Digital Wanderer

We live as long as we fly

Snowdrop's Walk - Spring Promenade #1 Svente

2011-03-31

outings hikes snowdrop friends photos gps winter latgale latvia

Finally, I went with the tourist club "Snowdrop"on a hike. I couldn't make it work for a while, waited for this for about two months, probably.

There are some good pics taken by Oleg and Sabina (you need an account on https://web.archive.org/web/20170409181412/https://www.мордакнига.рф/), and I'll post a mix of mine (terrible, as usual) and theirs.

Lo-fi to the masses! Here are the tracks for a start, how we walked and how much we covered. Altogether - 24 km in about 9 hours. Got up at 7, left the bus station at 8, got back at half past six. In some places we fell through the snow a bit, slipped on the ice, but overall it wasn't hard. Everything was awesome, I just need to get better footwear, and then I can walk further. Snowdrop, by the way, invites everyone who wants to join, but asks to keep in mind that "Snowdrop is not Mother Teresa." (c) Oleg

Snowdrop in Svente

 


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This is Sabina and Oleg.

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My sharp eye (or rather, brain), upon seeing Sabina, immediately yelled: "Hipster detected". All in all, I probably didn't sin much against the truth.

In the foreground, a smiling man in a blue jacket and glasses stands on a dirt road, flanked by snow. Behind him, a person in a plaid jacket is walking away down this road, their long shadows cast on the snow under the bright sun.

I bought these jeans in the US a year ago, and could barely squeeze into them. Now, on the contrary, they are very comfortable. But all the rest of my clothes hang like a sack, I need to change them, but I don't feel like spending money on it.

Two men in outerwear are resting at a wooden table outdoors, snow all around. The man on the left is smiling, while the one on the right is holding a napkin; next to them are backpacks and trekking poles.

This is Oleg and I sitting on Egļukalns, there's a tower nearby and a ski slope well-known in our parts.

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A winding dirt road with clear ruts runs through a snowy landscape. Melting snowdrifts lie along its sides, and a winter forest is visible on the horizon under a clear blue sky.

It's also nice here in winter.

A tall wooden observation tower made of logs with a zigzagging staircase leading to a viewing deck at the top, against a cloudless blue sky. Trees grow around the tower, and snow lies on the ground.

That very tower.

A young woman in a plaid winter jacket with a fur hood, brown pants, and red rubber boots is walking along a snowy slope.

Sabina marches stubbornly, even though she didn't get enough sleep and was like a zombie in places.

A dirt road stretches across hills with melting snow and dry grass under a clear blue sky. Trees are visible in the background, and wooden utility poles are installed along the road.

Beauty.

 A young man with a backpack and a professional camera in his hands stands on the snowy shoulder of a dirt road. In the background, power lines, poles, and a tall TV tower are visible on a hill under a bright blue sky.

Walking on a dry road is easy and pleasant.

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Our native shit-mud.

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A man in glasses and a blue knit beanie looks toward the camera against the backdrop of a snowy forest on a sunny winter day.

Two hikers with backpacks in a snowy forest are examining something on the ground; one of them is standing, leaning over, and the other is squatting and pointing at the snow.

"We usually catch fish about this size. On a boot. We stick a foot with a boot into the stream and wait, and they just bite."

Two men in winter clothes and with backpacks are walking through a snowy forest. In the background — bare trees and a bright blue sky.

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This is the view from Egļukalns, on the left  is a big ski hill

A smiling young woman in a brown beanie and a plaid jacket is walking through a snowy forest. She is also wearing a red scarf and red boots.

Walking in a sunny forest — there's nothing better in the world!

Two men in winter clothes sit on the snow among bare trees, taking a break. One is eating a banana, the other is drinking a beverage from a Coca-Cola bottle; backpacks and a thermos lie nearby.

Bananas are my food. And Oleg drinks half tea and half liquid black evil. By the way, you completely missed the elephant in the room — look at what a savage machete is stuck in the ground on the right.

A winter forest, where bare trees and shrubs are densely covered with dry, intertwined branches against a clear blue sky.

Viet Cong, bro

A snowy field with numerous footprints leads to the edge of a forest of deciduous and coniferous trees under a bright blue sky. In the foreground on the left a wooden structure is visible, on the right — a green container.

A man squatted on the snow, getting ready for a snack. Next to him lie a hiking backpack, a bottle of cola, a thermos, and a container with sandwiches.

Sausage and brandy fortify the strength of the snowdrops. Not all of them, though, but only the most hardcore  stubborn ones, represented by Oleg.

Close-up of a man's face in a black beanie and a gray collar, with furrowed brows, squinted eyes, and a slightly open mouth expressing bewilderment against a blurred winter landscape.

This doesn't stop him from leading and guiding, as well as looking wisely at the rank-and-file participants

In a snowy forest clearing lies a tree felled by beavers with clear marks of their teeth on the trunk and stump.

Beavers are kind

Two people with backpacks make their way through dense tree branches in a snowy forest. The man in the foreground is leaning over, overcoming an obstacle of trunks and branches.

But nature isn't

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We go this way

A person in a knit beanie and winter jacket is photographing a snowy field against the backdrop of a winter forest on a sunny day using a DSLR camera with a telephoto lens.

Lovers of holding DSLRs in their hands haven't died out yet on Latvian soil

A spring forest with melting snow covering the ground, and a stream of reddish-brown water flowing among bare trees.

We had to jump over streams, too

A woman in a plaid jacket and a man in a blue one are walking across a snowy field among dry grass. Leafless birches and spruces against a clear blue sky are visible in the background.

And fall through the snow up to our knees and deeper

Two people in winter clothing are walking through a snowy forest among dry stalks and bare trees. In the foreground is a person in a plaid jacket and red boots, behind — a person in a blue jacket with a backpack.

It wasn't easy

A woman in a beanie and plaid jacket leans toward dry grass in a snowy forest, while a man in a blue jacket with a backpack stands nearby.

But very satisfying

A woman in red boots jumps over a meltwater stream in a snowy spring forest, while a man watches from behind.

We're soaring!

A man with a backpack in a blue jacket and a beanie jumps over a stream, splashing meltwater, in the middle of a snowy spring forest with bare trees.

How sweetly I hugged this tree! Almost like a girl

A fallen birch trunk lies across a forest stream among melting snow. Around it, exposed ground with last year's leaves and bare branches of shrubs are visible.

It's easier this way, but it might just snap under you

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Beauty. If only my eyesight were better too. But as a memory, it's great — you look and rejoice.

A young woman in a plaid jacket with a fur hood stands in a snowy clearing, smiling slightly. In the background, sparse bare trees and hills covered with mixed forest are visible under a clear blue sky. 

Zombies on the march

A man in a warm jacket and a beanie leans over a narrow stream flowing through a snowy forest with bare trees. On the far bank, a backpack lies on the snow.

The stream is knee-deep for Oleg. Literally, as it turned out.

Two men in jackets and beanies stand on an old stone wall with their arms raised. Around them is a forest with bare trees and sparse snow on the ground. 

Mysterious ruins in the middle of the swamps. Waiting for the Hound of the Baskervilles.

Young coniferous and deciduous trees in a snowy clearing under a clear blue sky on a sunny day. The trees cast long shadows on the snow.

The forest is planted in neat rows.

A winter forest landscape with a frozen stream and remnants of ice covered with snow. Dry branches and stumps protrude from the snow and water against a dense deciduous forest. 

Our swamps are incredibly beautiful

A young woman in a knit beanie, scarf, and plaid jacket smiles as she walks through a snowy area among dry reeds and bare trees.

The girls are pretty great too, they have such heroic strength that they crash through the snow like epic heroes

A small forest stream with dark water flows among melting snowdrifts and bare trees in early spring.

 A young woman in a brown knit beanie and a plaid jacket sits on a log in a snowy winter forest, leaning over her brightly patterned bag.

For travelers in the Latgalian forests, benches have been thoughtfully knocked over by the wind

A forest landscape with patches of snow on the ground, where tall trees, a barbed wire fence, and low undulating barriers are visible. 

Took a shortcut through the cemetery, saw this kind of guarded facility

A girl in a knit beanie and a plaid jacket sits on a green bench, opening a bottle of Coca-Cola, next to a thermos and a yellow bag, against a brick wall and cracked asphalt.

It's a good thing we have civilization, and there are benches at all the rural bus stops

A smiling man in a blue jacket, jeans, and a beanie stands under a canopy, holding an orange flask. To his left is a pillar, to his right is a light brick wall with a bird's nest, and in the background, a road and bare trees are visible under a cloudy sky. 

We are not tired at all, and can still stand

A narrow dirt path leads through a leafless forest, bordered by melting snow. In the distance, a small wooden bridge crossing a snowy clearing is visible. 

Bonus: why is there no snow on the path, but there is everywhere else? It's a dense forest all around. A mystery.

Young saplings wrapped in protective white material in a melting snow field against a pine forest in early spring.

There's a satellite dish hidden in the picture. I'm serious.

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