February 02, 1989 - Making Tracks Through Wintry WoodsPage 10A/The Suffolk Times /February 2, 1989
Making Tracks Through Wintry Woods
By Paul Stoutenburah
In the heat of last summer Barbara and
I thumbed through the Elderhostel
newsletter (the size of a newspaper)
looking for a place that might cool us
down. We found a week in New Hamp-
shire where cross - country skiing was
going to be taught, along with "Modem
European Cultures" and "Tracks and
Tales in the Snow." It sounded good to
us and for a short while helped cool us
in that stifling summer heat.
Last week found us with friends in
New Hampshire along with our new
cross - country skis. We had never skied
before and neither had our friends, so we
were all a bit apprehensive. The confer-
ence center was new with wonderful ac-
commodations situated at the foothills
of the White Mountains with snow all
about us.
To me skiing for the first time was
like being on skates for the first time.
My world became very unstable. Even
before I got the skis on they wouldn't
stay still but had the uncanny ability of
slowly sliding away each time I tried to
clamp the boot to the ski. Once attached
I, like the rest, was ready to conquer the
world — well, almost. As a matter of
fact I was even able to get off to a slight
shuffle. The instructor moved from one
group to another as if his skis were a
part of him. It all looked so easy.
I felt a little better when I looked
around and found one of our group of 30
collapsed over his skis and trying to
untangle himself. I soon found out just
how tangled one could get if you fell in
those first few hours. After a short time
we switched from a shuffle to more of a
stride and were a bit more relaxed.
Chickadees Eat a Lot
A young female naturalist spoke to
our group about winter habitat and its
many aspects of survival. She used the
example of a chickadee and told how
small birds must keep up their body
heat in the cold winter months. Chick-
adees do not have the ability to store fat
to take them through the winter, unlike
bears, caribou and others, and so has to
replenish its heat loss with a constant
intake of food. No wonder we see them
so busy around our feeders, particularly
if bad weather is moving in.
To conserve body heat chickadees and
other small birds and animals hole up at
night to get away from the elements and
often cluster together. Sometimes four
or five chickadees will hole up to share
body heat in a tree cavity. I've often
seen mice do this. They are so tightly
Focus on
Nature
huddled together they almost appear as
one.
The grouse of the north woods also
holes up on exceedingly cold nights. He
usually roosts in among the thick ever-
greens but when the temperature drops
into the single digits, the grouse will
literally drive itself into a snow bank
and dig below to spend the night where
it is warmer. On one of our field trips
the instructor took two thermometers
along. One she left on top of the snow
and with the other she dug down below.
The one on top read 24 degrees while
the one below read 32 degrees, showing
the protective qualities of snow.
Each day we looked forward to listen-
ing to this enthusiastic young natural-
ist. Mind you, there were those not es-
pecially interested in the natural world
but her presentation and sparkle kept
everyone's interest. One of her hiking
trips took us up Tin Mountain where
we looked across the valley to glisten-
ing Mt. Washington all draped in white.
We saw red - squirrel tracks under the
spruce trees and found their middens on
piles of pine cone chips left after they
had extracted the seeds. We saw the
straight tracks of a fox on patrol for
food. At one point he had caught a
small animal of some sort and the tell-
tale scarlet blood spots on the snow
gave us a true vision of the world of
survival of all wildlife. We smelled the
odor of fox in the air. It is a telltale
smell that once you catch you'll never
forget.
Tame Tracks vs. Wild
Someone's stray dog had passed along
the trail and we could see how it wan-
dered back and forth almost in an aim-
less romp compared to the tracks of the
fox who had no time for wandering or
play. His deliberate straight line gave
him away. Further along the trail we
found a porcupine's den which was
marked by the usual pile of droppings
outside the entrance. We were later to
see trees where he had taken the bark for
his winter's meal.
Our days seemed to fly by. Two
classes in the morning, some inside,
some outside, and then skiing in the af-
ternoon. We had vans to carry us to
various ski areas, one being Pinkham
Notch where we rendezvoused at the
Appalachian Mountain Club headquar-
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Photo by Paul Stoutenburgh
RABBIT TRACKS —When it snows it is fun to see how much goes on
at night by the evidence of tracks the next day.
ters. We skied along a river and lake
bed, and we saw signs of beaver where
they'd cut young poplar saplings for
their winter cache of life - sustaining
food. Beavers are active all winter long
and although we didn't see them we
knew they were nearby, snug in their
dens and probably well fed.
Good Week in the Mountain
It was a stimulating week. We seemed
to muster the fundamentals of cross -
country skiing, learned a lot about Eu-
ropean culture and added some interest-
ing notes I'd not known about the world
about us. Our weather was perfect; we
even had one day of snow that put a true
touch to our ski outing. How colorful
everyone looked in their colorful ski
outfits as the snow sprinkled down from
above.
We left Friday and headed for the New
London ferry. It didn't take long before
we were out of the snow belt and driv-
ing along the dreary winter roadside.
Once more we had gone away and found
the natural world still a new and fasci-
nating place to learn about. On top of
that we'd done some cross - country ski-
ing we'd always wanted to do. It's good
to get up and get out and enjoy our
winter days.
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765 -4144
Closed Monday
Open for lunch, Tuesday - Friday from 12 -3
Open for Dinner Tuesday - Sunday from 4 p.m.
(Opens Sunday at 1 p.m.)
Main Rd., Southold, next to Armando's (on the water)