When snow covers the hills and fog settles into the valleys, I sometimes drive up the Lac le Jeune Road looking for a break in the cloud cover.   I don’t need a trail so I look for a parking spot and some open forest.   On this cool day in December I set off into the forest near Inks Lake, following old double tracks and some newer single tracks, making routes choices along the way.   At the start, the sun broke through the cloud layers.   A few tracks lead back from the shores of Inks Lake.

I had about a half hour of bright skies at the start.

I climbed a ridge and found a good viewpoint over the surrounding forest.

Someone else had walked some of the same tracks and I followed them to a KGHM fenceline so I cut through the forest back, making my own loop.

The fog rolled back in on my way back, turning my hike into a snowy walk among ghostly sentinels in a monochrome dimension.

I hike all year round, sometimes on trails, sometimes just a wander in the wonderful winter woods…