It is a testament to the winter Wyoming has faced so far- we’ve had 3 days in a row of above-freezing temperatures (during the day at least), and we still have plenty of snow on the ground. Unfortunately we are slated for more winter weather this weekend and early next week, so we may not get rid of the old snow before we get a new layer.

Thankfully the grouse seem to be as put off by the snow as we are. We’ve seen a few of them from the road near our camp, even displaying at times, but they don’t seem to be spending much time on the leks. We checked out Chugwater the other day, and walked down from camp to Monument Lek today. Monument was, if anything, even more clear of grouse sign than was Chugwater. No footprints, poop, or cecal casts. We did see that there is a new culvert where the road was badly eroded last year (see the April 10, 2010 entry).

Today was one of those bright, warm, almost cloudless winter days. We weren’t deterred by the snow and mud, so decided to trek down past Monument Lek to the amazing rock formations. I’ve taken oodles of pictures of these amazing formations every year, and couldn’t resist taking even more, especially with my new camera and polarizing filter.









The hike back to camp was pretty tiring with all the mud and snow, but well worth it for the view today.