Baby it’s cold in the BWCA

We’ve experienced some cold weather this past week. I realize other parts of our country have been cold too but I doubt it has been the “nose hair freezing when you breathe” cold like it has been here. The wind has blown relentlessly and that just makes the -42 degree actual temperature feel even colder. I’m not sure what that makes our “feels like” temperature but it feels really, really cold. The good news is when the temperature finally creeps above zero degrees it almost feels “nice” outside.

When it’s above zero degrees it’s nice enough to go cross-country skiing or snowshoeing outside. You even work up a sweat despite the fact the hair around your face, eyebrows and eyelashes gets frosted over. There is beauty in the brittle cold, you just have to look for it.

This isn’t the first time I have asked myself, “Why on earth do I choose to live here when there are warmer places to live?” Then you look out on Lake Superior and see the sea smoke rising or the waves freezing as they crash into the breakwall or you see the sunlight sparkling on the surface of the snow and you don’t have to think about it much longer. You just put another log in the fireplace, cozy down beneath a blanket with a good book and wait for the temperature to reach double digits when it will almost feel warm outside. At least 50 degrees warmer.