It’s been a little over a month since I last visited the stream. Last time I was there, ice was beginning to seep in through cracks in the earth, and the ground was cold and solid. Now, it is a sea of pale white snow, and what was once a meager trickle of water is now frozen over into a plane of ice that would make a great skating spot. It is evident that my buddy and I were not the only visitors, as tracks were etched into the snow almost everywhere one could look (more on that later).
In the past, I struggled to find signs of wildlife at my spot. That being so, I was wary of making the trek down to it, through snow and ice, but I was rewarded for my troubles. At least five different types of tracks could be found all throughout the area. As someone who has never done mammal tracking before, I can only make educated guesses based on the Mammal Tracks and Scat Life-Size Pocket Guide and recommendations from the iNaturalist community, but here are my possible IDs.
For the first time, signs of animal life were more prevalent there than plant life. Not a single leaf was left behind on trees, all of them sleeping with the earth under a blanket of snow. I got to see my spot in a new light.