1/19/14 Demeritt Forest

Gray morning with snow forecast. Ice is still a problem but at many trail head there is also the problem of parking the car. There are either snow banks that prevent you getting your car off the road or if there is a lot it's not plowed. I decide on nearby Orono as there are several places we hike. I printed out maps for three of them , hoping one would work out. When we left home there was very light snow but it increased in volume as the day progressed. As it turned out the first place we tried had a small parking lot that was clear. A man sitting in his car told us it was cleared because it's also a school bus turn around.

It was icy but I put on my grippers which worked well and if I stayed in the center of the trail where there had been use the surface supported me.  We started down Logan Rd

Which we took to the Blue Trail and that to the Red

A small pine getting more snow, The snow intensified as we hiked and made the woods very pretty.

One of Kelley's endearing habits is to decide to join me while I'm preparing to take a picture and ruin the shot. She also jumps into the middle of nice reflections in water but she improved a couple of those.

We followed the Red Trail to it's end at the forest service yard and then turned back. This nice bench gave us a spot to have our apple

When we reached the White Trail we turned off on it, it can be very wet and we were hoping for frozen- it was not bad and I only broke through a few places and kept my feet dry.

I missed the turn of the trail and continued on, coming out at a point different from where I thought we were- this end of the trail has always confused me. We started down what I thought was a road that would lead to a circle of the Black Trails

But it soon turned into a very narrow trail that wound through the woods and eventually led us to a large field near Stillwater Ave. - way off track. We backtracked ( the snow made it easy) and found Sewall Rd.  (we were back on track) which took us to the Yellow Trail

and that to Logan Rd. and toward our start.

Almost back

When we reached our car we walked a short distance down the road

to a spot where we could get to the river. There is a lot of water on this side of the river bank and Kelley decided to break through some ice to get to it. There had been little water today

The snow was now so heavy I could not photograph the other side of the river

Back to the car. I had not been optimistic about our chances today but we ended up with a very nice hike . It had stayed around 30 degrees with no wind. The woods were beautiful with the snow and we had them all to ourselves.  3 hours