hike was in air so cold we never felt the cold-air outflow. On a warm day, it was noticeably colder as we passed.

Ferns covering a vent

Living in the Driftless area, I have often heard about these slopes but never experienced them myself. According to the WI DNR biodiversity page, these steep north and east facing slopes occur when water enters through cracks in the limestone, freezes and slowly melts during the summer. It produces an outflow of cold air - a microclimate that supports rare plant and animal life. In general, these slopes are protected and not widely publicized to preserve their fragile ice age ecology.

So it was with great delight that I experienced their frosty air on a warm November day. I can hardly wait to return in spring and summer to observe what rare plants, within touching distance from the trail, prosper on these IA slopes  

THE HOT
Like many of you, with our early December snows, I often take snow cover for granted. It's there for snow fun, right?  But there's something special underneath the snow - the subnivean zone. It's a layer under the snow that retains heat throughout the winter and allows life to continue. Hmm, heat in the outdoors!

What's under that snow?

Subnivean is a such a lovely word that rolls off the tongue - and such an important piece of our winter landscape. The Latin roots of this word (sub and nivis) simply mean "below snow." After reading a recent post on naturalist Emily's Stone's amazing blog Natural Connections from the Cable (WI) Natural History Museum about the subnivean zone, my curiosity was piqued.

Over the years, I have seen spiders and snowfleas atop the snow and small tunnels and faint trails as the snow melts - all evidence that something was happening under the snow I hiked. We've all also probably seen, in nature photos and documentaries, foxes and owls honing in on small rodents beneath the snow cover. This subnivean zone provides an important part of winter survival for living things, from, as Emily Stone writes, "mice to martens, bacteria, fungi, spiders, hibernating insects, frozen wood frogs, and more."

So how does it happen? As the first substantial snow falls, it piles up on rocks, fallen trees, and vegetation that act like umbrellas creating space below. The snow cover creates a kind of thermal blanket and insulates the space. Those open spaces make up the subnivean zone. The temperatures remain constant at about 32F even if the air above the snow is much colder. Water vapor that forms from the earth's residual heat freezes at the bottom of the snowpack to create a type of ceiling.

Image - Emily Stone
Used with permission

In the photo at left from her blog post, Emily Stone writes: "All winter long I will monitor the air temperature and the temperature of a thermometer I recently buried in the Subnivean Zone under the snow. In it’s first day of existence this winter, the Subnivean Zone did not drop below 33 degrees!"

No wonder there is abundant life in that warmer zone.

It was delightful to spend time over the past few weeks learning more about both natural phenomena. If you want to dive a little more deeply, please check out some of the resources below:

Resources

The Cool - Algific Talus Slopes

A Global Treasure

 - Erica Place. Iowa Heritage Foundation. 2025

Karst Topography

 - Winneshiek County Conservation Board

Algific Talus Slopes

 - Wisconsin DNR

The Hot - Subnivean

Below the Snow

 - Ellen Horowitz. Montana Outdoors. March-April 2024

The Subnivean Zone: Shelter in the Snow

 - Barbara Mackay. Northern Woodlands Magazine. December 29, 2014.

Five Features of the Secret Ecosystem Under the Snow 

-Johnathan Pauli and Benjamin Zuckerberg. Grow Magazine, Spring 2024.

 Anaamaagon: Under the Snow: Exhibit Guide 

 - Cable Museum of Natural History, 2024

Images, unless noted - Marge Loch-Wouters

Standing in the 71F sunshine to warm up
after exploring the algific talus vents

You can read my quarterly column on seasonal hiking suggestions in Inspire(d) Driftless Magazine available online or pick up a free copy at businesses and organizations around the Driftless areas of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa.

[Note: For those who accessed an unfinished version of this post on Thursday, my apologies. The holiday prep clearly helped me lose track of time and I forget to complete it.]

Snowshoeing!

What have I been doing over the past week instead of blogging?

