Animal tracks in the snow. A single track leads off the ridge and down the gully toward the pond. They cross my intended path. The deep snow leaves a track that is hard for me to see what kind of animal it is. Soft snow falls back into the mark, covering the print. The distance between front and back legs suggests a body about a yard long. Occasionally, a foot would drag a thin line in the snow as it moved for the next foot fall.
“What kind of animal is it, Jack?” She asked.
“I can’t see a foot print…Oh here is one. It looks like a dog or a perhaps coyote.”
I remembered the story in the newspaper from last autumn. A woman and her dog had been walking the path in the woods. Suddenly, a coyote appeared in front of them. It blocked their path. She said that the coyote “stared coldly” at them with its head low and forward. She hollered and whistled. Finally, the coyote broke the stare and moved off up the hill into the forest. She did not know if it was her or her dog that the coyote was threatening.
We ski on. I can see black water along the pond edge where a small stream flows in.
Twenty yards ahead there is another animal track crossing the path. These look like a deer. The track leads down to the open water of the stream.
Snow falls from high branches. It glitters in the sunlight as it drifts with the light breeze. We ski on alone through the quiet woods.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
New Snow
The new snow was deep and fluffy. My skis broke new trail as I moved through the open woods. The path was an old rail bed abandoned decades ago. It lead straight north through the woods. On the left, a low ridge and away to the east, the frozen pond. Cloud shadows were moving across the pond. In the forest, shadows from the trees were shaded blue on the fresh surface.
Push the ski up and over the snow. Sink ankle deep as my weight moves over the ski and gives me a short glide. The ski tip breaks a narrow line in the smooth snow. Bring the back ski up and over the new snow…sink into the snow and glide a little. Watch the new line from the ski tip.
Behind me, Meg has a newly broken trail to ski. She doesn’t sink to her ankles. She packs the trail and has a longer glide. Her skis smooth the little hills in the track left by the weighting and unweighting of my skis.
My ski poles have the wide baskets for soft snow. Still they go deep into the snow. They snow slides through the basket’s openings and layers up. It falls off in a pile as I lift the pole and move it forward.
The end of a broken pine trunk is layered to look like a snow goose. Photographing on skis is contorting. If you remove your skis, you sink deep into the powder. You need to ski close but not show tracks or skis in the frame. Crouch low for an angle, frame the image, and don’t slide down the slope. Get it? Reshoot from another angle?
Animal tracks in the snow. A single track leads off the ridge and down the gully toward the pond. They cross my intended path. The deep snow leaves a track that is hard for me to see what kind of animal it is. Soft snow falls back into the mark, covering the print. The distance between front and back legs suggests a body about a yard long. Occasionally, a foot would drag a thin line in the snow as it moved for the next foot fall.
“What kind of animal is it, Jack?” She asked.
“I can’t see a foot print…Oh here is one. It looks like a dog or a perhaps coyote.”
I remembered the story in the newspaper from last autumn. A woman and her dog had been walking the path in the woods. Suddenly, a coyote appeared in front of them. It blocked their path. She said that the coyote “stared coldly” at them with its head low and forward. She hollered and whistled. Finally, the coyote broke the stare and moved off up the hill into the forest. She did not know if it was her or her dog that the coyote was threatening.
We ski on. I can see black water along the pond edge where a small stream flows in.
Twenty yards ahead there is another animal track crossing the path. These look like a deer. The track leads down to the open water of the stream.
Snow falls from high branches. It glitters in the sunlight as it drifts with the light breeze. We ski on alone through the quiet woods.
Animal tracks in the snow. A single track leads off the ridge and down the gully toward the pond. They cross my intended path. The deep snow leaves a track that is hard for me to see what kind of animal it is. Soft snow falls back into the mark, covering the print. The distance between front and back legs suggests a body about a yard long. Occasionally, a foot would drag a thin line in the snow as it moved for the next foot fall.
“What kind of animal is it, Jack?” She asked.
“I can’t see a foot print…Oh here is one. It looks like a dog or a perhaps coyote.”
I remembered the story in the newspaper from last autumn. A woman and her dog had been walking the path in the woods. Suddenly, a coyote appeared in front of them. It blocked their path. She said that the coyote “stared coldly” at them with its head low and forward. She hollered and whistled. Finally, the coyote broke the stare and moved off up the hill into the forest. She did not know if it was her or her dog that the coyote was threatening.
We ski on. I can see black water along the pond edge where a small stream flows in.
Twenty yards ahead there is another animal track crossing the path. These look like a deer. The track leads down to the open water of the stream.
Snow falls from high branches. It glitters in the sunlight as it drifts with the light breeze. We ski on alone through the quiet woods.
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