Spring! From the name, you’d think that spring would, well, spring into being. Up here though, spring is less a spring and more of a 1969 Buick. It starts, coughs, stops, rolls backward down the hill before the gears engage, puts on a burst of speed, and then slows to a crawl. It is an exciting time; you never know what tomorrow will bring. It could be the first goldfinch at the feeder, or it could be another four inches of snow. It is good to try to treat both as enjoyable events, but there is no doubt that spring snow during Easter dinner doesn’t quite capture the same happy feeling as fall snow during the turkey at Thanksgiving.
Back in the woods, there is still plenty of snow. One to four feet covers much of the ground, although there are bare patches as well. One person on our timber crew has a name for snow this time of year. She calls it “mashed potato snow.” It’s a pretty good description of its consistency, although I’m pretty sure it is sometimes called other things not fit for print. It is strong enough to carry your weight for a few steps, then… it collapses and you are post-holing in snow up to your hips. You climb out again, take one or two easy steps on the surface, then, boom, back down into a hole.
One of the real problems is that in the morning, when it is cold and the snow is firm, you can easily hike a long distance. But, when you turn around in the afternoon, you may find that the mashed potato snow will slow your speed to a labor-intensive crawl. It pays to pack snowshoes in the morning, even if you don’t need them until afternoon.
If you do get out, this can be a wonderful time of year. The sun will warm you like it hasn’t since the end of August. There’s a lot of activity in the woods with returning birds and moving mammals.
We watched a red backed vole gathering seeds a few days ago. While small mammals are normally pretty secretive, this little guy seemed to be so overcome at the bounty beneath the bird feeder that he didn’t care if he was seen or not, and hung around for most of an hour.
Another even smaller animal you see this time of year are snow fleas. These tiny springtail insects are present all year, but are only easily seen in the spring when their black bodies show up as miniscule specks against the white snow. Snow fleas are only a couple of millimeters long and would be hard to find except that they end up gathering in masses at the bottom of dents in the snow, such as in a footprint. They also can be quite noisy when the mass is in a spot with dry leaves. The sound of all those jumping insects is like a quiet version of frying bacon.
Snow fleas have legs, but springtails as a group get their name from a tail like appendage they keep folded under their bodies. It can be flicked out extremely fast, and make the animal jump many body lengths in a random direction. The frying bacon noise is the sound of hundreds of those tiny tails hitting a leaf at almost the same time.
Logging traffic is not a concern in the spring, but as with the last report, mud and soft roads are possibly a worse problem. Only essential Forest Service workers are in the field right now, so we are not getting as many reports on road conditions as we usually do. That means you have to be more vigilant about possible washouts or other road degradation. And please, if you do run into a washed out section of road, phone it in to the Forest Service so we can let others know. Known sites of washouts are posted in the Alerts section of our website.
Spring is often a peak season for hypothermia because people dress for the warm afternoon, but end up still being outside in the cold evening and night. It is also easy to get wet during the spring. Snow is slushy, rain is wet, deep puddles exist where the trail used to be – and once your socks are wet, you will get cold.
Even worse, ice cover is not dependable right now. Lake Minnetonka in the Twin Cities had its earliest ice out date ever, and even though we have around 18 inches of ice on many of our lakes, a lot of it has been weakened by warmth and rain. Stay off spring ice, particularly the remaining ice on streams and rivers. If you are planning to be out for a long hike, it’s not a bad idea to pack extra socks – they don’t take up much space, and warm feet make a huge difference. If you are planning to hike where you could end up totally in the drink, pack extra clothing in a waterproof bag.
Right now, our outhouses and campgrounds are closed. Trails are not closed, although many may be impassible. Plan accordingly. Human waste should be packed out, or buried six inches deep in the ground (not just in the snow) at least 200 feet from water and from trails, campgrounds, or other developed recreation sites. We know this isn’t easy, but no one wants to find a soiled area once the snowmelts.
So long as we all refrain from creating crowds at recreation sites on the forest, getting outside continues to be one of the best things you can do in this time of self-isolation. Fresh air, sun, and open horizons are good at counteracting the effects of being stuck in the house with too much TV.
Take a break and go visit the forest. It’s nice to see that despite everything else in life being strange this season, spring is actually progressing as normal.
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