Snowshoeing!

It's been a long time since we've had ski-able, snowshoe-able snow this early in December. And after two very dry, brown winters with little snow and much melting between each storm, I feel the need to get out as often as I can to enjoy my favorite winter sport.

So what do I love about it? The most obvious is that it keeps me active in even the coldest days as well as during periods of deep snow. Slogging through shin- and knee-deep snow in boots while breaking a trail is not fun. Floating over the same trail in snowshoes as the first person on it after a storm is more my cup of tea.

Image -
Lloyd Lorenz

While I also cross-country ski, I like that I can simply throw on my snowshoes and head out during and immediately after a snowstorm. No waiting for grooming to get my outside fun in!

Plus I am an inveterate off-trailer in the winter snow. Trails are just suggestions. The real fun for me is heading off into the marvelously accessible woods and seeing what I can see. 

During most growing seasons, the density of undergrowth makes most off-trailing arduous. In winter, snow opens up great swaths of that understory to the curious outdoors person. While breaking trail is more tiring, it also has great rewards by letting you get up close and personal to rock formations and running water (or traversing solid ice) to explore areas you can't easily access in the warmer, snowless months.

A pole can be useful as you tramp whether you are on or off trails. Steep climbs or descents are easier with a pole to balance with. If you are off-trailing, you can create your own switchbacks to make steep inclines less fraught.

While that's my jam, you may want to use the hiking trails to keep the energy expenditure low. Hikers and other snowshoers tamp down the snow and make snowshoeing a snap. 

Image courtesy of ORA

If you are using wider shared use trails that are groomed for cross country skiers, please be mindful of best practice though. Stay to the side of the trail and avoid using the tracks for skate and classic skiing. Volunteers spend hours grooming those trails for those of us who also enjoy skiing. Walking, snowshoeing or biking on those tracks degrades them for skiers. 

If you are snowshoeing and cross a cross-country ski trail, please lift your snowshoes over the classic track rather than plow through the track. Sharing trails respectfully means that all our winter-loving outdoor friends can have a great experience pursuing their snowy passions!

Finally, for ultimate snowshoeing fun, when buying snowshoes, look for ones that have easy bindings to get in and out of. In crispy cold weather, you don't want to spend your time with cold hands struggling to get your 'shoes on and off. Spending a bit of time and research before you buy can mean fewer cold fingers and bent backs and more time on the trails!

See you on (and off!) the trails!

Images, unless noted - Marge Loch-Wouters

Image - Lloyd Lorenz

You can read my quarterly column on seasonal hiking suggestions in Inspire(d) Driftless Magazine available online or pick up a free copy at businesses and organizations around the Driftless areas of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa.

I Spy on the Trails - November 2025

An awe-inspiring coronal aurora display caught
the night of November 11-12, Duluth MN
 Image - Bob King

November was again a mostly mild month this year, similar to last year. While a hard frost finally hit mid month, much of the time we basked in daytime temps in the 40s and 50s. We even managed a balmy 60s late in the month. There were many cloudy days, a bit of rain here but sunny enough to continue finishing cleaning up gardens, yards and landscaping. We had our first real blow and snow around Thanksgiving to remind us that Winter Solstice is less than a month away. Dropping temps into the 20’s and our first decent measurable/shove-able snow in our final November days (with a last dump of snowshoe-able snow at last -hurray!!) remind us that the lonnnnggggg fall has really come to an end.  Welcome winter!

Pike’s Peak State Park
on a warm day in McGregor IA

Swan migration heated up in mid November, and there were good numbers at most of the spots we like to observe - Shady Maple near Stoddard WI, Brownsville Lookout in MN and Red Oak lookout near Harper's Ferry IA. Now that the government shutdown is over for the moment, you can keep up-to-date on how many waterfowl and raptors are present at the many lookouts monitored the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge at their website here.

