Our Blog : Uncategorized

Hey All. The winter has been mild lately, so I was excited to see snow falling when I went to bed last night. Today is Saturday and since I have the day off I was excited to sleep in and catch up on some sleep from a busy week. But this attitude quickly dissolved when a dream woke me up at 5 and  I saw there was a few inches of snow on the ground. Without hesitation I put on my boots and jacket, and armed with only a camera, a knife, and a curious mind I set out on an adventure not knowing what I would find and not having a place to be or a time to be there. I long for this type of freedom again, and I know it is only 2 months away. I hate being chased by the clock in an office all day. (More on this in the next blog “3 Ways to Intergrate Primtive Skills into an Office Job”) But today this was not the case.  I was free to explore!

The first few rays of light were barely over the horizon when I entered Family Camp field and found my first tracks. They were hard to see when I looked right at them, so I had to keep my eyes soft and occasionally use my fingers to verify I was still on track. At this point I walked slowly and fluidly, attempting not to startle or alert any surrounding wildlife. With the light levels so low, I knew it was only noise discipline I needed to worry about, with my silhouette masked by the dark fir trees.  Still dark, I took a seat outside the fox den and began to wait.

As I sat, the stress of my week began to detox from my mind. Events that stressed me out during the week were allowed to be looked at in a new light. There is something about sitting quietly in nature that does this for me. After being cooped up in an office all week I began to feel thankful to be outside. That the day was still so young and there was 3 inches of fresh powdered snow to track in was a bonus. I began to think about my family home in Jersey and my community here in Maine. I am so thankful to have the support and foundation that these people bring to my life. I offered thanks next to the earth, amazed at how so much life can be supported on this big ball of dirt and rock. And finally I let my awareness flow to the wild animals of the forest, who tweak my curiosity daily through their tracks, their songs, and their dens sites, motivating me to get my butt outta bed at 5 am hoping merely to catch a glimpse of one of these wild creatures.

The creaking sounds made by the wind moving through the frozen and frosted ever green boughs brought me back to reality and I realized Grandfather sun had fully risen. Still no fox, oh well, there was exploring to do! I got up and headed down towards the pond waterfront and passed an old shelter campers had made during a nature program a few summers back.

A classic small tepee design of the north east, where large slabs of birch bark is used as shingles. This shelter has seen better days, but I thought it looked cool frosted with snow.

After hearing a flock of chickadees in the distance, I tried my luck at calling them in with a “chh chh chh”. Sometimes they’ll come right into the tree I’m siting under, looking to fight off the imaginary other flock attempting to enter their territory. No luck today though. I continued to walk and was constantly reminded how much I love being in the Maine woods with snow draped over the firs and pines. The quietness is almost eerie and the electric glow makes it mysterious.

I walked passed many tracks left by various rodents, mostly red squirrel, who love these softwood forests. One chattered at my presence as I walked on by, following a fresh trail left a few hours earlier by the red fox. The trail was long and straight, characteristic of this species, and headed past the pond and into a forest made up primarily of medium aged white pines. I noticed more and more turkey tracks as I walked until I stumbled upon what will now be know as “Turkey Highway”. Take a look for yourself!

With so many wild turkey tracks around I should have put together that this may have been a roosting site, but I didn’t. Not until turkeys started flying out of trees one by one.  I think I was just as startled as the first one to fly off, but after that it became fun to watch. Four flew out of that forest in total and I bet there were even more who saw/heard me coming and preemptively bailed.

Well, so many stories to tell and adventures to share. I’ll have to leave out the one about the cat tracks that I had mistaken for skunk (sure glad it wasn’t the other way around)  leading one way into an abandoned trailer and scared me half to death when I poked my head in and it came running out past me. Or the part about the bird party that was happening across the street at the bird feeders. Blue Jays, Crows, Chickadees, Nuthatches, Cedar Waxwings, Hairy Woodpeckers, Piliated Woodpeckers, and a random seagull all gathered to grab a free meal at this time of year when food is hardest to find. Oh, and how could I forget, the Robins! At least a dozen of them, the first robins I’ve seen since fall.  Here’s a final shot of the continued turkey highway passing on the waterfront road, within 15 yards of Route 105/220, cool, huh?

There are mostly all turkey, with a set of fox tracks earlier in the night crossing the road in the same place.I couldn't figure out why this was the preferred crossing area.