Ellen and Joan Go to Silver Creek Pathway

Ellen and I made plans to go snowshoeing today at Silver Creek Pathway. It's just north of the tiny village of Luther, and about 50 miles from my place. After all the snow this week, we realized that we probably weren't up to snowshoeing the entire four-mile loop in unbroken snow, so we considered just going someplace nearer home. In the end, we decided to head for Silver Creek. It was SO worth it!



This trail is a loop on both sides of the Pine River. The southern end of the loop is the Silver Creek Bridge. After a bitter-cold dawn, the morning warmed into the 20s, and the sun even showed itself from time to time. We couldn't have asked for a better day for an adventure. Even the wind finally gave up.



Don't get confused. The bridge actually crosses the Pine River. Just a little farther downstream, the Pine is highly popular with canoeists and kayakers. Here, it's a fast-moving but shallow river.



Almost as soon as you cross the big bridge and head north along the river, you cross a small bridge over a small creek, which flows into the Pine. However, this is not Silver Creek, which flows in from the east.



The trail on that side of the river is just one treat after another! The banks are usually ten to twenty feet above the water, with cedar, or hemlock trees overhanging the water. We kept stopping just to enjoy the views and the gurgle of the rippling water.



In a few places, the land dips down closer to the water level, and the trail slips through groves of cedars. I've hiked this trail several times in other seasons, but this was my first winter trip.

The snow was deep and unbroken except for deer trails, so we were working pretty hard. Even so, we estimate that we made it about 1.5 miles up the west side of the river. Then we found a log to clear that we could sit on and eat our lunch. We considered going farther, because of course, the walk back would be much easier- following our own tracks, but decided that we probably had done about enough.

We returned to the car without it being a death march, an excellent situation! There were some guys camped near the bridge. Yes, in a tent. They were from Indiana, and come up for one weekend every year. One of them took our picture, and then they were heading out to play "snow golf," which involved one wedge, a bucket full of orange plastic golf balls, and a make-it-up-as-you-go golf course. All together, we were out for 3.5 hours.

It was a darn-near perfect outing! I'll have more to share in the next few days.

For other outing with Ellen, see Gale's Pond See Bowman Lake Excursion ... and others!