An early winter hike

We live in Canada, and apparently that means that summer is winter and winter is just plain strange. We had two weeks of summer weather in September, and now a sudden warm January thaw has turned everything into a messy, gooey, runny sludge.

Last weekend, we had true winter for a couple of days, when the sun was shining, the air was cold and crisp, and the sky was a bright blue. We took advantage of the weather and went for a snowshoe in the woods.

I should have had a terrible time, seeing as my snowshoes kept falling off, and I spent a good portion of the hike like this:

Or like this:

Yes, my first snowshoeing experience of the year should have left me swearing, sweating, and vowing never to strap those suckers on again.

Tramping through the snow though, on a Saturday afternoon, as the laughter of my girlfriends echoed off the trees as I stumbled through the forest on feet that didn't fit, surrounded by THIS:

....what can you do but breathe in, laugh along, and embrace the wonderful sensation of snow in your underpants.