Action from sunrise to sunset

Although I yearn for more daylight and cheer each extra minute that we gain, I also love being out in the forest for both sunrise and sunset in one day. As K and I hiked upward early this morning, glow of the sun below the horizon set the treetops ablaze.

K led the way as we climbed out of a dark low meadow and onto a sun-bathed high plateau.

She stood stock still sampling the scents in the air.

The sun had just peeked over the rocky pinnacles to our east.

The higher mountains glowed in the sun's rising light.

K seemed to say "the future's so bright that I gotta wear shades"!

Ah, after days of stormy weather, my chocolate girl and I reveled in the sunshine.

 Alas, a ceiling of clouds still sat above the horizon. Soon, the sun disappeared behind them.

K and I hiked onward, investigating the tracks of a mountain lion who passed through our forest early on New Year's morning. I wonder if it was the same cat as I tracked a couple of weeks ago. She used a slightly different route but her paw size and shape matched the tracks of two weeks ago. Again, I barely missed getting any photos of the lion with my remote motion-activated cameras. I'm sure that my luck will change soon.

When we left the lion's tracks, I released K to run. Whew, did she ever run! We are in the only fun part of the paw ordeal where I can see K getting stronger every day.

We kept exploring - the snow can reveal new animal routes to me - wildlife camera placement possibilities - so we ranged far and wide looking for animal tracks. The animals had finally ventured out after days of extremely bitter cold and high winds. Deer had meandered inside aspen groves, bobcats had marched from one boulder outcropping to another, coyotes had visited the expansive meadows to hunt rodents, and a solitary mountain lion had cruised our neck of the woods, like a shark hunting for dinner.

When I nearly missed a wildlife sign, my faithful K pointed it out to me. I'm ecstatic that we're a team in the forest again!

At the end of our hike, we arrived home to find a content R snoozing in the sunshine on the dog bed by the roaring fire. R had run, eaten, and now was sound asleep in the sun. What more could a Labrador want?

During the day, a coyote visited our clearing. He was extraordinarily wary, watching and listening for any sign of danger.

His orange highlights glowed in the sunshine. It's been a tough few days for our wildlife. I'm sure that he welcomed the warmer and calmer weather even more than we did.

Finally, our foursome took a sunset hike to Hug Hill, seeing the brilliant colors of the setting sun in the eggshell blue sky.

I'm feeling as content and sleepy as R was, snoozing in front of the fire. It was a wonderful start to 2011.