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What Do You Do In Winter ?

I used to snowshoe, but we don't get snow in CNY anymore. I only had enough snow to go out once last winter. In early March. A week later it was all gone. The lake I live on froze over for one week last winter so ice fishing is out as well.
 
Northern Ontario here too....here's a few pics of winter time fun.
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I make wine.

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This winter I'm hoping to build at least one more canoe and finish the engine for the Jeep I'm restoring (Silver Anniversary CJ5). I also like researching out-of-the-way hiking trails and canoe trips that don't have much info posted online.
Whoa!! Hang on to that CJ, those Silver Anniversary models are extremely valuable.
My highly modified CJ5 is worthless as an investment, but I’ll never part with it. It took me decades to build it just as I wanted.
When my son was 15 years old, we rebuilt a 1984 Scrambler from dust. It’s been 18 years now, he says he’ll never part with it as well!
 
Winter has been my favorite season for a long time now. I love it more as I get older. That could be a result of accumulating (and being able to afford) higher quality gear for my outdoor winter pursuits. I’m a runner and can’t wait to substitute x country skiing for my running. We also do most of our backpacking in winter- on snowshoes and with our pulk when we can. We do a bit of alpine skiing and also really love ice skating. Snow and ice just create a playground in my view.
 
Winter; well i push snow, shovel snow, sweep snow and complain about snow; then me senses return and i realize what a (mostly) perfect life i live.
The rest of the time is taken up by myriad projects. This winter that has included re-wrapping a vintage Heddon Pal Musky rod for my daughter, building a Carbon canoe paddle with some kids, making another carbon fiber dip net, raising my seat and installing a lining hole in the Dip Ship (discovery salmon slayer) tying some flies and tending the cucumber’s i grow thru the winter.
In line yet is a vintage Phillipson blank to finish out. This one will be a 1 7/8oz 6wt. By the time im done with that it will be time to get garden starts going!

Winter’s not our favorite time of year but we still appreciate the beauty that’s all around us and with only 3 snowfalls under our belt this year BUT totaling 48 inches; The plow truck is looking pretty beautiful this year too.
 
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with only 3 snowfalls under our belt this year BUT totaling 48 inches; The plow truck is looking pretty beautiful this year too.
Could be worse--just north of Thompson Pass they got 6 feet in a day with that 8 November storm, close to the 6.5 feet record from 1963.
 
Yes Glenn, it is a portable bunk bed, the Disco-bed. Very cool, we only use it if we are going to be set up for a few nights. For overnighters we just use our regular cots.
How would you compare this Coleman propane lantern to the old standby Coleman white gas lantern?
The mantle lasts about ten times longer than the white gas lantern, plus no more messy gas filling and pumping. I like it a lot, but I have to admit with the improvements to LED lights in the last few years, I hardly use the propane light anymore.
 
With a river bottoms cabin 8 miles from my house and a very remote old log cabin 600 miles away at the top.of MN I have plenty of spots to escape to over the winter. Here in northern IL we have too many deer and an unending supply of various deer tags with seasons til mid-Jan. so another enticement to get outside. Cutting firewood, volunteer work clearing invasive trees and trail maintenance is more fun than the biweekly gym workouts. Still plenty of time for bird watching too. I take part in up to six different Christmas Bird Counts. WOW, is that the spring melt I hear !!!
 
I used to x-c country ski and telemark on lift served hills. Now I am 73 and have some heart issues.
I like to have tent parties in the backyard, cook on a fire and sleep in the trailer in the backyard campsite.
I do day hikes on good days.
By Feb daylight starts to return and it is fun to camp in the low desert like Death Valley.
By March, some camping on the warmer West side of the Sierra. Wine tasting and hiking.
 
Winter is when I do the most canoeing. I started out canoeing whitewater. From where I live (Balt/DC area), that usually meant a 90-minute drive. Often, the drive would be 3 hours. Then shuttle, reverse shuttle, and drive home. I did a lot of 10-12 hour days, and few runs take more than four hours. So really, my hobby was driving. The canoeing was just a break in the driving. i Decided paddling locally would be a better hobby. The Chesapeake is about ten miles from me. I became a sea kayaker. But I dislike sea kayaking in the winter, so I return to canoeing in the winter.

I know global warming is just a fabrication, but in this part of Maryland, the water hardly ever freezes hard anymore. Frozen ponds and rivers used to be a regular thing here in the winter. I love to skate on ponds, but it’s been many years since ponds hereabout had ice strong enough to skate on. So, winter is canoeing season.
 
I've been raking leaves. The motion is not dissimilar from paddling. Maybe I need to put a T-grip on the end of one of the rakes.

Here in North Carolina the local rivers are mainly up in the winter, in the paddling season never really ends.
 
Chip,
I grew up around DC. If I lived there now I would have a nice boat on the Bay. A sea kayak on the Bay would be a great thing to explore all of that shoreline, rivers, and inlets.

Mr. Poling,
Yes. Absolutely. I had a landscape company for my last gig. I used a large landscape rake and moved it much like a paddle. It really helps to build up the paddling muscles. I still have large lats as a result.
 
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