This photo is from a six mile snowshoe trip I did with Cascadia Wild on Mt. Hood. We snowshoed in the six miles every six weeks with carnivore bait and gear to set up and monitor endangered carnivore populations on the mountain. Our target species were grey wolves, wolverines, Pacific Pine Marten and Sierra Nevada Red Fox. Always an intense trek due to distance, elevation and five to six feet of snow. A true test of endurance, pushing my body to its limits of quivering muscle exhaustion every time. Also a brilliantly beautiful journey through snow silenced forest, bordered by ice kissed sylvan slopes worthy of a Narnian Queen. The data gathered from our monitoring sites all around the national forest goes to conservation organization and Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife to fund conservation research and provide data for endangered species protections. It was tremendously exciting and heartening to be able to contribute in some small way to the protection of some of our most valuable and vulnerable fellow species.
