The End. With New Beginnings!

Well, last weekend was the last weekend. Of the Cascadia Wild 2016-17 Tracking and Camera season, that is. And it sure was a good one to finish the year -- lots of critters showed up on the cameras, and our tracking team had a beautiful day in the snow. And signs of spring are showing up on the mountain -- even in the snow -- giving us a taste of the season that's starting up as we're winding down.

Saturday's trackers patrolled south down the mountain in the White River Canyon area, where our teams have often found coyote tracks here in the past. 

This time, they found a few possible coyote trails, but recent snow obscured the details and they couldn't tell for sure. The snow quality was excellent for checking out fresh tracks, though, and they got great documentation of a healthy prey population to support any predators in the area. They saw over 60 squirrel tracks and crystal clear hare tracks like these:

Speaking of hares, they were one of the many species that we've seen on the latest batch of camera photos. Here's one at near Twin Lakes checking out our bait tree.

At the other Twin Lakes camera, a coyote did quite a bit of investigating, probably hoping for a snack, but the bait was already gone:

And down at Sandy Flats, a bobcat came to check out the bait one morning...

...and came back on a snowy night a few days later to try and get a little closer.

And it's a wrap! Like a coyote tail vanishing from the frame, the 2016-17 tracking and camera season was gone. But there's more!

For one thing, we're hoping to all our volunteers at the End of Season Party on April 14th. For another, you can keep volunteering this summer, and bring your friends who've been jealous of your winter adventures! The camera project will continue this summer, and there's an orientation session in May. Learn more on our website.