I saw a really cool dark-phase fox this morning crossing a meadow. He stopped and stared at me for quite a while from about a hundred yards away. He had a beautiful dark face with a white patch on his chest. Seeing him on an otherwise damp and dreary morning was a special treat.
Here are a couple of scenes that caught my eye recently while out and about with the camera. The first one is a sea of cattails in a snowy field, the second one shows some critter tracks (perhaps fox or coyote) crossing a snow covered marsh.
With some of our snow finally starting to melt, we are beginning to see signs left over from warmer seasons. Some plants that were covered in snow for most of the winter are reemerging as the snow level diminishes. I found this sweet photo opportunity while out snowshoeing a few days ago.
Thanks go to my dad for capturing this "behind the scenes" image of me making the previous two photographs.
While out snowshoeing the other afternoon we saw a lot of cool things but it's always a special treat to see evidence of otter activity. This time of year the waterways are slowly but surely trying to open up as warmer days struggle to push the last of the cold winter days away. As we snowshoed along this local creek there were little pockets of water here and there. Otter tracks were running between almost all of them. While we didn't see any otters in person, its fun to imagine them running along in their playful way as they inspect the various water sources.
This afternoon and early evening my dad and I got out on the snowshoes for a hike along a local river. The cooler temperatures lately means the snow has become very firm, making walking through the woods much easier than it is any other time of year. It also increases accessibility to areas that are normally very inaccessible, such as this river meadow. In any other season it would be a nightmare to walk through this area, but today it was a joy.
As we walked along the hard surface of the snow it was easy to forget that we were walking about 3 feet above the normal ground level. Yep, that's right... we still have an average of about 3 feet of snow depth here in the very northeastern tip of Minnesota. And, it sounds like we're due to receive another foot of snow this week. This winter just doesn't want to let go, and I'm completely okay with that.
The morning after last week's snow storm was so beautiful. Trees coated with a fresh blanket of wet snow and a clear blue sky hovering overhead. It was hard to go to work on that morning. I could have easily spent the whole day out and about making photographs!
I can see why, Smokey, I can see why. After 20 inches of extremely wet and heavy snow this week on top of the large amount of snow depth we already had, I'm not surprised one bit.
