55 on the fly

Folks, if the eyes on my fly rod will freeze up, then it's too cold for me to go fishing.   So instead, I go take a hike!   Took a hike on some state land here in NY. The primary goal for today was to see if I could find some "fat wood". I had a little stand of pines in mind and it didn't disappoint me. Pack and gear for this trip... A nice downed pine with partial root exposure had just what I was looking for and the G&B axe chopped out several nice sized chunks of it.  The good news is there's plenty more there for the future in that one tree. After stowing the fat wood I hiked through some hardwoods and up a steep hill. I then noticed some deer tracks in the trail ahead and they looked very fresh.... As I exited the woods and broke into a small field I turned and peeked over the hill to find two deer standing there looking back at me. I managed to snap this photo with my point and shoot....  I hiked for some time and ended up in an are...

Hit the hardwoods here in NY today for a hike and some breakfast in the forest. It was 25 degrees with the snow a bit deeper than I had hoped as I had forgotten my snowshoes. I knew I would forget something... Anyway, I made my way through the 8-10 inches of snow into a nice valley out of the wind and along a nice little creek. I had gathered some cherry bark for fire starter and soon had a good little fire started. Cowboy Coffee and Skogkniv Oatmeal (that's oatmeal made with strong coffee)...  Yeah it's really good! All and all a nice morning with six turkeys and one deer sighted as a bonus... Cheers!