I set off into the woods on Christmas morning. The boys woke us up well before the sun and by daybreak, presents were opened and breakfast had. As the boys settled into their new stuff and my wife Facetimed with her mom and sister, I thought I would explore what the forest held this morning. The boys and I had walked to the west the day before hunting, but this morning I wanted to simply walk and observe.
It had lightly snowed the night before, only about a half an inch. The night had been cold, a crust formed below the fresh snow. I headed to the north east today. The crusty snow crunches under my feet. I head across the pond. It is now frozen. The pond isn’t big but in the winter provides a shortcut. From the other side of the pond, I drop down into a tamarack swamp. The frozen ground makes this easy to cross too. To my surprise the creek along the east side is still running. The snow extends down right to the edge of the dark water moving swiftly past. In some places, the creek is frozen over and I find a spot to cross.
A narrow strip of land separates three marshy areas. Last winter I found wolf tracks here, none today, but I’m sure they will be through sometime soon. I cut through some pines and emerge on the silent logging road that was my destination. I can make it nearly all the way home on this system of roads. Although I’ve never been to the left, today I head to the right. The left will have to be explored some other day.
The forest is open and the smooth snow spreads out before me. The fresh snow obscures any prior tracks or disturbances, but I can see who has been out and about since the snow stopped last night. A few deer, rabbit, and squirrel tracks are all that I see at first. Then a new set of tracks joins the road, the tracks of a bobcat. We’ve notice more signs of bobcat this year, and tracks in the snow are not uncommon. The tracks stand out this morning because of the freshness of the snow, having only stopped a few hours earlier.
I continue along the road and the bobcat tracks do too. This bobcat went for a Christmas hike as well, although just as a part of a normal day, on the search for food. The tracks continue along the road, meandering from one side to the other. What attracted attention to these areas? Was it a sight or a smell? What did the bobcat notice to cause the deviation from a straight path. I stop along the way, trying to see what the bobcat saw. Ultimately, none of these harbored the hoped for meal and the bobcat continued on.
The bobcat follows the road, just as I am. I suppose that just as I am choosing the open path of the road as opposed to the forested surroundings, the bobcat finds the traveling easier too. The bobcat may have a destination in mind, although always a hunter of opportunity. If there is a destination for the bobcat, then it is traveling towards something this morning, just as I am traveling away. I’ll return home eventually, but I’m still out bound. We reach an intersection in the road, I take the left fork and so had the bobcat. Under the snow, I can see some other hiker had come in from the other fork, but the tracks are old and barely distinguishable under a couple of recent snowfalls. Those tracks only follow ours a short way, before turning around and heading back to their original destination. But the bobcat and I travel on.
I’m not terribly familar with these roads, so even places that I’ve been to before still feel new. The internet tells me that bobcats can have home ranges between 3 miles and 80 miles depending upon sex and location. My hiking companion may frequent this area or perhaps this area is unfamilar to it as well. The previous night’s snow may be driving it back towards more familiar grounds. Or instead, perhaps the bobcat is now venturing further afield after the larger sleet/ice storm that came through a few days earlier.
The road crosses the eastern end of the same tamarack swamp I had crossed at the start. Maybe some day, I can reach the same point traveling through the swamp. This landmark reminds me of the interconnectedness of the landscape, and the terrain that I have covered. The tamarack swamp is a lowland between two higher forested ridges. The road starts climbing upwards out of the swamp to the second ridge. As the road bends to the left, the bobcat continues straight into the hardwoods above. I say a quiet goodbye to my companion, wishing it luck on its Christmas Day travels.
At the top of the ridge, my road joins a larger logging road. This road is part of a snowmobile trail. It has been groomed already, but the only tracks are from the groomer, not a single snowmobile tread can be seen. I’m surprised by this, but also pleased as I can be the first to travel this groomed path. The walking is quick and easy on the compacted trail. It isn’t long before I’m to the cutoff to home. Since it is still Christmas morning, no snowmobiles are out yet either. Later in the day, I hear plenty. I have enjoyed my morning in the woods and I like that others can do the same in their own way too. In that sense, my bobcat companion enjoyed the solitude of the woods on its Christmas morning walk, hopefully ending in a full belly and a warm place to rest.