Co-o-o-o-old today! At 11:00 this morning it was only 7 degrees.
After bundling up and looking more like the Michelin Man than an actual human, I went out earlier for a short walk on the trail. Ice is beginning to form along the banks of the creek, and while the water still runs free, it will sooned be silenced by the icy prison winter will bestow upon it.
I found plenty of fresh tracks in the snow. Not only deer and fox but also a coyote had visited in the early morning hours.
I followed the fox tracks through the woods to the edge of the creek, where they back-tracked toward the fire pit and the bridge. I walked up the approach to the bridge to see if it had gone across but instead it had crossed the trail and went down the opposite embankment. I was then surprised to find larger tracks - as big as my fist - leading across the bridge, clearly visible in the light snow. Initially I thought (and hoped), it was a wolf, but upon closer examination and a good animal tracks field guide, I soon determined by the three lobed heel pad that it was actually a mountain lion. Its tracks are about five inches long - that's one big kitty!
I followed the cat's tracks across the bridge and along the trail for a few hundred feet, where they veered off into the trees - and I did not follow. I did not sense its presence so I doubt it was there, but you never know. It could very well have been perched in the branches of one of the old cottonwood trees, watching my every move!
As I returned across the bridge I scared up three white-tail deer; a doe with her almost fully grown twins fawns. The three of them, in thick winter coats, stood and watched me for a short while before moving along, the two fawns bounding away, their bushy white tails waving good-bye.
After returning indoors and thawing out, I can hear the wind howling as it swirls the falling snow into tiny white tornadoes. Now, at 2:00 I doubt the temperature has gotten much warmer; in fact with the wind chill it may even be well below zero. But stretched out on the buffalo robe in front of a cozy fire with a steaming cup of hot chocolate and both of my dogs curled up beside me, more than makes up for the frigid temperatures outside.
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