
After the shoveling and roof raking is taken care of, we know how fast that fluffy snow can melt. Time to make haste and head out for ice fishing, winter photography, snowshoeing and skiing. You never know until it's too late if this storm might be the LAST fishable ice or skiable snow!
When the Monroe County parks near me don't have enough snow to enjoy, I head due south on Rt 65 to CR 37 to Canadice Hill Road to one of my favorite places: Harriet Hollister Spencer State Recreation Area in Springwater, NY. Perched more than 2000' above sea level, high on a bluff overlooking Honeoye Lake, this park often has plenty of snow on beautiful cross country skiing trails long after the rest of our region is melted down to grass and mud. I check the snow depth map and the Rochester XC Ski Foundation website, and then drive confidently past the brown grass, corn stubble, and narrow islands of snow drifts, towards those steep hills, softly covered with the bare trees of winter.
As the hills rise up, I see the green and brown fields give way to a spreading white blanket of snow cover, some days with each branch like white lace...and my heart quickens. There it is: an oasis of snow. "Our snowasis" as my family calls it.
It's a really good sign when I pull into that little parking lot and see a couple of xc-skiers gliding back to the parking lot with satisfied smiles on their faces. I eagerly check out the trails at the parking lot and assess - Skis or snowshoes today? Or does the fresh snow call for a little of both?!


Surrounded by stately trees on beautiful rolling hills and passed by smiling people declaring “Beautiful Day!" - I am filled with joy and gratitude. I can't help but to hope that maybe Heaven will be a little like this.
I think of Harriet Hollister Spencer, a Rochester civic leader, and whisper a thank you to her for gifting this land to us. I smile back at those happy people and appreciate the cooperation going on here. It takes effort by everyone to keep these trails in great shape as they freeze, thaw, get more snow and re-freeze. My thanks to the many volunteers who raked leaves off the trails last November, to the groomer who meticulously rolls and tracks the trails, to the members of Rochester XC Ski Foundation who fund the grooming, and to all the park visitors who walk to the side of the groomed tracks, being careful not to make postholes in the soft snow, and who leash their pets and make sure no doggy doo is left behind! And breathing in that fresh air, I'm especially grateful to the Creator of all I see.
