It’s been 12 days since I last posted! I was on a roll with the 7 photos in 7 days project, but once the holidays hit, I stopped posting. I took family and friend snapshots which I didn’t want to post on the blog. Today, however, ends the dry spell following a hike on the nearby Bruce Trail section.

The hike began this morning with a survey of winter hiking gear. Running tights under a pair of “activity” pants and three light layers under a Gore-Tex parka fit the bill. I wore insulated construction boots as I no longer have winter hiking boots. They did the job, but were very heavy. The steel toe and steel shank were obviously overkill for the terrain. One my hands I “double gloved” with a pair of lightweight touch screen usable gloves under my winter cycling gloves. I was ready to brave the -20C weather.

I used the Fujifilm X-Pro2 with the XF 16-55mm mounted. In a backpack, I also brought the XF 55-200mm and the XF 10-20mm. They stayed in the backpack as it was just too cold and cumbersome to change lenses. Thankfully, the deadweight wasn’t heavy versus the equivalent in DSLR gear. I brought three extra batteries, but battery life during the 1h 45m walk was sufficient. The camera did start shutting down during the end of the hike and I suspect the cold weather had something to do with that, but it wasn’t the battery. Turning the camera off and on seemed to remedy it, however, we were getting hungry as lunch was approaching and we headed home.

A hike on the Bruce Trail in Waterdown in -19C weather.
A hike on the Bruce Trail in Waterdown in -19C weather.
A hike on the Bruce Trail in Waterdown in -19C weather.
A hike on the Bruce Trail in Waterdown in -19C weather.
A hike on the Bruce Trail in Waterdown in -19C weather.