Even with clouds,
the viewing was spectacular
Image - Lloyd Lorenz

The big news during the month was the pleasure of enjoying, with so many people around the country and globe, the absolutely stunning auroral displays around Veteran's Day. At our latitude, we seldom see the aurora and when we do, it mostly manifests itself as pale green and white. Only our photos catch the purples and faint reds. This time, the color was deep and readily apparent to the naked eye after the sun's three rapid coronal mass ejections (CME). I am so glad we lived to see this incredible show. If you’d like to read more about the shapes auroras might take, this EarthSky blog post has a great article.

I can see forever…

While I'll miss the long, languorous colorful autumn tree color, I find our "see-through" season just beginning quite fascinating as well. With gun deer hunting seasons throughout November in both Minnesota and Wisconsin, I spent more time hiking and scouting in Iowa this month. Their deer gun season doesn't start until early December. I had the time to scout some new spots in Decorah IA that I know I'll return to throughout the year. With mild temperatures and leaf fall in early November, bluff hiking with spectacular vistas was quite wonderful this month. 

A nice surprise while hiking
Trollkor’s Loop in Decorah IA.
Image - Jean Hammons

In terms of wildlife and plants, I observed many, many of our winter-staying birds like woodpeckers, blue jay, chickadees and nuthatches along with trumpeter and tundra swans, Canada geese and numerous ducks. A few sturdy autumn meadowhawk dragonflies hoarded time in the sun. Eagles and hawks were much in evidence. And a fine buck joined us for part of our ravine hike.

Prairie smoke sprouts

Most plants have gone to seed.  I was surprised on a hike or two to see the green leaves of prairie smoke, spotted bee balm and pasque flower hugging tight to the ground along with a few confused leaves of hepatica, yarrow, small flowered leafcup and false rue anemone coaxed to emerge by sun and warmth. 

Pops of blue wood and hairy asters lingered here and there and northern maidenhair ferns and a few bulbet bladderferns were determined to hold throughout the month. Also hanging in were a Dryad's Saddle shelf mushroom and Ravenel's stink horn (they do reek and flies do love them). 

Pulpit Rock, Decorah IA

Just a reminder, even when gun seasons end, hunters are still out. Please remember to wear blaze orange or other bright colors when hiking on or adjacent to public land. Our hunters want us to be just as safe as we ourselves do! If you are wondering where to hike in the colder weather and the muted colors of late fall and early winter, be sure to drop by my recent blog post with some recommendations for great winter hiking.

What are YOU seeing on your hikes?

A month of hikes
Hikes below in colored, bold type or underlined have links to previous posts OR descriptions/location of the trails found online.

Eagles Bluff Environmental Education Center, Lanesboro MN; Holland Sand Prairie, Holmen WI; Lytle’s Landing, Brice Prairie WI; Beaver Creek Valley State Park, Caledonia MN; Phelps Park, Decorah IA (4); Pulpit Rock Trail, Decorah IA; Ice Cave Trail, Decorah IA  Pikes Peak State Park, McGregor IA; Goose Island County Park, La Crosse County, WI, urban hiking, downtown Chicago IL; the ravine woods next door to our house (first snowshoe of the season)

A last farewell to autumn color

The "I Spy on the Trails" column is a phenology (the study of seasonal changes in plants and animals) journal to chronicle year-round the weather, plant life and wildlife I observe while hiking. It is very useful in helping me compare observations from year-to-year. The column is published monthly from September through April and then twice-a-month from May through August when warm weather brings the natural world back to vibrant life.

Up close and personal with
 a Ravenel’s stinkhorn mushroom

Images, unless noted - Marge Loch-Wouters

Enjoying a REALLY tall live Christmas tree 
while walking down Chicago’s Michigan Ave.
Image - Lloyd Lorenz

You can read my quarterly column on seasonal hiking suggestions in Inspire(d) Driftless Magazine available online or pick up a free copy at businesses and organizations around the Driftless areas of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa.