3 of Our Favorite Ways to Get Outside in Winter & Boost Your Mood in the Chippewa Valley

Winter-Pattern Seasonal Affective Disorder (often referred to as SAD) is a type of depression that comes and goes with the season.

Usually, it’ll start and end around the same time each year. People who experience winter-pattern SAD will start to feel it in the fall and it gradually fades away in the spring.

According to the National Institute of Mental Health symptoms of Winter SAD include oversleeping, overeating and craving carbs, weight gain, and a hibernation-like social withdrawal. 

Depending on the person, it could last up to 6 months.

In the Chippewa Valley, it’s not uncommon for snow on or near Halloween in October. And at the other end, March and early April aren’t the warmest months.

Although they have a habit of lulling us into what we’ve dubbed Fake Spring before mother nature dumps a bunch of freezing snow and ice on us one last time. The whole “In like a lion out like a lamb” proverb seems to be more like “In like a grumpy polar bear out like an angry grizzly bear. Because the Grizzly was probably woken up by nice weather only to get snowed on and frozen.”

Doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue… 

It's also particularly hard in west-central Wisconsin to get some time in the sun if you don't purposefully make time for it. Gray skies and freezing temps easily keep people inside. And we get as little as 8 hours and 59 minutes of sunlight on December 21st to 12 hours and 7minutes on March 19th (the last day of winter). 

The sun and sun exposure is an important part of helping your body make Vitamin D.

A 2011 study found that insufficient levels of Vitamin D have a direct correlation with depression and other mental health disorders. But they stated, “Since it is possible that persons who are outdoors may be more physically active, it is important to consider whether sunshine alone or in combination with physical activity is related to improved mood.”

Either way, getting outside and active is an important step to surviving our winters - whether you experience SAD or not!

Here are 3 of our TOP PICKS for getting active and outside in the Chippewa Valley this winter:

Beaver Creek Reserve

Beaver Creek Reserve is almost a hidden gem in Eau Claire County. In the winter you can rent snowshoes or cross country skis for $3, $10 if you’re a nonmember. A family membership is $40 for an entire year and you get a whole host of things like free daily admission, free telescope rental, plus discounted equipment rental rates. They have a ton of cool events that you would expect out of a nature reserve - everything from Winter wolf tracking to Beekeeping 101. It’s a neat place the whole year, whether you bring your family or a friend. (I personally love the Observatory).

Geocaching

Another great way to get out in nature is to go Geocaching. Geocaching is where you use a GPS to find hidden caches, or containers. Some can be as big as an old Army ammo box to as little as an old film canister (and actually even much smaller). Sometimes the cache will just have a piece of paper to initial, other times it’ll have trinkets to trade.

It’s not really what's inside the cache to be honest.

I’ve seen parts of our area that I never would have if someone hadn’t led me there with the promise of treasure at the other end. It’s a really great way to slow down and take in nature too.

Caches are often hidden in nooks and crannies of trees or logs. One was even hidden in a cement cast of a dog poop pile. People can get really clever.

If you plan on doing it its important to leave the containers exactly where and how you found them, and never ever let a muggle see you geocaching (muggle is a person that doesn’t geocache). The best part is that aside from gas money driving to different parts of the city and the cost of the app (if you upgrade, there's a free version too), it’s an incredibly inexpensive activity that everyone can enjoy.

Bring your boots and gloves, you might have to dig through some snow.

Check out Geocaching.com for more info!

Crokicurl

Last but certainly not least, my personal favorite: Crokicurl. It’s a weird name but bear with me.

Crokinole is a board game that is huge North of the Border. It’s played on a circular board and you flick discs trying to either “pot” them or bump your opponent’s disc either out of play or to a lesser point scoring zone.

CrokiCURL takes that board game and puts it on an ice rink, also known as a pond.

It can be played with just two people or two teams of two. The object of the game is to outscore your opponent. Some people will play to a set number like 100, or some will play “rounds” or “ends”. A round is over when everyone throws their rocks. The team with the highest score wins the round. Best 3 out of 5 wins.

The cool part of Crokicurl is that there are only 2 rinks in the entire U.S. Altoona has one and Eau Claire just built one this year.

The cooler part of Crokicurl? It’s free.

For the River Prairie rink, Altoona Parks and Rec has the key for the equipment box Monday - Friday until 3pm. 44 North has the key the rest of the time. You just go in, they will take some info off your ID, and hand it over. Easy Peasy. In Eau Claire, the rink is located at Pinehurst Park. The rocks are available in the warming house from 4-7 pm during the week. I could go on and on about the sport but I’ll leave it at that… for now. 

Hopefully, these low-cost activities can help you have fun in the cold. These can all be done or played multiple times and your experience will be different each time. Friends and family will love the new experiences you share with them too!

“Laughter is the sun that drives winter from the human face.” Victor Hugo