Tough scouting

Today I was able to go the swamp for the first time in quite awhile. After a few days of sunshine and sub zero temperatures, the weather had changed to +4 C and a steady gray overcast. This never fails, whenever the weather is good, there is no chance of being able to go out and when I have the opportunity to go, the weather is not even close to ideal for photography. I managed to get my car parked at a crossing of two dirtroads and hopped onto my skis. After the first kilometer or so, I realized that this would be a much tougher trip than I had planned. The warm temperature caused the top snow to be extremely damp and it started to stick to the bottom of my skis. Moving along was more in the style of walking with skis than actually skiing, but I kept on going and took a few snapshots along the way.

I looked at this depression in the snow with some concern as soon as I noticed it from further away. I often feel a bit dubious of depressions and cracks in otherwise smooth and level snowsurfaces.

This time my concern was not unfounded, the unfrozen area was quite large, extending partly even underneath the even looking snowsurface:

Otherwise the landscape was rather bare and steady gray. There weren't even any fresh animal tracks to be seen. All in all quite boring:

I made my way to the spot where I had my hide in the fall and stopped for a cup of tea and a bite to eat. The picture shows well how the snow kept sticking to the skis and slowed my progress quite effectively:

I had left flooring of my hide leaning against a small tree in the fall and after some digging I was able to check that they were still there:

Next time around I'll have to bring along a snowshovel and a sledge so that I can move the planks to a different location. There I'll set my hide up again to wait for the black grouse mating season to begin. As I was taking my break, I set the camera up on my tripod and took a picture of myself. I think my expression says something about todays trip:

I didn't take the compulsory closeup shot of a pinecone, but opted for a moss closeup instead: