Today Herb and I drove up Glenrosa Road to the junction with Jackpine Forest Service Road, to the small marshy pond where I had a trail camera last year. Our purposes were twofold, to again put a camera on a moose trail near the pond and to try out some new snowshoes, a gift to me from Mark. There was plenty of snow, more than a metre, as measured on our hiking sticks. 

 Parking the Tracker on the edge of Jackpine Road, we made our way down toward the pond through the forest. A red squirrel watched from a large spruce tree and the snow bore the tracks of several other animals, notably snowshoe hares and a weasel.

After attaching the camera to a small tree to monitor an area where I noticed some old snow-filled tracks of moose, we continued on down to the edge of the pond.

My idea was to enjoy walking out on the smooth surface of the frozen pond but Herb hesitated, thrusting his hiking pole down to test the ice.

"It's frozen solid", I said, "look at those vehicle tracks out there in the middle". I had taken just a couple of steps out from the willow-rimmed pond edge when down one of my snowshoes went--into open water! I didn't stop to check its depth but turned quickly toward the trees. "It must be a spring", I said, somewhat embarrassed!

That ended my plans for a nice walk on the pond and we made our way back up through the trees to the road. I plan to return to check the camera in a week or so.

The snowshoes worked well, Mark--but not so good on water!