March 23, 2013

            Extras of good things are always exciting.  Like seconds of Thanksgiving turkey and pumpkin pie.  Extra innings in a World Series game.  Or perhaps overtime during March Madness.  Add to that a cross country ski season extended by continued great snow.  Since our melt the other week, we have once again settled into a cold weather pattern with consistent snow showers, and the winter storm which raced across the country earlier this week gave us a nice dose of powder as well.  The result has been excellent cross country skiing and snowshoe conditions, and the pattern looks to hold even as spring continues to arrive.

I’ve been out skiing around the area this week, and conditions were more like mid-February than they were late March.  One of my favorite places to go with Wren is the network of trails off Fish Hatchery Road in Lake Clear, and we’ve enjoyed the splendid conditions there and Lake Clear’s bounty of snow. 

Fisher tracks - Quebec
I find a variety of animals tracks when I'm out skiing, particularly when I'm on the trails near Lake Clear. Here some fisher tracks crossed my path.

Wren and I generally start out on the narrow trail which cuts past both Little Clear Pond and Little Green Pond before connecting up with the Fish Pond Trail, I stopping to look at animal tracks, and Wren nosing her way through the snow smelling them excitedly.  The area is rich in wildlife after all, and while consistent snow showers were covering up the tracks, I still found the prints of a variety of species including white-tailed deer, snowshoe hare, red squirrel, red fox, mink, and fisher. 

            The Fish Pond Trail – an old road – is wide, and we skied out and back on it each time, turning around wherever time and energy allowed.  The one day the other week as I stopped to turn around, I stood listening but heard nothing.  The winter woods were silent.  Then I noticed a ruffed grouse perched high in a tree, quietly watching us and hoping to go unnoticed.  Wren hadn’t seemed to sense the bird – she was just standing still listening intently.  I stood watching the grouse for a few minutes, and as I was about to turn around and ski back, it finally broke from its statuesque pose and took off rocketing into the woods, cascading snow down from the branches.  I suppose the movement of Wren and I turning proved too much for its patience. 

ruffed grouse - snow
We find ruffed grouse and their tracks regularly while skiing and snowshoeing. Photo courtesy of www.masterimages.org.

            A few days later I was back on the trails, and as I was skiing my way back to the car, I heard the distinctive honking of snow geese.  A skein of perhaps 40 migrating snow geese came low over the trees, their black wing tips clear against the white clouds and lightly falling flakes.  Wren and I stood and watched them as they disappeared into the distance.  The snow geese were ironically moving south, as if to say that they had flown north to find it was still winter and had reconsidered the wisdom of their plan.  More likely they were just heading to a patch of open water or perhaps a place to feed.  It was a great way to top off our ski, but it was also a reminder that spring is coming, despite such great skiing conditions.  After all, even second helpings don’t last forever. 

Fisher tracks - Quebec
I find a variety of animals tracks when I'm out skiing, particularly when I'm on the trails near Lake Clear. Here some fisher tracks crossed my path.
ruffed grouse - snow
We find ruffed grouse and their tracks regularly while skiing and snowshoeing. Photo courtesy of www.masterimages.org.

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