winter is coming....

Flurries have started to fall, and I'm sure everyone has their own feelings about the freezing cold and mountains of snow New England gets dealt this time of year. Most of us that aren't used to freezing our asses off for months and never seeing the sun tend to lock ourselves away and hibernate, and this post is for us! The outdoors don't shut their doors when it gets cold! Skiing isn't the only thing to do on snowy mountains! And honestly one of the most fun hikes I've ever done was is Burlington, Vermont in the middle of January. So for my first official winter post (yikes), Mt. Philo.

Look how happy we look! Can't have been too rough...

Burlington is literally the coldest place I've ever been. We didn't spend a ton of time exploring the actual city, mainly just around UVM. But after our first night (which was insane, Burlington kids know how to have fun), the whole crew decided to take on Mt. Philo, a small mountain right next to Burlington. By this time, snow had been on the ground for ages. I had no idea we were going to do this, it ended up as more of a spontaneous thing, so all I brought was Hunter boots which, though great, are less than effective for hiking in snow. But it ended up being all the funnier for it.

The trail didn't start out too intense, there were even some stairs right at the beginning, but the higher up the mountain we got, it got more interesting.

          

   

The higher we got, the icier the trail got. At times we were literally falling over each other and sliding back down the trail. *Reminder* I'm wearing Hunter boots. Hunter boots. On an icy trail winding up the littlest mountain that ended up taking quite a while to climb between sliding back down and laughing about it. Not to mention we were all fairly hungover, which made everything at once more difficult and hilarious. Hiking in the snow may seem like the worst, but get some friends together, don't wear Hunter boots, layer up and get ready for some slapstick mountain climbing - which will warm you up anyway! Pretty sure I ended up unzipping my coat after about half an hour. And once we got to the top, it was so worth it. Definitely freezing, but definitely worth freezing for. 

          

       

               

     


So if, like me, you get a bit stir crazy after a few weeks in the city in wintertime, get your favorite people together and tackle a mountain. I mean come on, who doesn't love watching their friends slide down mountains like cartoon characters? Hilarity and great memories will no doubt ensue so DON'T FEAR THE SNOW - its all in the mindset y'all ~ (and the footwear).