My face has been jammed in a computer screen with lots of work stuff for many weeks but Mr. Winter Sun wrote me a day pass today. I threw together a slightly-better-than-hobo snow day outfit and hoped that the NikWax on my hiking boots from two summers ago rendered them still seaworthy as I bundled me and my snowshoes off to Fort Necessity National Battlefield in Farmington, PA. Snowshoeing at Fort Necessity NB is a hidden gem. Free, ample parking, no crowds, and a lovely modern visitor center to help you stop and remember important things.

This is the first truly snowy winter I feel we’ve had around here since I moved back from Montana in 2020 - and the layer of dust on my snowshoes stood as a testament to that. I cradled my gear and walked down the cleared path to the reconstructed fort and considered my options. Not wanting to disturb the picturesque snowy blanket over the meadow I lashed my snowshoes to my feet, turned my back on the fort, and made my way on a trail uphill to the Braddock Trace - then uphill some more to the road that leads to the picnic area.

The road was closed to traffic and perfect for snowshoeing. Puffy, fluffy, easy on the joints; a path of perfect resistance. I trekked alongside some xc ski tracks and stopped to enjoy the crystalline beauty of being in this snowy Pennsylvania scene. No grand vistas, but an important pivot point in the history of our nation still stood guard amongst the hardwoods as I again shuffled along and tried to guess - birdsong or wind in the branches? Purpose or chance? I wondered - am I crossing paths with the British or the Indians or the French or maybe George Washington himself? I recently read that Washington resigned because he didn’t want to die in office and give people the idea that a president should govern for life like a king. If every president had had that choice I wonder which ones would’ve stayed in office indefinitely and which ones would’ve stepped aside after a couple terms?

It was too cold for the birds to be much on the wing so I figured it was the trees that had been violining at me and my weary legs backtracked on my own broken trail, a little more solid under foot now. The land, the history, the people - none have ever been perfect - but today I sought peace and beauty anyway. I will seek peace and beauty. I will. Sometimes we fortify ourselves out of necessity.