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.