Winter Hike at Yellowwood Lake.

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.