Bolles Trail, nice ledges, lynx tracks?

The off-trail conditions are fantastic! The crust is hard enough for complete support, and there's a few inches of powder on top. Sweeeeet!

I took the Bolles Trail up to the height-of-land. There is a ledge on the western wall of the notch, only seen in winter, that I've wanted to explore. There's a new survey marker for the new wilderness boundary in the notch. From there, I made my way up to the ledge. There's a smaller, flat ledge that juts out, about the size of a kitchen table with a beautiful view of Mt. Chocorua and The Sisters.

The trail is directly below this ledge.






view to Mt. Chocorua and The Sisters...





From there I could also see some ledges that I thought might be the ones I always see from the nice old slide on the Middle Sister Cut-Off, so I decided to see if I could get there since the going is so easy right now. ( I'm not big on crashing through thick spruce that favors wooded peaks). I guess this is a sub-peak of Mt. Paugus?



On the way there I saw another new boundary marker. This marker is on spruce, but the ones in the pass are on beech and they have sharp, pointy edges and the could easily cut the paws of a bear climbing for beechnuts. Have they considered this?






On the way I found an interesting track running through a big beech stand. It's about 5", too big for anything but bear and lynx, and it's definately not snowshoe hare. I've seen plenty of bear tracks and it just looks very different.

Here's the track pattern. The rear feet fall in the front track...










I couldn't see any claw holes, and I couldn't find any hair on branches.























Very interesting. A few years ago I'm sure I saw lynx tracks in the saddle between The Sisters.

There are lots of bear nests, but you'll have that in large beech stands...






continued...

I made it up to those higher ledges and they have great views in the same direction. There are moose and coyote tracks all over these ledges...










This was an excellent place to explore; I'll be back during the melt.

On the way down I followed a fresh moose track. He knew I was behind him because he kept travelling, with long strides and no browsing. After about a mile, half of it right along the western bank of what I call the West Branch of the Twin Brook, I finally caught a glimpse of him when he stopped to check me out. He has a rather light muzzle for a bull.






Then he trotted uphill and away, but it was nice to finally get a look at him. This brook is really pretty, with banks lined with hemlock stands...





It was just a great day and the travelling was so nice on snowshoes.

happy trails

forestgnome said:

From there I could also see some ledges that I thought might be the ones I always see from the nice old slide on the Middle Sister Cut-Off, so I decided to see if I could get there since the going is so easy right now. (I'm not big on crashing through thick spruce . . .

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Another one of your first-rate reports, Patrick!

What you’ve reported sounds like my kind of whack! There are plenty of immensely interesting spots like the one in your report that don’t involve blood-letting battles with the dreaded “spruce-kins” armed with their razor-sharp bayonets, and their booby-trapped limbs filled with buckets of bone-chilling snow.

Great report! Bolles Trail is one of my 'out of the way' faves, all because I wrote a paper about Frank Bolles in college! Last winter I followed a coyote who was traveling the trail from the Kanc to the height of land. I don't know a lot about animal tracks, but could the tracks in your pics be from a coyote?

Rear landing on front is almost always indicative of the cat family. If the tracks measured at about 5 in. I would say lynx also. The exposure they've had to weather makes it hard to tell, but the only thing that makes me also consider bobcat is that the tracks are very distinct and the lynx tracks I've ever seen are "fuzzy" and a bit indistinct cause they have so much dang hair on them. But the size seems too big for a bobcat. They look a bit sunk in too, leaning towards the average weight of a lynx. I'll say lynx. Any bounding by any chance, or was it a real determined stride?

Maybe its Maine Coon Cat! We put ours out in the snow the other day, not only did he love it, but his impressions looked more like the size of a dog.

Fisher Cat said:

Rear landing on front is almost always indicative of the cat family. If the tracks measured at about 5 in. I would say lynx also. The exposure they've had to weather makes it hard to tell, but the only thing that makes me also consider bobcat is that the tracks are very distinct and the lynx tracks I've ever seen are "fuzzy" and a bit indistinct cause they have so much dang hair on them. But the size seems too big for a bobcat. They look a bit sunk in too, leaning towards the average weight of a lynx. I'll say lynx. Any bounding by any chance, or was it a real determined stride?

Maybe its Maine Coon Cat! We put ours out in the snow the other day, not only did he love it, but his impressions looked more like the size of a dog.

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Wild canids (wolves, coyotes, foxes) plus a very few domestic dog breeds will also "single track" like the felines, with the rear foot falling right on the front foot. It's possible for coyotes, foxes, and dogs to leave tracks without claw marks.

