Spring Has Sprung on the Gunflint Trail

     It happened overnight.  We went to bed and it was winter and when we woke up spring had arrived.  The snow is basically gone and the creeks are flowing.  We’ve had temperatures in the high 50’s and up into the 60’s accompanied by a strong spring sun.  It feels more like May than it does March and it’s an odd sensation.

     I went on a run the other day and noticed a patch of white right alongside the road.  I thought it was a chunk of snow until I got closer and noticed it was a snowshoe hare.  It sat still as a stone as I ran by leaving me wonder if he was even alive.  I didn’t go back to check but now that I think about it I wonder if he was just as perplexed about the sudden transformation as I was.  He was probably intent on trying to change the color of his fur so he wasn’t so noticeable in the now brownish landscape.  I hope he is successful soon so he can enjoy the rest of this early spring.

     Other wildlife on the Gunflint Trail appear to be just as confused.  I saw a moose standing in the middle of the road and he didn’t really want to move but slowly sauntered away. The fox have been out doing their mating trot.  They dance around the ditches and scurry after each other like fools in love which is close to what they are.  I even spied two wolves the other day just hanging out, probably in pursuit of the deer I noticed farther along the Gunflint Trail.  I noticed a butterfly at our friend’s house the other day.  It must have been one of those that hibernates in the warm wood.  I even saw a fly.  My bird feeder hasn’t had visitors lately and mud season is almost over.  

     The transformation back to winter could easily happen.  Unfortunately the trails are now rendered useless and even if we do get snow the cross-country skiing season is over.  Spring has sprung on the Trail whether we like it or not.