I'd been keeping my eye on this trail...

At least ever since we started getting enough snow cover so that I was able to start riding the snowmobile trails on my fatbike. The problem with this section of trail had been that no one had ridden it with their snowmobile all winter. No snowmobiles = no packed track. No packed track = no fun for Pugsley. This trail is a part of the Corridor 4 snowmobile trail between Red Creek and Wolcott, and is too narrow and overgrown for the groomers to travel that the area clubs utilize. As a result, and because it is more suited to the speeds their machines are capable of, the snowmobilers opt to travel what's known as the 104 Trail; so named after Highway Route 104 which it follows closely along side of. The 104 trail is an ugly trail because it keeps its users in constant view and exposure to the salt, sand, road grime, and general filth that decorate the sides of all highways at this time of year. This is the reason I avoid it. I prefer the tranquil sights and sounds of the lesser used section of trail I'd been watching because it meanders on an old raised rail bed through fields, brashy wooded cover, and low wetland ground. Well due to a change in the daily high temperature from the teens and low 20's we had been experiencing of late to more tolerable mid-30's, I decided to ride my cyclocross bike into work. The section of trail I had been watching just happens to cross one of the roads that I travel on this commute; luckily as I passed this crossing I happened to notice that several snowmobile tracks had recently been made down this lonely section. Had I opted to drive my car into work I would surely have missed this observation. As soon as I got home I ditched my skinny-tired cross bike for my more snow-trail worthy rig, and immediately headed out to explore. By the time I got to my starting destination the temperature had dropped to just below freezing; making the conditions just perfect after the daytime thaw. Needless to say, I had a grand time. The photo directly above was taken just after I started, at dusk. I brightened it up a bit by editing with my Adobe Photoshop. The photo at the top of the post gives an idea of how dark and lonely it seems out there in the still quiet of the winter night. That's one of the reasons I love it. Unfortunately and in reality, you're never that far from the next road crossing or even the houses out of view beyond the fields and woods; but it sure is easy to imagine that you're alone and in a vast wilderness. And sometimes, that's all the escape you need...if only for just a while.