One of my favorite places in winter in our woods back home in Michigan I called "The Pine Tree Hide Out". Somehow a group of pine trees had arranged themselves so that there was a wide space covered with pine needles enclosed by the walls of the northern pines. there was even a little ante-room to the larger room,. That spot was always warmer than the rest of the woods, and sheltered from the wind, so it was a great place to hang out during a winter storm if I was in the woods. And most days I was in the woods--with my sled for fire wood, to check traps. Or just to get out of the house.

Another scene I remember were the giant beeches with their limbs encased in ice, clanking like giant chandeliers in the wind.

It sounds like a lovely place, kind of a secret room just for you! The sound of the ice encased tree limbs in the breeze is kind of scary if you are walking through them though...you never know if the weight of the ice will bring one down and you sure don't want to be under it when it goes!

frozen snow is another winter hazard--When there is a freezing sleet following fresh snow--it leaves a layer of crackled ice over everything, and navigating through the woods on skis turns into a sideways slide and skids over jagged glassy ice that leave your skin raked with blood. i remember sledding down the bridge to the barn (this is a slope for moving hay bales up into the loft of the barn) and one of my brothers rolled me off my sled, to slide down the slope on my bare face through the glassy ice. My face was a mess!

Ouch! It sounds like it started with typical sibling fun that sometimes ends up with unexpected and unintended consequences!

There is a lot of beauty in our northern areas and a lot of danger too. The wind chills here are 40 below plus today, which can also have serious consequences if you stay out very long.

40 below. I would be looking for a cozy place with a supply of stove wood!

40 below was the wind chill actual temp. was only 23 below and I did keep that wood stove stoked up good today!