An hour before sunrise this morning, in the dark, I stood under a tall white pine tree and listened to an owl duet. Yup, my local great horned owls will be nesting soon. However, I had little to fear during my hike through the darkness. I was wearing ice cleats. Given the temperature reached 37F yesterday afternoon with plenty of sunshine, and we had two inches of fresh white fluffy stuff overnight, there was lots of ice under the new layer of snow … extremely hazardous.

Take a look at my ice cleats shown below. I wear a size 11.5 insulated duck boot, and it is very easy to pull the cleats on and off. Better yet, the cleats make for secure hiking / walking. Remember … Duluth is very hilly. Ice and hills are not a good combination but I personally had nothing to fear. My ice cleats are from Unigear. Here is the Amazon link. I have no financial interest in Unigear, nor do I receive any money for providing this link.