Today the mercury is negotiating zero, yet the forecast includes a thaw. Ah, winter. Vermont weather is always fodder for conversation, sometimes juicy expletives. Don’t swear, consider these:

Tracking: Winter detective game
    Birds’ nests expose their architecture and structural secrets. Insects leave behind galls, wasp nests and web nests (eastern tent caterpillars, for example). Carpenter ants and bark beetles carve galleries and tunnels in wood. On a spring day snow fleas swarm the snow pack. Even minimal snow cover reveals critter traffic.

   Tracking is as simple as following a deer or moose through the woods or as involved as identifying known individuals. Susan Morse, founder of Keeping Track, actually recognizes her neighborhood bobcats by their prints. “Three P’s” guide a tracker: place, pattern and print. The place reveals the first clues: field, forest or near water.

   Tracks fall into four patterns: walkers, waddlers, gallopers and bounders. Walkers include canines, felines and hoofed animals. Waddling tracks are wider than walkers and characteristic of heavyset, squat animals like raccoons, bears and skunks.

   Animals in the weasel family bound, and rodents and hares/rabbits hop or bound. You’ll want to note the width or straddle of tracks and, finally, the actual print of the animal—size, shape, with or without nail marks. Don’t forget to notice other evidence: scat, gnawed nuts or twig ends, claw marks on trees, bark stripped away, or old logs ripped apart.

   Tracking books, booklets and laminated cards are usually inexpensive and available at outdoor and book stores.

Snowshoe
   The best way to stay warm in winter is to snowshoe. (Snowshoeing burns up to 1,000 calories an hour.) If you can walk, you can snowshoe. Snowshoes scale steep slopes, keep you afloat over deep snow pack, and smooth the journey over stumps, rocks and downed trees. Local cross-country ski areas, with rental equipment and trails marked for snowshoes, provide maps and predictability. Sleepy Hollow in Huntington, Catamount Family Center in Williston and Bolton Valley Resort all permit snowshoes on designated trails with purchase of a pass.

   Combine snowshoeing with an overnight adventure and rent Butternut Cabin at Sleepy Hollow or one of two cabins at Bolton. Butternut Cabin has bunks, picnic table, woodstove (firewood provided) and an outhouse. From the warmth of your sleeping bag you’ll see the sunrise over Camel’s Hump. Breakfast is available at the Sleepy Hollow Inn. Information at skisleepyhollow.com or 434-2283.

   For a less scripted outing, the Lewis Creek Wildlife Management Area in Starksboro features 2,020 acres purchased with funds raised from the sale of hunting and fishing licenses. Logging and conservation work financed by the Ruffed Grouse Society and the Orvis Corporation have yielded diverse habitats for wildlife and terrific terrain for snowshoe adventures. Populations of ruffed grouse, white-tailed deer, bear, moose, bobcat, fisher, snowshoe hare, raptors, coyotes, foxes and wild turkeys thrive in these wild, state-owned lands. LCWMA is accessible from Ireland Road, east of Route 116 in Starksboro. Park at the end of the plowed road.

   Closer to home, don’t forget Pease Mountain and Charlotte’s Demeter Park.

Garden catalogs
   My mailbox is spilling a cornucopia of color and dreams. Surely if I plant those red Chinese noodle beans again this year, my garden will look like the photo in the catalog. Last summer my bamboo poles became home to colonies of biting ants and they refused to stand tall. A tangle of 18-inch, ruby beans entwined my Brussels sprouts and completely tangled that quadrant of the garden. This year, I dream, the beanpoles will tower upright, red beans will dangle freely, and my Brussels sprouts will not have scoliosis. No weeds in January dreams either!

No such thing as bad weather, just wrong clothes
   Wear several light layers instead of one heavy one and avoid cotton if you plan on even a modest-level of exertion. Wet cotton doesn’t insulate, and that damp layer leeches away body heat. Synthetic fleece insulates even when wet. Wool does too. Soft merino from Ibex (a Vermont company) and Smart Wool are kind to your skin.

   Forget long scarves tangled beneath your Flexible Flyer. Vermont’s own Turtle Fur neck warmers keep faces and necks toasty. They’re not expensive—keep a few in the closet. Wear a windbreaker on top of those layers. State-of-the-art, breathable fabrics allow moisture to escape while keeping the wind at bay but are often pricey. Any tightly woven, wind-resistant jacket will retain hard-earned warmth and protect you from the biting bluster.

   It can be slippery out there. Mt. Philo is the perfect place to demo your hill-climbing gear: Yak Traks, Get-A-Grip, Stabil-icers. The names and mechanisms vary slightly, but they share the goal of keeping the wearer safe and upright on slippery surfaces. Get-A-Grips resemble great-grandma’s rubbers, a second skin with small spikes. Others use Velcro straps and are generally easier to don, not insignificant if you are standing flamingo-like in a slippery parking lot.

   The body is a great heater once it gets warmed up. If it’s really cold, do some jumping jacks or trot in place to get the heart pumping before you venture outside. Carry a thermos of hot tea or soup and stuff your pockets with nuts or chocolate—just don’t break a tooth when you bite into frozen snacks! A number of women, perhaps as many as 10 percent, suffer in some degree from Reynaud’s, a circulation disease. Normally capillaries constrict in response to cold. When hands and feet warm up, blood should flow freely. In Reynaud’s victims vessels do not dilate in response to warmth, and fingers and toes remain numb and white (or worse, greenish!). Mittens and chemical hand warmers help the hands, but a warm core is also important. Keep the neck warm and wear a down or fleece vest. On really cold days protect exposed skin. When I was a child my hair was forever matted to lanolin or Vaseline-coated cheeks. Dermatone, available in small tins, is less sticky and widely used by Nordic ski racers. Bear grease works too.

It’s winter in Vermont. Come outside and play!