on the go again

It has been more of a marathon than a sprint for temperatures to finally get back to being where it was safe, comfortable and enjoyable to be outside for an extended period of time.  It's all relative, while it did warm up, temperatures and windchill still warranted many layers, and at times, face protection.  I stuck close to home as I worked at getting my nerve back driving on icy roads.  I have a few photos to share of a few of the days I was "out & about".  I was more focused on staying in motion to keep warm than taking photographs.  

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The sky is so pretty when it is cold!  On this morning, I was greeted with cotton candy clouds.  There had been a few snow flurries the day prior.  I find a sight like this so appealing! 

It did not take long for the frost to begin to build up on my hair.  This was after only a matter of minutes.  From here on in, it was time to pull up the face covering and put my sunglasses on.  

a sundog on the left and the sun peeking over the ridge on the right

No one else had been down along the creek this morning.  

The tracks from the day prior were covered with a new dusting of white gold.  

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This was the view in the sky that was offered up as I exited the Birth Forest on this morning.  While the afternoons this week were forecasted to be much warmer, I still preferred to be "out & about" in the morning as long as I could get where I wanted to go and was quite certain I would be OK with the temperature and windchill. 

There was no new snow but the wind whipped up what snow there already was to fill in the previous tracks.  I took this photo with my iPhone but noticed it did not pick up the ring I was seeing around the sun.  I do like this photo.....

.....but I like this photo better.  I took this shot with my big camera and it picked up the ring circling further out from the sun.  Can you see it?  It is faint but it is there!

Before heading back to my vehicle, I took this selfie.  

This is what warmer temperatures look like!  

Like I stated in the first paragraph of this post, it is all relative! 

The day finally came where it would be OK to skate again!  Being early morning and down by the river, it was still necessary to bundle up.  This was the view as I laced up my skates.  The sun had not come up yet, the ice was already swept and the groomer just started flooding the ice. 

happy to be skating

The Canal was open and by the looks of things, it had been open for days.  

This was the first time this season I skated on it. 

skating on The Canal

view from the far end of The Lagoon

sitting by the fire

The ice conditions have improved measurably since the last time I skated.  Of course, we can thank the Polar Vortex for that.  With other plans in place, it will be another week or so before I get back to skating at Bowness.  

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It's catch up time on making my way along the Colorado River for the Grand Canyon Virtual Challenge.  While I never did get behind, I felt the Challenge was getting away on me.  This time I am part of a Community rather than doing it solo or part of a Team.  We are the Grand Canyon Float Community made up of 35 conquerors (last count) who are covering the entire distance each on our own.  Our Community Leader resides in California.  The majority of the members are from the United States, the others are from Singapore, Spain, United Kingdom, Mexico, Thailand, France, Hungary and I am the only Canadian.  During the coldest days this past while, I watched the others move on down the river, I felt discouraged.  So yes now it is catch up time!

This is my virtual location on the Colorado River.

This postcard popped into my mailbox after entering my skating distance into the app.

On that day back in April of 2014 when I hiked down into the Canyon, the deepest down that I went was to Tip Off Point which is shown in this photo.  As it turns out, below me in this photo, out of sight, is the river and where I am virtually.  The river was not visible to me as I sat here.  

This map puts it all into perspective.  This was very interesting for me to see the lay of the land.  To the right is my marker on the river and the photo I am using is from when I was at Skeleton Point which is the bottom orange star and the the orange star above that is Tip Off Point where I am sitting on the rock.    

a grandeur view of the lay of the land

the bottom star on the right was where I started the hike

the bottom star on the left is where I finished the hike