A winter hike is good for the body, mind and soul. Cold, clean air, aerobic exercise, solitude and time for reflection are primary benefits. But it is the silence of winter that makes the season especially therapeutic.
Broken only by the rustle of dry oak leaves, the drumming of woodpeckers, the ever cheerful tune of chickadees, the distant clamour of crows and the occasional chirp from sparrows in the trailside thickets, the calm of a winter walk is the best natural cure for the varied stress of life. A hawk may circle overhead, deer may bolt for the woodland and cardinals may flash their bright coats from the hedgerow, but, overall, nature will leave us alone; even the restless flocks of geese, sensing a higher sun, are less vocal during this season of survival.
Despite the general silence and drab landscape, nature's cycle has not shut down. Beneath the dry grass and leaf litter, the bounty of last summer is being recycled and, deep in the forest, great horned owls have begun to nest. Within a few weeks, tree frogs will chirp from the icy shallows and green shoots will appear along our ponds and streams. Silence will then yield to the tide of spring.
