A snowshoe hike and wildlife flurry

We are drinking up the spring snow, knowing how it is nourishing our forest. Yesterday evening, we took a peaceful sunset hike. The snow had a firm crust on top that the dogs could float on if they walked softly. K spotted this ledge that overlooks our meadows and padded out to the edge.

She gazed over the meadows for a few moments, and then backed away from the edge, still walking delicately to float on the snow crust.

First thing this morning, K and I headed out for a leisurely snowshoe hike because the snow is too deep and soft for snowbiking. I love meandering through the woods with my K as the sun rises.

K did lots of snow wriggling. That scratchy snow crust must feel wonderful on a dog's back.

After each wriggle, she shook, and my camera caught her with a crazed look on her face!

The snow crust was very strong. Although I needed snowshoes, K stood, walked, and ran atop the crust.

As the sun rose higher in the sky, the bluebird color shined intensely. K peered off a boulder as she played.

At the end of our hike, K gazed into my heart. Her eyes mesmerize me.

Later, I visited some of my wildlife cameras. I expected no photos because, usually, the animals stop moving around during and after big snow storms. Not this time.

Two elk cows walked under a huge Ponderosa Pine tree that mountain lions love to mark. In fact, a hulking pile of mountain lion scat sits just on this side of the tree. Funny, the elk didn't seem concerned. The photo shows one of them standing around sniffing the area as our snow storm was starting.

Here's the most recent mountain lion visit to the same spot, to give you a sense of perspective about the sizes of these animals.

Later in the night that our snowstorm hit, a rare event occurred. A mule deer doe visited our clearing and stood under our bear-proof bird feeding station. We haven't had a coyote visitor in more than a month. Perhaps that's why the deer visited recently while almost no deer have ever ventured into our clearing in the past.

Then, yesterday evening, a bobcat walked past one of my wildlife cameras, delicately walking atop the snow crust. Based on the blur in the photos, I think that he was moving fairly quickly.

Finally, a bobcat walked through our clearing last night. This was probably the same cat as my wildlife camera photographed earlier in the evening at the start of his patrol.

For so soon after a big snowstorm, that was a veritable flurry of wildlife activity!