SLU's Conservation Biology class visited a fox den and downloaded pictures from two trail cameras monitoring the some of the entrances. The den had been visited by fisher, possum, deer, squirrels, and the fox.

There are deer around me on a daily basis when I'm home. This doe was just curious as I was out walking in the woods.

Loved the blades of grass with so much ice built up. I’m sad for the trees but it is beautiful.

Saturday’s (12/28/2019) weather wasn’t the sunniest but was perfect for hiking. Cool, but not cold, and very little snow and NO mud. Our destination of choice was the Goodnow Mountain fire tower in Newcomb NY (east of Long Lake). The trail is on the SUNY ESF Newcomb campus.

...We walked to the base of the Den’s snowfield to have a quick glance at around small ice chips fell down. Helmets weren’t an option, but necessity even along the glade. We flaked the ropes and readied ourselves back at the “always wet corner.” A fat pillar formed the bottom 20’. This seemed straightforward. An offwidth crack, wider at the base, was partly occluded by the pillar, but could be seen immediately above. It appeared that a curtain may have covered most of it before the rain set it, but this was partially melted out leaving a few ice bridges and blobs on ledges.

Christmas Eve offered the perfect weather for a trek into Moon & Wolf lakes. The ground is frozen, but not enough snow to need snowshoes. The trip is about five miles in total.

The weekend wasn't the greatest weatherwise, but good enough to make the long-overdue trek to St Regis mountain in Paul Smiths. The Friends of St. Regis Mountain Fire Tower have been working hard at restoring the fire tower and are doing a great job. The '2,874 mountain originally had a wooden tower constructed on the summit in 1910 and was upgraded to a '35 Aermotor LS 40 steel tower in 1918.

Azure was covered in a layer of light fluffy snow, and just as we got to the top the sun broke through the clouds. For a relatively small mountain, Azure is always such a worthwhile hike and has some really amazing views.

The trails at the nature center were covered with needle ice this morning. It crunched underfoot over whole miles of trail and you could see it everywhere. Have never seen so much! There was also hoar frost on leaves close to the ground and hanging from trees. Made for a very cool walk!

Sunday was a dark and dreary day, but not cold or stormy- so we visited Mt Arab in Piercefield. The trail is hard-packed and microspikes are perfect right now. The visibility was only about 100 feet, so the normally great views were absent. The now-retired fire tower usually offers even greater views, but not today.