dang the gym was chilly today.

Clearly, Mother Nature is not paying her utilities. She brought the new year in with a morning temperature of 5 degrees. Fahrenheit.

Today the Wildlands was having a  First Day hike at 10 am on South Mountain. We were to meet at the Alpine Street trailhead.  I arrived with five minutes to spare. I usually don't park at this trailhead, so I wanted to leave time to get lost. I didn't get lost! But there was no group either. Now I didn't sign up, so maybe an email went out to cancel, but I didn't get it. But there I was, alone in the parking lot. (Beltsville cancelled two days ago!)

Now this trail and I have a checkered past. And it's been check mate trail each time.  The first time I went, I couldn't find the trail. The second time I thought it was better marked, but they put an orange and a red trail together, and I got horribly lost, in winter, with a dead cell phone.

Did I really want to take this trail alone again?  And my cell phone was at 16%, again. It would die quickly. I decided to take a chance, and the minute there was any vague confusion I'd turn around and go back. The trail markers have the names on each one, so I read every trail marker. I did not rely on color.

 The boardwalks were snow covered.

 And the creek was frozen.

The trail was 1.7 miles and I had no issues.  On the way back I decided I should have taken a selfie of my outfit. And then I remembered I bought a selfie stick at Dollar Tree for just such occassions, and it's been in my trunk since June. It was time to try it out. I really need to use it more often. Even though I am covered with fabric, I am much further back and you can see the scenery. That is the whole point of taking a picture with yourself in it. Isn't it?

Miles/Steps:   The trail map says 1.7 miles
Weather:        5°, overcast, with a wind chill of -5°
Wildlife:         None. Tracks, sure, but no actual animal. They were hunkered down somewhere warm. I didn't even hear birds.
 Extras:           I saw a crazy family of four out walking. I couldn't tell the gender of the three children. All you could see were their eyes.