We didn't need snowshoes at first, as we headed along a trail that had been packed down before us. The forest could only be described as a "winter wonderland" of snow-draped evergreens!

We stopped to examine a nice set of Red Fox tracks along the trail. They were already filling in with the falling snow.

This photo gives you an idea of how deep the snow was! There's at least three feet of snow piled up on this fallen tree. The actual depth of the snow of the ground was about four feet!

We stopped for lunch around a nice campfire. It wasn't very cold this week, but a fire outdoors in the winter is always welcome!

Ruffed Grouse tracks. The trail and track pattern gives this away - if you are familiar with Ruffed Grouse tracks in snow, that is.

Ruffed Grouse have feet that are almost webbed. They have special ridges that extend outwards along each claw, that help them stay on top of the snow.

One technique that is used to help identify tracks that have been covered by falling snow is to blow out the track. This doesn't always work, as sometimes you simply end up destroying the track!

Our fearless leader, Dan Gardoqui.

Dan is an excellent leader and teacher, readily passing on his extensive tracking and nature knowledge to us.

Coming out of the forest into an open area by a frozen creek.

Snowing heavily... beautiful.

Heading back...

We didn't spot a lot of tracks today, due to the freshly fallen and falling snow.

Snow stopped ... sun declining towards sunset.

This evening we were treated to another very informative presentation by Dan.

Sorry, not a lot of photos of tracks ... as I mentioned, there weren't a whole lot of tracks present this year.

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