What a week it has been; from overnight lows of -33C to daytime highs of +14C. January in Alberta leaves everyone guessing how to dress in the morning. 

The weather is confusing the animals as well. On my way to work one morning my headlights caught some movement on the pavement. A lone muskrat was moving as fast as its little legs could take it down the middle of the road. There was no pond in the vicinity. It had quite a distance to travel to get to the nearest one.

There has been lots of action on the trails. I made it to the Beaver Hills Biodiversity trail twice last week. That was before the snow began melting. There were tracks of all kinds on the trail; moose, deer, squirrel, hare and coyote. 

The moose were active; leaving broken trees that they were feeding on and melted snow where they bedded down to rest. 

The squirrels chattered in the tree branches and the woodpeckers searched for food in the snags alongside the trail.

On my way back to the parking lot I felt eyes watching me. A young bull moose kept a close watch as I snowshoed by.

I went for a drive to Elk Island National Park after my snowshoe outing. I haven't been there since the beginning of December. I thought more people would be out and about with the free admission to the National Parks this year but things were no different than before.

I wanted to see if the skating oval was cleared on Astotin Lake and was excited to see that it was. My next outing will be with the kicksled on the lake. Fun times. One can pick up a lot of speed on the ice!

Have you checked out the Participaction 150 website? There might be a new sport/activity listed that you would like to try. Hiking? X-country skiing? Snowshoeing? Kicksledding? Ski-joring? Ice skating? Kite flying? What will you try in the great outdoors?

Happy trails!

Deer tracks on the trail.

Porcupines were eating tree bark.

Hares were nibbling on the low branches.

A hoary woodpecker searches for food.

Coyote tracks across the pond surface.

A young bull moose watches from the trees.