Hello, friends and members of my Official Squirrel Nutkin Fan Club! I have been really busy, as always at this time of year, preparing for winter - not usually my favorite season. But....I recently was priviliged to overhear some conversations between GSFirefly and Wiildrose, with a bit of input by a new - to me - friend, XC Shadow! They are all fans of a "snopark" - which was a new concept to me. It seems that in snowless seasons, hikers, dog walkers, bicyclists, and equestrians are fans of the trails, and when all is blanketed in white, the XC skiers and snowshoe hikers arrive, taking advantage of lovely groomed trails. As you can guess, I have never skied - XC or otherwise, but GSFirefly and RLDrosophile have. I just had to know more about this place.
Today, GSF agreed to take me to the area. WOW! What a great trail system. Trails are so well marked that even I had no trouble following them. After a while we arrived at the former home of a little dude named "Frankie." I bet he was cute, but he had to evacuate rather suddenly. and only XC Shadow had the honor of meeting him.
I just happened to have a peanut jar with me - stocked and ready to become a geocache. I found a nice stump - not far from Frankie's former home. There is evidence that some of my relatives have been there, for there is a small pile of pine cone seed remnants on one part of the stump. RLD, who was a biologist, once told me that this was called a "midden."
The peanut jar is in the stump, covered with natural camo, and anchored in place with a couple of rocks. The log is in a clearly marked pill bottle. There is a pencil, a trinket or two, and a FTF prize,
NOTE: There are signs at the entrance to the Snopark, with maps and guidelines/rules. These are especially important in snow season.
Squirrel Nutkin Congratulates Wiildrose and XC Shadow on their joint FTF.