It's been a cold rough winter! I can't remember getting this much snow in a long long time. With that said, we still try to get outside every weekend for a walk and we've been to Gillette's Castle twice since I last posted about it. The first time we went was several days after our end of the state was pounded with close to 2 feet of snow... yes, two feet. Did we let that deter us? Absolutely not! We figured at the very least, the trails would have been walked on, even if it was minimal. Not exactly. On this particular day, it looked like only one person, and one deer had been there before us. How do I know this? Well.... it's funny you should ask. As we started to walk, carefully through the unplowed, untouched trails we noticed only one set of footprints. So, we weren't the only crazy people and if he could do it, so could we. Didn't look so hard. Who were we kidding? We were exhausted minutes into our walk. It was then that we noticed that within each footprint left by that lone walker before us were deer prints. Smart little deer. He certainly had the right idea. Why tire himself out if it wasn't needed? We took his lead and did the same. Not easy to follow in the footsteps of what I assume was a much taller man than myself but still much easier than trying to create a new path for myself through that much snow..... 
Let me shorten up this story by explaining several things that I learned from the most exhausting walk of my life... to not go out hiking after a heavy snow storm, to stop pretending I'm still in fabulous shape (because I'm not), and that it's probably not a good sign when I can feel my heartbeat around the brim of my winter hat! End of story? We both came home and crashed for what I recall was a several hour "nap". But, we did it and I can say I survived!
