I love hiking/bushwhacking in winter.
I do a lot of searching for 'abandoned history' in Shenandoah NP which was the home of many mountain residents who were displaced when it was designated a national park 90 years ago. Most traces of any habitation have been reclaimed by Mother Nature, but chimneys and artifacts still exist, as do an estimated 100+ family cemeteries. Most require arduous off-trail bushwhacks into wilderness, so doing this is only possible during winter months when vegetation is dead.
Here are a couple of photos from the current bushwhacking season. The first picture was taken on an adventure last month. The cemetery photos were taken last week. As you can see, finding or seeing any of this would be impossible during the summer when everything is green.
This abandoned upside-down vehicle was found down an old road trace.
Many of the family cemeteries were marked with fieldstones -- a headstone and footstone. They were often uninscribed since the burials were on family property and the family knew who they were.
This cemetery with approximately nine native stones was accessed by following an overgrown road trace that was once converted into a trail, but long since abandoned.