Seeing that it was going to be a clear cold morning, I headed over to Yellowwood Lake, located in Brown County Indiana – 10 miles from home for me. It was -2 when I started out, but it didn’t take long to get warmed up. This is hike #2 of my 52 hike challenge for 2018.
I arrived minutes after dawn, but the sun is still behind the hills.
I wanted to take the trail around the lake as the sun was making its appearance.
Jackson Creek, that flows into the lake, was trickling through the winter landscape. I wondered if it was frozen solid before the thaw of the last week.
As I circumnavigated the lake, I saw so many animal tracks, but my phone was not really liking the single digit temperatures and was running out of battery power, so I didn’t stop to take pictures. I wondered how animals can survive in these harse winter days.
From the dam, the lake looks completly frozen. But as I reached the spillway, the flow out of the lake was significant.
This was the trail across the spillway. The water was deeper than when I crossed it this past fall. The slippery rocks claimed their victim and I got to see the water up close and personal. My boots held up though so I had dry feet the remainder of the hike with only a small insult to my dignity.
My before and after shots. On the left, subzero and cold. On the right, 8 degrees and feeling very warm. Frost courtesy of heavy breathing. Altogether a good hike in a magical landscape.
