So Wednesday was another awesome day. Jeff worked a half day to make up for the half day he worked on Tuesday. After work we were able to try out our snowshoes for the first time. It was an incredibly beautiful day. The temperature was very low (in the teens in mid-afternoon) so all of the fresh snow was sparkling with ice crystals, and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. We headed up above the hotel to the Craker Lake trail. I was skeptical about snowshoes, but they really do make a difference. We were able to make pretty good time when we were moving. The trail is a hot spot for animals! We saw so many tracks. We saw moose tracks, deer tracks, snowshoe hare tracks, mountain lion, and wolf and coyote tracks. It was outrageous. That will definitely be our night hiking spot. We didn't hike the whole way to the lake. We just wanted to try out the snow shoes, but we hiked about 5 miles. On our way back to the cabin we saw the tracks of the first brave animal to cross Swiftcurrent Lake, a coyote. We could see his tracks the whole way across the lake.

Thursday, we spent a long day painting in the hotel. It was so cold in there! After work, Sumio, a Japanese photographer that we've befriended, came over to thaw out. We have seen him quite a bit out here, and this time he is camping out here for four nights. His passion is wildlife photography, and he has some amazing photos. Check out his site. www.photorocky.com
We watched the civil war game (Oregon State vs Oregon), and Sumio headed back home to his tent.

I'll put pics on here later. Jeff has the camera. Boo!