A Northwoods Almanac for 1/8/21

 A Northwoods Almanac for 1/8 - 21/2021  

 

Rime Ice or Hoar Frost

            Right after New Year’s Day, our area experienced several foggy evenings that led to gorgeous morning frosts on trees. I’ve always heard two terms to describe such events - rime ice and hoar frost - but how to tell the difference? Here are the definitions:

Rime ice occurs when supercooled droplets freeze onto an exposed surface. Hard rime is often very dense, and an entire tree may be coated evenly with it. This type of ice occurs due to freezing fog when wind speeds are high, and temperatures are in the range of 17-28°F. Soft rime is not as thick, appears fragile with individual spikes, and is more likely to happen during a freezing fog when winds are calm.

Hoar frost occurs when ice crystals attach to grass, leaves, and branches on a clear night when the temperature quickly drops. As the surface of the snow rapidly cools, the warmer interior of the snowpack radiates heat out and the upwelling moisture creates the growth of the frost. Hoar originates from Old English, meaning “showing signs of old age,” because the frost makes the trees resemble a white beard. 

            By these definitions then, we experienced rime ice.

Rime ice on the Wisconsin River, photo by Bev Engstrom 

 

Average Coldest Weeks of the Year Now Occurring 

            According to data from Woody Hagge in Hazelhurst, the period from January 6 to 26 is when we experience the year’s coldest average highs of 21° and coldest average lows of 3°. So far, however, January has come in like a lamb with temperatures well above normal. That, of course, can all change in an instant.

 

Sightings

            The Manitowish River finally froze below our house in Manitowish on 12/23. Last year it iced-over on 12/11.

Counters on Minocqua’s Christmas Bird Count on 12/17 tallied 31 species. Unusual birds included red crossbills, a kingfisher, a fox sparrow, and a sharp-shinned hawk.

            Deb and Randy Augustinak in Land O’ Lakes sent me some trail cam videos of a barred owl dining in their yard. I would think our currently modest snowpack would provide good hunting opportunities for barred owls. It’s when our snowpack gets too deep or is coated with a hard crust that the barred owls struggle to capture rodents wintering in the subnivean zone. 

We continue to have numerous common redpolls and a small flock of pine grosbeaks at our bird feeders, along with a recently arrived tree sparrow. Other unusual birds include several common grackles, a red-winged blackbird, and a female cardinal. The flock of evening grosbeaks that was here for several weeks has moved on, while one or two pine siskins and American goldfinches come and go.

Common wintering birds at our feeders include black-capped chickadees, red-breasted and white-breasted nuthatches, mourning doves, blue jays, downy and hairy and pileated woodpeckers.

            A long-tailed weasel, along with numerous chickadees, has been feeding on a rib cage of a deer that we placed below our house. I’m always impressed at the weasel family’s lightening quickness and their ability to explore every narrow nook and cranny for prey. However, their their shape - one writer called them “furry snakes with legs” - causes them to lose heat more quickly than a heavier and rounder animal. So, to compensate, they have to eat one-third to one-half of its body weight a day and maintain a high metabolic rate, which makes them engage in nearly constant hunting. Their black tail tip apparently diverts predators by causing a raptor to dive at the black tip and come up empty. 

weasel photo by Margo Perkins

 

Snowshoeing

            Back in the 1990s, Mary and I sold canoes and kayaks from our home in Manitowish, and along with all the paddling paraphernalia, we also sold snowshoes, specifically Iverson wooden snowshoes that have been made in the UP for over 60 years. When we sold our business in 1999 to Chequamegon Adventure Outfitters in Minocqua (great shop!), we kept eight pairs of snowshoes for use by family and friends: two 56-inch-long pair for breaking really deep snow (one “Alaskan” style and the other “Ojibwa” style), two 46-inch-long pairs for breaking relatively deep snow, two 36-inch-long pairs for lighter snow conditions, and two 30-inch-long pairs for walking on hard-broken trails. In recent years, we also purchased two pairs of lightweight short aluminum snowshoes from Minocqua Winter Park for walking on really hard-packed trails. This abundance of snowshoes may seem like overkill to those who only walk on packed trails, but each size makes sense for the snow conditions we might encounter on any given day and what we want to explore.

