Marckworth Forest — Sunday, Feb. 26, 2023

I had come out to the Markworth forest yesterday in the sun with some new friends. We chose the Markworth forest because I'm sitting one dog who barks a LOT when we encounter other dogs on trail... so go where you won't see anyone. Well, that was fun, but I really wanted to go a bit further than they had wanted to hike, so we decided to do it all over again today... In the Snow! At the gate we only had about 3" but there was steady but small snowfall throughout the day. At one of the crossroads there were signs that a logging operation is in effect and the ridges in the road and rip rap under the snow was a good indication of that. Near the quarry we spotted what I think were a small cat tracks and a turd that my dogs all checked out by smell and by taste. Looks like it was on the trail of a rabbit at some point. The tracks had a good dusting of snow in them, so we weren't likely to cross paths even if we somehow could sneak up on a cat. A bit further on up the road, we saw that new roads have been cut to the east side of Drunken Charlie Lake. We followed the main spur up to the top to a point just WxSW of the lake and about a 1/2 to 3/4 of a mile away.. Some fresh sandstone was exposed which I think will yield some interesting fossils on our future exploration. Once that dead end was explored we ventured down to Drunken Charlie to see it covered 3/4 with pock marked holes from some submersed air source. My dog Ozimandias had to test the Ice and determined that it wasn't thick enough to tread further... As with my prior foray into the Markworth I found another evidence of someone practicing their bushcrafting skills. This time I found a tripod that looks like it could be used to hold a pot over a fire pit or suspend small game for dressing. We saw not one single soul on our 12 mile journey, which I'm guessing the distance since I left my Garmin GPSr sitting on the hood of the car and the reason I decided to stop exploring.