Todd and I took a drive up into the mountains on Saturday. They weren't calling for snow but as soon as we got up to about 7,000' snow began to fall. We walked around the beautiful meadow near Quaking Aspen Campground and took photos. Then we drove up to the end of the road, at least to where the end is in wintertime, near the Ponderosa Lodge. Then we turned around and by chance I decided to drive up the North Road just to see how far it had been plowed. Not very far, we found out, so I turned around and started back towards the highway and suddenly stopped... A pine marten poked his head above a hole in the snow, paused and looked at us, then scampered across the road! It's only the 2nd time I've ever seen one of these elusive animals before They're so cute!
Anyway, I wasn't quick enough to get a photo of the marten, but scroll down to see a photo of his (or her) tracks...
The only other time I saw one was on my first Sierra backpacking trip. Back in the summer of 1999 I hiked with a couple of fellow rangers from Giant Forest to Mineral King in Sequoia NP. The first night while camping at Bearpaw I saw a marmot (the marmot who lived behind the bear box) chase off a pine marten. That marmot was very smart (snatching food whenever it could from people putting food into or taking it out of the bear box) and he wasn't letting anyone move into his territory, lol
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