Family walk on Caesar Pond

The daytime temp rose to 31F under a partly cloudy sky. There was no wind and the afternoon was perfect for a family walk on Caesar Pond.

Left track - Dog,   Middle track - Human,   Right track - Deer

We headed over to the south cove as we rarely walk there. We came across a set of deer tracks coming out of the woods.

As we walked along the western shore, we had a nice view of a large part of the pond.

Drew and Toby stopped to admire the view and enjoy the warmth of the day.

Lady Flame has gotten wise to me with a camera and refuses to "wait" while I snap a photo. She is one stubborn pup!

Toby looks cute all the time. It really is amazing at how well blind dogs navigate the world. Just walking on the pond, you wouldn't guess that he can't see a thing!

Although, he does hear, or gets a whiff of wildlife periodically, and gets very excitedly barking and lunging at something unseen to all of us, including Lady Flame;-) Toby's spidey senses were tingling!

Lady Flame was trying to figure out what the fuss was all about! Hence, the perked up ears;-)

We checked out a blow-down on the western shore.

The trees have such shallow, widespread roots that they blow-down easily after lots of rain resulting in soggy ground. Check out the rocks that the roots are holding onto!

Then, we headed over to the boggy, north end of the pond where a long-term beaver lodge is located.

There has been lots of beaver trapping this year as our beaver population is extremely healthy.

Lady Flame found lots of great scents to sniff out around this little island. Probably muskrat or beaver scents galore.

Toby and Drew had found something else exciting, so we followed them to the outlet of the pond.

Lo and behold, we found some thinner ice! This part of the pond has lots of springs that often keep the water from freezing over. The beavers also have a long row of branches damming the pond outlet. I didn't get too close as I didn't want to get wet feet!