The one good thing about winter, is that in the end you know it will go away! Well, barring a massive volcano eruption or asteroid collision anyway!
It’s not that I hate winter. . . oh, well, yes it is! I mean I used to not hate winter. Not to loathe winter. Not despise winter. No, there was a time when I only had a mild dislike. Winter was like an irritating co-worker. (Yeah, they’re a pain in the bum but you’ll go home soon.) But it was not more than a couple years into my new found paddling fixation that I actually crossed the horizon into hatred.
Sure in winter you can run around the snow with great big tennis rackets tied to your feet. You can ski downhill if you can afford it or cross-country if you are into it. You can enjoy unique photographic opportunities. You can even paddle while you are still able to find open water. Still winter was not meant for the living. Winter is a time when the world becomes cold and uncaring about the survival of most forms of life. Winter demands adaptation. You can’t just “be” and live to tell about it. No, life has to struggle.
In order to even survive winter humans had to find ways to survive it. They couldn’t just exist or live off the land. Humans have to use fuel and create heat. They have to find or build shelter. They have to make warm clothes. They have to hunt or store food. Even today it won’t take much for winter to kill you. Just one mistake and you’re gone.
I often wondered about those crazy ancestors of ours who first went north. I’m sure it all seemed fine and dandy in the summer. Summer in the north can be full of abundance. Still, it’s temporary. I’m sure the first early humans would follow the animals lead and rush back south as soon as the first frosts began to form on the open plains. (If not sooner). Yet some daft human somewhere thought, “Hey let’s stay! Wouldn’t that be a riot?!”. Well everyone loves an adventure but you would think about the time January rolled around everyone else in his clan were getting a bit irritated. “Let’s stay!” he says. Great plan!!. . . Idiot!”.
Imagine the first people who planned to stay through a winter season. They would sit down and work out all the stuff they had to do to survive. Right then and there you’d think they’d say “Man, this is a lot of work just to stay in one place that’s always dark and try to avoid freezing to death.”
Still winter does have it’s beauty. It certainly makes Christmas all “Christmassy”. (Snow goes so well with mangers and goat herders after all!) Still, if I had it my way winter could start in November and be as cold and snowy as it wished but then by decree it would come to a screeching halt the day after Christmas. On December 26th it would go from zero degrees Fahrenheit at night, then soar up to eighty seven by mid-day. Winter would stop. For a day or two you could paddle around great icebergs in the warm air while a low fog clung to the cold surface of the water. Instantly every river would fill with a rush of water creating a whitewater heaven for anyone interested. By mid-January the grass would again be green. By mid-February you could roll your kayak without a drysuit. Winter would be a distant memory until once again fall colors would rage though October and snow again would fall in November for a few weeks. But we wouldn’t mind. We would know it would soon be over. Over instantly on December 26th.
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The one good thing about winter, is that in the end you know it will go away! Well, barring a massive volcano eruption or asteroid collision anyway!
It’s not that I hate winter. . . oh, well, yes it is! I mean I used to not hate winter. Not to loathe winter. Not despise winter. No, there was a time when I only had a mild dislike. Winter was like an irritating co-worker. (Yeah, they’re a pain in the bum but you’ll go home soon.) But it was not more than a couple years into my new found paddling fixation that I actually crossed the horizon into hatred.
Sure in winter you can run around the snow with great big tennis rackets tied to your feet. You can ski downhill if you can afford it or cross-country if you are into it. You can enjoy unique photographic opportunities. You can even paddle while you are still able to find open water. Still winter was not meant for the living. Winter is a time when the world becomes cold and uncaring about the survival of most forms of life. Winter demands adaptation. You can’t just “be” and live to tell about it. No, life has to struggle.
In order to even survive winter humans had to find ways to survive it. They couldn’t just exist or live off the land. Humans have to use fuel and create heat. They have to find or build shelter. They have to make warm clothes. They have to hunt or store food. Even today it won’t take much for winter to kill you. Just one mistake and you’re gone.
I often wondered about those crazy ancestors of ours who first went north. I’m sure it all seemed fine and dandy in the summer. Summer in the north can be full of abundance. Still, it’s temporary. I’m sure the first early humans would follow the animals lead and rush back south as soon as the first frosts began to form on the open plains. (If not sooner). Yet some daft human somewhere thought, “Hey let’s stay! Wouldn’t that be a riot?!”. Well everyone loves an adventure but you would think about the time January rolled around everyone else in his clan were getting a bit irritated. “Let’s stay!” he says. Great plan!!. . . Idiot!”.
Imagine the first people who planned to stay through a winter season. They would sit down and work out all the stuff they had to do to survive. Right then and there you’d think they’d say “Man, this is a lot of work just to stay in one place that’s always dark and try to avoid freezing to death.”
Still winter does have it’s beauty. It certainly makes Christmas all “Christmassy”. (Snow goes so well with mangers and goat herders after all!) Still, if I had it my way winter could start in November and be as cold and snowy as it wished but then by decree it would come to a screeching halt the day after Christmas. On December 26th it would go from zero degrees Fahrenheit at night, then soar up to eighty seven by mid-day. Winter would stop. For a day or two you could paddle around great icebergs in the warm air while a low fog clung to the cold surface of the water. Instantly every river would fill with a rush of water creating a whitewater heaven for anyone interested. By mid-January the grass would again be green. By mid-February you could roll your kayak without a drysuit. Winter would be a distant memory until once again fall colors would rage though October and snow again would fall in November for a few weeks. But we wouldn’t mind. We would know it would soon be over. Over instantly on December 26th.
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