It's been a crazy week of weather. Snow, rain, extreme cold warnings, blowing snow warnings, temps as high as +6C and as low as -31C all in a week. Only in Alberta they say...

I don't think I've ever seen four hours of non-stop rain in February. It sounded and smelled like a summer rain shower. While it was lovely to hear and to smell, it coated the roads in a layer of ice that was thick enough to skate on. Needless to say, trying to drive on that I believe would be like trying to drive on ball bearings. 

When all the warnings got lifted and I finally got to go to the trails, I found the fluffy snow from earlier in the week covered in a layer of thick ice. As I broke trail through the drifts, I also had to break through the ice. Let's just say that there was no sneaking up on any wildlife that day. They would have heard me coming from miles away. I even managed to break trail on the pond surface again. That was a work out to be hold.

I was lucky in the sense that nobody else ventured out to the trails; probably due to road conditions. There was no one to disturb the wildlife so there was a variety of animal tracks to see. Sure, the normal squirrel and hare tracks were everywhere but I found some new ones. They were definitely big cat tracks. From what I could tell, it was keeping an eye on the hares and squirrels. After looking at some photos on line and in books, I think it was probably a juvenile lynx.

The sun was out today and so was I. The wind swayed the tall spruce trees back and forth. The sun's rays cast shadows across the trail between the trunks. The birds sang from the branches above. It was the perfect outing.

With this being a long weekend in Alberta, I hope that you too will have the opportunity for some outdoor time. If you can't make it to one of the parks, just a walk through the neighborhood listening or watching for birds or other wildlife is a good start.

Moose 'bed'

Squirrel made a 'butterfly angel' in the snow.

Deer track

Big cat tracks.  Possibly a lynx.

3 moose ran across the pond and up the hill on the opposite side.

Gusting wind created patterns in the snow.

Rain created some icy driving surfaces.