Evvy and I headed out at about 8:00 a.m. this morning. I wore my snowshoes, as she bounded through the snow. Sometimes she could walk on top of the crust, other times, she would break through. Our hike was three hours, of mostly unbroken snow up Derry Hill to the north of my house.  I was hopeful I'd see some good wildlife sign, and I wasn't disappointed. In fact, I found Snowshoe Hare tracks finally.   I have looked on Sheep Hill which is up behind my house.  I found nothing.  The hare on Derry Hill scampered from hemlock to hemlock, hiding from watchful owls.  The Snowshoe Hare is white in winter, so he's very difficult to see.  Today was no different.  Though the tracks looked fresh, I couldn't spot the hare, and wouldn't unless he moved.

There were many Deer trails, Fox, Coyote, Turkey, and Mink(less so).  Not a soul had been walking on this particular trail, it was great. If you look closely at the photo with the yellow sign, you'll see the sign says, "Dang".  Someone had blocked out the "er".  Actually years ago, before I moved here, this must have been an active snowmobile trail.  Years and many downed trees later, the trail markers are still out there, but no snowmobiles are allowed now.   It's just as well, I love the peace and quiet here.  At the end of this trail, we reached an active snowmobile trail.  The Hooper Hill Hopper snowmobile club maintains the trails around here. The trail runs west-east and is part of the NH Snowmobile trail system. It's Rte 6, which has several local trails running off to the south and north.  

I was glad to be on the maintained trail after breaking trail for the last couple hours.  Evvy seemed glad too, as she raced up ahead of me.  Evvy always goes just so far, then she stops to look back, making sure I'm still there.  If I have stopped, she races right back to me.  I always have a treat waiting.  The treat is my insurance she will return.  For now, she has not been distracted enough to keep her from returning.  I always put her back on lead as we approach a road, snowmobiles, or other people.  

We were both exhausted by the time we got home.  Evvy was sacked out on the futon for the rest of the day.  Her nap gave the cats an opportunity to come out from hiding.