Snowshoeing Sights

We are lucky to have the opportunity to do a lot of snowshoeing here at the City, and we really love it. Today we went on another Expotition (to borrow a word from A. A. Milne), so I thought I'd show you some of what we saw. It was an absolutely perfect day for snowshoeing; the sky was clear blue, not a breath of wind, and so warm that we had to take off our jackets. We went to an area in Castle Rocks SP called Tiny Town today and had a great time. The snow was deceptively deep--it looked smooth and glorious and you think "Oh, this is going to be easy," and then you take a step and you're up to your knees, even with floats on the back of the snowshoes. Despite almost falling a couple of times, we had lots of fun. Here's what we saw:

This is where a magpie or raven landed. You can see where its' wings brushed the snow.

Here's me, stopping to fix one of my Neos (they're overshoes, since I like to just wear running shoes or low boots). They like to slide down my pants, and I'm not too fond of that. So far it's a draw, but I will prevail!

Here's a really awesome crack in one of the fins at Tiny Town.

Here's an example of the petroglyphs at Tiny Town. Brad was telling us today that a team of NPS archeologists came and did a survey of the City and Castles and found a load of cool stuff but never found these--a climber came to the visitors center to ask if anyone was aware that the petroglyphs were there and no one should be climbing on them. Pretty cool!

Here's a part of Tiny Town--I think it is beautiful there.

Some more magpie tracks. We love to see them and follow where they go. Today we also saw deer, rabbit, coyote and kangaroo rat tracks.

I think this was pretty much the coolest thing we saw today--it is three beds where deer slept last night. We could see where they turned around a couple of times before settling down, and the snow was frozen where it had been next to their bodies, because of the heat they put off. It was really awesome! It makes me glad that I've studied the things I have, so I know what I'm looking at when we go somewhere.

Anyway, that was our Expotition for today. Enjoy!