            If we want to just get out on an existing trail and take a walk, then the small wooden shoes are usually what we use. But if we want to do some investigation off-trail, which to me is what makes snowshoeing the most fun and interesting, then we need the longer shoes for flotation. 

If you’ve ever gone off-trail in shoes too short for the snow conditions, you know what I mean. Once when Mary and I were leading a snowshoe hike on a packed trail, we came to a bog adjacent to the trail where the deep snow was untrammeled. I wanted to demonstrate the difference in flotation between our longer wooden shoes and the shorter aluminum shoes nearly everyone else was wearing. I walked out onto the bog and sunk in perhaps six inches, but was able to maneuver around just fine. I then asked for a volunteer wearing the short aluminum shoes to try his/her luck at walking in the bog. The person immediately sunk in several feet. In then trying to extricate herself, she did a face-plant, which made the flotation point very well I thought (I helped her up, brushed her off, made sure she was okay and thanked her profusely - I’m really not mean). 

The discussion then moved on to a comparison of wooden vs. metal snowshoes, and here’s what I see as the advantages of wooden shoes:                                                                      

I believe woven wooden shoes provide substantially better flotation in deep snow than aluminum shoes.

The open lacing on wooden shoes doesn’t accumulate snow or ice like the solid decks of the metal shoes. 

And wooden shoes are very quiet compared to the scraping and clanking of metal shoes, a value I appreciate when I’m trying to move quietly through the woods.

We’ve only broken one of our wooden snowshoes over the last 30 years. However, I was able to glue it back together; whereas if you break or bend a metal shoe, you’re out of luck. I’d add that the flexible ash frames of wooden snowshoes are more forgiving than metal shoes, allowing for bridging mistakes to be made, which we all do at times.

Wooden shoes do need to be re-laced occasionally, but usually not for several decades - after 30 years, we still haven’t had to do any re-lacing. As Iverson says on their website, “You’ll wear out before they do, but it’s fun to pass them down to the next generation.”

They’re made close-by in the UP, too, thus supporting a local industry, and they’re beautiful to display when not being used.

It may sound like I’m an equipment geek, but I’m really not. I’m always in favor of folks using whatever equipment or resources works best for them - period. So, use whatever makes sense to you and your budget. The most important thing for your physical and emotional health is to get out exploring and exercising every day in this winter wonderland. 

            To that point, Mary, Callie, and I recently snowshoed off-trail in an area that we’ve explored many times over the years. Here’s what we found, or re-found, that we wouldn’t have come across had we stayed on the trail: recent beaver activity which confirmed that the old beaver lodge on the lake was still active; huge fire scars on several red pines; a giant leaning white pine; lots of blown-down trees that seemed relatively recent, and that made our walking a bit challenging; and we discovered that we’d forgotten how to find an old logging road that was now so grown-over that it was nearly indistinguishable from rest of the forest. So, we compassed our way through the woods to make a loop out of the hike and found the trail, and that also made the hike all the more interesting.

fire scar on red pine

Fresh beaver chews on white birch trees

            I encourage you to try some off-trail exploring - you can’t get lost given the large footprints you’ve made behind you, it’s great exercise, and you might discover some things you never thought were there. 

 

Leaning white pine with Callie Bates

Celestial Events

            As of 1/9, our days begin growing longer by two minutes/day. We’ll be rocking and rolling with 9 hours of daylight as of 1/12, up from our low of 8 hours and 39 minutes on winter solstice. 

            Look low in the southwest just after dusk on 1/9 and 1/10 for Jupiter, Saturn and Mercury all to be within a 2.3° circle.

            The new moon occurs on 1/12. Before dawn, the only planet visible is Venus, very low and very bright in the southeast.

 

Thought for the Week

“The more clearly we can focus our attention on the wonders and realities of the universe about us, the less taste we shall have for destruction.” - Rachel Carson

            

Please share your outdoor sightings and thoughts: e-mail me at manitowish@centurytel.net, call 715-476-2828, snail-mail at 4245N State Highway 47, Mercer, WI, or see my blog at www.manitowishriver.blogspot.com.