Marking the seasons on the Gunflint Trail

The Gunflint Trail Association’s blog has been providing lots of great updates on life in canoe country as winter slowly transitions to spring. March is a great time to be up there, as the weather is warmer and the days longer, but there is still lots of snow on the ground.

Last week, the blog shared some of the signs of early spring:

Grey Jay

Songbirds, like the black-capped chickadee, respond to the increasing daylight by singing. (We humans kind of do too.) You can hear these happy sounds, especially the clear “fee-bee” of the chickadees’ spring song, any time you pause in the woods.

The warmer weather means we can shed a layer or two of our normal winter apparel.  Running around with no mittens on (even for the briefest period of time) feels like a luxury after all that time bundles.  However, foxes and other furred animals will hang onto their winter coats for a while yet, although it’s hard to imagine them getting much fluffier.  The fox in the photo looked like he was wearing a second coat over his winter coat!

Today, they reminded readers that, despite the bird activity and the warmer temperatures, there is still a lot of snow to enjoy!

Last night’s snowfall on the Gunflint Trail of about 2 more inches has the Gunflint Trail’s 2010-11 winter snowfall total at nearly 80 inches. That’s almost double the total of 42.20 inches Golden Eagle’s Nordic Ski Center reported the Gunflint Trail region receiving for the entire 2009-10 winter. Warmer weather in March and early April often brings large snowfalls which boost seasonal snowfall totals in a flash. That’s a good news for late season winter enthusiasts and also a guarantee for a moist spring with gushing waterways and plenty of wildflowers.

Check out their blog for frequent doses of life at the edge of the wilderness.