Soggy Saturday

I started my walk fairly early on Saturday and was surprised to have to deal with a spring-time rain in the middle of January. Had it not been for my many layers I would have been soaked by about a quarter of the way around. I stopped on the west side watching the rain puddle on top of the ice where the water flows back into Shingle Creek. As the rain hit the hard packed snow and ice, it froze upon impact, turning the paved trail around the park into a virtual skating rink. Seriously, this was the toughest time I'd ever had simply walking around the park. After three miles of keeping my knees locked in order to keep from falling on my ass, my legs felt as if they'd run a ten mile marathon. Whenever I could, I hit the wood chip trails and had much more traction on the frozen snow. Rain droplets hung everywhere and it was a downright dismal day.

Sunday Sunrise

Decided to take a very early walk today and maybe catch the sunrise. I hurried round to the west side just in time to capture a red white and blue striped sky. It was cold and quiet for the most part.









Much of the woods and trees were dull silhouettes against the low sun and I almost missed this Barred Owl on the northeast corner. Later as the sun rose higher it cast an orange glow on the big cottonwoods along Shingle Creek.

January Thaw

Today was apparently the first day we've been above freezing since Christmas day. It darn near felt like spring despite the 10+ inches of snow still on the ground. Lots of people were out today and I even saw an elderly couple out jogging. Not only were both of them probably in their seventies, the guy was wearing shorts! If there weren't so many other people around I probably would have taken a picture of him. Ha ha. On a less busy part of the trail, I almost walked right into a doe standing motionless just feet off the trail. As I went for my camera she spooked and retreated back into some thick woods. I noticed what looked like two young ones with her. The longer I watched, the more movement I saw back in the woods. In all I think there were six or seven of them but none ventured close enough for a decent photo. I walked up the trail further to a clearing and I could see a couple of them from a distance and was the only photo I got. On the south side I took the woodchip trail and noticed a round little ball of fur sitting on top of the snow. I thought it was dead but then it started moving. It didn't look like a mouse as it had a much shorter tail and no visible ears. Plus he was as round as a tennis ball. I got so close to him I wondered if he was injured or deaf but then he finally ran away. After looking online I think it was a Vole.

First time snowshoeing!

There's more pictures than usual on this post but not because of all the wildlife I saw. Rather, it was the first time I've ever tried snowshoeing. With temps near zero for nearly two weeks straight I figured it was pretty safe to travel across the water and up the creek. The first thing I noticed upon walking onto the lake were "snow dunes" carved by the wind. It was very cool walking up the creek as I was really in the middle of the park with scenery I just don't ever see. In places you could look a long way without seeing anything man-made. After coming up to a sharp bend in the creek I could see how close I was to the small section of woods that sit smack dab in the middle of the park. I hiked up the embankment, backtracked a little and I was there. This was only the second time I'd ever made it out to the middle and right away I noticed the huge wild trees that have grown undisturbed for decades. After exploring for a bit and kicking up a deer here and there I headed back north. This would be a good point to show the path I took -snowshoe in blue and regular path in pink. About the time I finally made it back to the path is when I saw this large hawk and was the only wildlife that sat still for any time while my snowshoes crunched along loudly. I figured I'd even take a picture of them to mark the occasion. After being on them for a while it felt weird to walk normally again on the path. On the east side where the path comes close to the lake again, I decided to give it another go. It was fun to take a shortcut that won't even exist in another few months. As I was getting closer to the parking lot I began to notice how the snow drifts up towards -but not touch- the peninsulas of cattails. It was very weird as every outcropping had the same effect with close to a 3 foot drop in snow depth.