Second Visit - Saturday 2/26/11

Eight days after settlement and our first trip to our cabin, Lisa and I returned. It had snowed up on the mountain probably a day or two before and there was a thin white coating on everything. When we got out of the car, we immediately saw a variety of tracks in the snow around the cabin. There were some that looked like turkey tracks and the others appeared to belong to smaller animals and on at least one set of tracks, claws were visible. That was pretty neat to see. I intended to get a picture of the tracks in the snow, but the sun was out and the tracks became blurred by melting before I had the chance.

We had brought some more items from home that we didn't have room for on our first trip. It was cold, so after lighting the propane heater, we unpacked the stuff that we brought and then spent a few hours cleaning and organizing. We had taken mugs, plates and bedclothes home to be washed so we put them away and made the beds up in the loft. By the time we finished, the sun was high in the sky and it had warmed up outside. It was still cool, but comfortable in a fleece or heavy sweatshirt.

We decided to take a hike in the woods. We walked out to the east side of the cabin where I had been the previous week and quickly came upon the trail that I had found on my last visit. We found fresh scat on top of the snow and there were turkey tracks all over the place. We followed the trail northeast for maybe a quarter of a mile. The area and terrain out that way are nice and I plan to do a fair amount of hunting out there. At one point, I heard a kind of snuffling noise coming from the top of a ridge to the north of us and I looked up to see movement. I couldn't see much, but I think that I may have seen the tails of two deer moving from our right to our left at the top of the ridge. We stood quietly for a few minutes, but didn't see or hear anything more. We turned around and began walking back to the cabin. At least two more times, I heard that same noise. I have heard does make that same sort of noise before. Last hunting season, I was watching a group of seven does come across a trail and heard the lead doe make a similar noise as a signal to the other deer.

By the time that we were preparing to leave around 4:00pm, the sun had melted most of the snow on the deck and in the clearing around the cabin. I left that day feeling happy and refreshed. I am convinced that happiness in life is truly about enjoying the simple pleasures that each day brings. A day of cleaning, organizing and a short walk in the brisk winter wilderness with my wife had made me feel completely fulfilled.