Looking around.

The last couple of days have been sunny and warm, and the snow is melting. Water is pouring off my roof like rain, and where the snow had been over my knees in my yard it is now only a few inches deep. I thought I would take a little drive this afternoon, as much to ward off a case of cabin fever as anything, but also to see if I might find someplace where I can at least take a little walking hunt. Wishful thinking!

I loaded a couple of dogs in the truck and started up the mountain behind my house. I got exactly as far as the road had been plowed to the last house. The plow had left a wall of snow across the road, and that was the end of the line. I turned around and drove down the County road to Mill Creek. I knew I could get up there at least as far as the intersection where an old logging road takes off, as there are a few houses farther up the main road and the residents there would have the road plowed out even though they don’t live on a County road.

I had in mind walking up the logging road with the dogs for a short distance, at least until the snow got to deep to bother fighting it. Again wishful thinking. Two feet of snow lay across the road at the intersection, and I knew it would only get deeper further along. Of course I could have strapped on some snowshoes at that point, but I knew I would pay for it over the next 3 days with crippled knees. There was a day when I wouldn’t have given it a second thought, and would even have called it fun; but those days are behind me. Today I keep a pair of snowshoes in the pickup through the winter just in case of emergency, but the truth is I hope I won’t need them. I turned around and headed back the way I had come, looking for tracks in the snow along side of the road along the way.

I saw were a few deer had bucked the snow, and where a bobcat had walked on top, only sinking in about an inch. There were a few old tracks that were probably fox, but they were to old to tell for certain. At the rate the snow is melting it shouldn’t be to much longer until I can find someplace to stretch my legs, and the dog’s too. The next couple of days are supposed to be warm, and there is even a chance of a little rain in the forecast later in the week.