So, I'm not the Most Graceful of Woods Walkers

I decided yesterday that I needed to take a walk in the woods.  They were predicting rain and snow for later in the afternoon, so I decided to stay close to home and do a little exploring in the woods behind my house.  That turned out to not be the smartest of ideas.  Here's a view of the woods yesterday.

There's a deer highway running through the middle of the picture, and you can see that the ground is covered with snow.  That snow was very heavy and wet.  The woods behind my house are very hilly.  The combination made for some slipping and sliding while I was walking in, down the hills.

I did find some interesting vines.  Take a look at this grapevine.  I hung one of my treking poles on it, so you could get some idea of size.  I wonder how old that thing is?

Here's a vine, being choked by another vine.  If anyone can tell what the vine that is choking the grapevine is, I would appreciate knowing.  They're not too common in my woods, but at Whiting Road they are all over the place.  The interesting thing is that vine grown like a regular plant on the ground.  It's only when it encounters something it can climb that it starts behaving like a vine.

A poison ivy vine, grown to quite a considerable size.  They're hard to see in this picture, but the way you can tell poison ivy vines like this is by the hairy roots that grow from the underside and attach to the tree. 

All of these pictures I took when I was walking downhill.  As I turned and started to go back up the hills towards home, I discovered that heavy, wet snow, on rather steep inclines does not make for good walking.  I'd get to a certain point, the incline would increase and back I would slip, sometimes flat on my front, or my fanny.  At one point, I was no more than 10 feet from what I knew was a nice, level trail that I could take back home, but, I COULD NOT get up that last 10 feet.  I tried four or five different spots to try and get out of the woods, but could not make it.

I was soaking wet, tired and beginning to panic a bit.  I was actually thinking about calling 911, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it.  It would be so embarrassing for the rescue people to have to haul the old fat lady out of the woods.  So, I ended up back tracking.  I hadn't wanted to do that because it meant having to cross a stream with a steep bank on the side I had to climb out on.  I ended up having to sit on that bank, get myself up on solid ground and crawl to a tree that I could use to haul myself upright.  Here's the stream.  This picture was taken on the way into the woods, and I'm standing on the steeper bank.

You can see that the deer didn't have nearly as much trouble getting across the stream as I did.

After I got across the stream, I managed to make it home without any more trouble.  Boy did I learn a lesson.  No more walking in those woods in conditions like that.  Not unless I take a grappling hook with me!

But I did see some neat stuff.  I didn't see many tracks, except for the deer tracks, which were everywhere.  And, in one place, I did see these canid tracks.  They are a little big to be fox, so I'm betting coyote.

By the time I got back to my yard, though, the refrain running through my head was "There's no place like home.  There's no place like home.  There's no place like home."