Lots of Deer Poop

Have you ever wondered where deer sleep in the winter?  Well, I think I now know.  With all the snow in Northern Kettle Moraine last weekend and the limited number of visitors to Mauthe Lake State Park in the winter, it was easy to see. 

After taking a great hike on the Ice Age Trail from Mauthe Lake, the dogs and I diverted and took a walk around the Mauthe Lake campground which is closed in the winter to see what it looked like and to find peace and solitude.  It was so nice to know that the only footprints in the campground at that time of the year are from the wildlife and yourself. 

The wildlife take over the campground areas in the winter.  It's amazing to see all the trails in the snow from deer. rabbits, squirrels and who knows what else.  Makes you wonder what they do in the campground after you're asleep at night.  Thankfully for the wildlife the campground is mostly closed during the winter with only a handful of sites plowed out at the front of the park.  If the weather ever gets back to normal the dogs and I may just may have to do some winter camping to see if we can catch all this wildlife in action.

But back to all this deer poop. 

As we were walking the road back to the park entrance I diverted to the unplowed area that in the summer is the "dog" picnic area.  Letting the dogs run free they went directly to an area of trees next to where the parking lot usually is.  As I walked over there I saw all these patches of grass under the trees.  Knowing that I didn't see that anywhere else I went over to inspect. 

The snow in this area was fully packed down from all the deer traffic in the area.  Lots of deer footprints and when I looked at the ground lots and lots of deer poop.  The dogs and I had walked directly into an area where deer had made their home.  Pretty cool.  Not what you would expect to find. 

But better yet and probably really gross is the reason the dogs went directly to that area.  I guess in dog world, deer poop must be a delicacy.  Hopefully my dogs got their fill before I realized what they were doing and dragged them out of there.  Just Gross.

The Big Chill

December has been a crazy month so far.  Glad it only gets this crazy one month out of the year.  With traveling, holidays, rain, snow and bitter cold - it's a lot to take in for one month.

Snow and Bitter Cold
So far in December, Milwaukee has only seen a few inches of snow and rain which has now turned into the bitter cold.  Fortunately / unfortunately (depending upon how you look at it) last weekend there was snow and a blizzard that happened all around Milwaukee.  Milwaukee ended up with rain, how disappointing.  And then after the rain, came the deep freeze which then caused all that rain to turn into ice.  Should have seem me attempting to walk two dogs on Sunday morning.  Ugh. 

For those that were fortunate (in my opinion) to receive the 8 - 10 inches of snow I hope they ventured out to see what a beautiful site fresh fallen snow can look like.  I did venture out in search of snow on Sunday and drove directly into the heart of the blizzard up in Northern Kettle Moraine.  (Does that make me a winter storm chaser instead of a tornado chase? )  Once north of the county line, the roads definitely got worse and once off the main roads and driving on the Scenic Drive through Northern Kettle Moraine you ventured through snow drifts with your car. 

Thank goodness for my Subuaru Outback and its all wheel drive.  With luck, the dogs and I made it through the park, saw some amazing views of the snow and back home again in one piece.  It was too bad the parks and roads were not plowed where I could have pulled over for a while and gone for a hike.  But, with the bitter cold we had this week - no snow melted and the dogs and I will be off to enjoy the views of the Northern Kettle Moraine this weekend.  More on that later...

A Little Disappointed

With the first look outside on Saturday morning, the sun was just coming up and glistening off the newly fallen and still falling snow.  The weatherman unfortunately said most was going to stay west of the city, but that the lakeshore area would get some lake effect snow.

Over all we probably ended up with about 4 inches of snow.  Not a lot (hence the disappointment).  But it did provide a good setting for taking the dogs and going for a walk down along the Milwaukee River Trails in Riverwest.  Always a beautiful, peaceful place to be early in the morning.  The dogs loved it and took their time sniffing out all the snow, or in Jasmine's case tasting all the snow. 

Did manage to find plenty of rabbit tracks and one set of deer tracks.  It's so cool when you know you live in a city a few miles from downtown and you have deer living just a block from your house.  Maybe one of these days when I see one I'll actually have a camera with me.

Here's a few pictures of the river area - peaceful and beautiful with the snow.  Let's hope this base of snow stays and we get some more soon. 

Anticipation

Anticipation!  Waiting...  Patience? 

My favorite time of the year.  Snow is on its way.  Looks like a good weekend to go hiking.  The solitude of the woods (as solitude as it can be with 2 dogs) and the glistening of the fluffy snow.  Searching for animal tracks and animals as they entertain themselves in the winter bliss. 

Again - it's like being a kid in a candy store, waiting til you can buy the chocolate bar and sink your teeth into it.  Snow has the same effect on me.  Watch for pictures and more blogs later this weekend as I get out and enjoy what nature has to offer.

Fall Turning into Winter

Finally, I think winter is starting to settle in. Took the dogs hiking on the Ice Age Trail yesterday at Pike Lake State Park. It was a brisk 29 or so degrees and then there was the wind on top of that.

At 3 pm in the afternoon, the frost from the night before was still on the grass in the shady areas. Needless to say, it probably wasn't going anywhere that day.

The open farm fields that the Ice Age Trail winds through in this region were just a blustery walk against the wind. Even with the cold weather - this was a great day for a hike. The sun was out and made the cold, windy weather seem minimal.

Back at Pike Lake you could really see how cold it was outside. A short walk along the lake showed how the waves that were hitting the shoreline were turning into ice. The shoreline, rocks and low hanging branches were all covered with a layer of fresh ice. With the sun working its way down late in the afternoon, it made the fresh ice all that more magical.

The only thing that would have made this day better is if we would have had fresh snow for hiking. But well, that's for another day.

Planning and Waiting

The hardest part sometimes about enjoying the outdoors is realizing a lot of the things you really like to do are not available where you live. Then you need to plan, organize and of course wait.

Last year about this time I was planning my trip to Argentina (El Chalten and ?? at the time). I finally planned the trip to go to Buenos Aires, El Chalten, El Calafate and Ushuaia. Then waiting.

Now I'm planning again - heading out to Washington, Idaho and Montana to do some backcountry backpacking in the Cabinets and then head over and do the same in the nw section of Glacier National Park. And I'm now to the point of the waiting game again. But to kill my time between now and then I'm planning another trip down to Chile / Argentina. This time down to Isla Navarino. Can't wait for that one.

I feel like an impatient kid in a candy store. I guess as we get older we don't lose our impatience, we just move it to different things.