Don’t you just love the annual fall march into darkness?

With dwindling daylight comes cooler temperatures and the promise of ice, snow, and a whole different set of fun and games (see below for some news on local ski trails). I’m holding on to fall as long as I can in hopes that winter will seem shorter.

It isn’t enough that the hours of daylight (around 10 and dropping) now are eclipsed by the number of hours of dark, along comes the big “fall back” from Daylight Saving Time and you’re guaranteed to go home from work with your headlights shining. Some days you can count on going to work and coming home in the dark.

On Election Day I did my civic duty, and since I had to work that night, I opted to take in some fresh air and get a little exercise. I threw together something I could fix for lunch, loaded a kayak on my car’s roof, and headed to Pushaw Lake for a brief afternoon paddle before heading into work.

My plan was to paddle a mile or so to one of the islands on the southern end of the lake, have a bite to eat, circle a couple of other islands, then head home.

Cool temperatures and a slight breeze made for excellent paddling conditions for my leisurely trip. It was a little after noon when I got to the lake, loaded up the kayak, and donned my drysuit. I’ve not had a chance to use it since I bought it earlier this year.

Getting into one of these things is like getting into a biohazard suit except that it lacks a hood. The ankle and wrist gaskets were almost comfortable, but the neck – ouch! I think I need to stretch the gasket or shrink my neck. I had a feeling of constantly being choked. It was like wearing a dress shirt with the neck about three sizes too small!

I mistakenly figured that the tightness in the neck would go away. It didn’t. On top of the feeling of strangulation there was the clammy, sweatiness of having a wide, non-breathable rubber band around my neck. After a while I didn’t want to turn my head it was so uncomfortable. Before I try this rig again I’m going to put a metal mixing bowl inside the neck gasket for a day or two to stretch it out a bit.

The other thing I learned is that you need to pick your clothing layers carefully since there is no opportunity to vent excess heat from a dry suit. The only opening is a waterproof zipper that goes from right shoulder to left hip. If you open it at all, you no longer have a drysuit. If you were to capsize, you’d take water into the suit and you’d no longer be dry, now, would you?

To dress properly for cold water you need to insulate for the possibility of being immersed. The trouble is dressing for 40-degree water makes me hyperthermic when I’m paddling. I need to feel cool.

The bottom line? I dressed a little light for cold water or for the cold winds as I sat on shore and ate my lunch – but I was just right while paddling. Had I kept my PFD on while I was having lunch I think I’d have been perfectly comfortable. I had the option of digging out a fleece shirt, but I wasn’t all that uncomfortable.

Actually, I think having to go through all these machinations and getting into all this rigging is just a ploy to discourage me from paddling any longer into the cold season.

And speaking of cold and snow, some of us got it Friday. Knowing that it’s going to be here soon, you may want to scout out some wonderful trails at the University of Maine’s Demeritt University Forest where you’ll be able to cross country ski. Sooner, as a matter of fact, than you might have been able to in years past, thanks to trail work that has been done. (If you go now, take your bicycle and really explore.)

The 12 trails (some 20 miles all total) are the side benefit of a working experimental forest. After logging roads are cut, they eventually become recreational trails – first just paths then more like roads depending on the logging activity.

Thad Dwyer, associate director of campus recreation, took me out Thursday morning to show off some recent “grooming” on Trail 3. Where last fall it was not much more than a muddy slough, it now is a sandy-soil-covered roadway about 10 feet wide, complete in one place with a culvert and some six feet of fill.

It makes for an excellent running or biking surface and will be a snap to groom with just a dusting of snow, Dwyer said. Instead of having to wait for 10 or more inches of snow to cover a rough trail, you’ll be able to head out after a small storm. The trail improvement is part of an ongoing effort by campus recreation with help from the Facilities Management Department that does the actual work using recycled materials.

Trail improvement has been a gradual process over the past 10 years, Dwyer said, with a major part of Trail 3’s work being done over the past two years.

Should you want to check out this free public trail system, pick up one of the new system maps at Maine Bound Adventure Center on Campus, Rose Bike in Orono, or the Map Store or Rivertree Coffeehouse Caf? in Old Town. You’ll be amazed at these new maps, especially if you’ve had one of the plain paper, one-sheet maps of the past. You can also go to the university’s Web site at www.umaine.edu/campusrecreation and get a copy.

The new maps, designed by Michael Herman and Matt Cote, are the cat’s meow. They show almost all of Marsh Island (the island on which the university is located), the Stillwater and Penobscot rivers, and major roads (Route 43 to the north, Route 2 to the south and east) as well as the campus. The map is actually done on an aerial photo with enhancements showing key roads and landmarks, including the bike path from Perkins Avenue in Old Town to the university’s athletic fields. This 2.7-mile trail, I learned Thursday, is plowed in the winter for joggers.

Mileage is shown on road and trail segments between red dots, so you can design your excursion to suit your ambition. There are also several loops you can make with the mileage shown for each. For example, if you were to park on Park Street and do the Corn Field loop, you’d cover 1.4 miles. You can get as creative as you wish by connecting different trail segments.

One hint – as you get farther from the campus athletic fields, the trail numbers get higher. You could, for example, make a 3-mile loop using the Numbers 3, 1, and 2 trails, starting and finishing at the bike path right at the edge of the athletic fields, or you could connect to the 9, 10, and 11 trails and be way out back.

With the map in hand, the intimidation of getting turned around or lost is eliminated.

And with so many miles of trail available there’s never any crowding. I talked briefly Thursday with Dean of Students Robert Dana, who runs on the trials frequently. Campus Recreation falls under his jurisdiction, so he may be a bit biased, but his view is that the trail system is “an untapped resource.” There are great views, great terrain, and solitude to be had, he said. “There’s room for everybody” out there. He said he’d love to see more students take advantage of this resource.

The newly approved campus recreation center will be sited near the trail system, he told me. The $25 million project will be north of the Hilltop complex in the woods near Trail 3. Ground is to be broken in the spring on a building that will feature all-purpose courts, an elevated running track, a large fitness center, and a leisure pool.

When you get a copy of the map, note that there are parking areas off Park Street and on the Witter Farm Road off College Avenue. Trail access is handy to both parking areas.

Jeff Strout can be reached at 990-8202 or by e-mail at jstrout@bangordailynews.net