But what you have here is a fisher. Some of these photos actually show double tracking, not canid or felid single tracking. That and the track shape in the closeups is what gives them away. Fisher paw tracks can range to five inches in length, with a space between them ranging to as much as 32 inches, per Murie.

sardog1 said:

Wild canids (wolves, coyotes, foxes) plus a very few domestic dog breeds will also "single track" like the felines, with the rear foot falling right on the front foot. It's possible for coyotes, foxes, and dogs to leave tracks without claw marks.

But what you have here is a fisher. Some of these photos actually show double tracking, not canid or felid single tracking. That and the track shape in the closeups is what gives them away. Fisher paw tracks can range to five inches in length, with a space between them ranging to as much as 32 inches, per Murie.

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Perhaps you are right sardog1, Fishers can also have a lope pattern similar to felines. I've never seen it with dogs or coyotes, but just cause I haven't seen it doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Their average paw size is 2.5 - 3in, so, if they land in close proximity to each other, it definitely could be 5in. Come on, forestgnome, make it easy, any poop with quills in it nearby?

The first pic of tracks makes me think it could be Fisher, but the sequence in pic #2, makes me think maybe not. Correct me if I'm wrong, but Fishers tracks are usually a bit more, what's the word,... scattered? Not that a feline can't be I suppose. It seems strange to be bringing into the discussion an animals intentions.

I'm also wondering this. I'm looking at the last pic of tracks. Does anybody else see a "drag" between the top track and the middle one? It seems a bit out of alignment for a belly drag, but supposing it is, that's another good lock to be a Fisher. If so, I definitely stand corrected.

Yeah, I meant to mention the drag mark and forgot. It's another good clue here for fisher.

The individual fisher paw can reach 5 inches on its own.

If I violated the copyright on the fisher track diagram in Olaus Murie's A Field Guide to Animal Tracks and posted a copy here, you'd see a match. Not gonna do that, but you can see it on page 61 in the second edition. (The link is to the Amazon.com listing for the third edition.)

sardog1 said:

The individual fisher paw can reach 5 inches on its own.

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That would be one good-sized fisher at 5 inches. Our neighbor took us to a Fisher porcupine kill when we were kids and in later years my brother and I came across one together, and each of us found one seperately at later times. The most fascinating one was a bee-line a Fisher made to a porcupine before it made it to a tree. What a struggle.

I would say none of the tracks were ever bigger than 5 inches, but then again, that was a long time ago.

Oops, I meant to say that the track mark can reach 5 inches. Fishers can vary substantially in size, from marten-like up to more than a yard long, counting the tail.

More great stuff, forestgnome, providing on-the-ground views & description of places I've pored over on the maps. Thanks again!

Okay, wardsgirl, in 50 words or fewer, who was Frank Bolles?

It's been awhile since college, so I can do it in fewer words than 50:

He was a local author and naturalist, but you may know him better as the founder of the Harvard Coop.

wardsgirl said:

He was a local author and naturalist. . .

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And what an author! The last chapter of Steve Smith's recent book on Mt. Chocorua is a reprint of Bolles' account of a night he spent alone on Choc's summit, over 100 years. It really inspired me - a must-read for those who love the Whites, I'd say.

You can read, and download for free, Frank Bolles's At the North of Bearcamp Water -- Chronicles of a Stroller in New England from July to December on Google Books.

Fantastic!

Fantastic report, pics and follow-up discussion. Great stuff!

KDT

sardog1 said:

Yeah, I meant to mention the drag mark and forgot. It's another good clue here for fisher.

The individual fisher paw can reach 5 inches on its own.

If I violated the copyright on the fisher track diagram in Olaus Murie's A Field Guide to Animal Tracks and posted a copy here, you'd see a match. Not gonna do that, but you can see it on page 61 in the second edition. (The link is to the Amazon.com listing for the third edition.)

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Wow! I didn't realize a fisher had such a large paw print. It definately is a drag in the last pic. I wish I spent more time following it but it went down and south, and I didn't want to lose anymore elevation that I'd have to regain to get back out.

Thanks for the ID help. I still need to get that book!

happy trails

forestgnome said:

Wow! I didn't realize a fisher had such a large paw print. It definately is a drag in the last pic. I wish I spent more time following it but it went down and south, and I didn't want to lose anymore elevation that I'd have to regain to get back out.

Thanks for the ID help. I still need to get that book!

happy trails

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Paul Rezendez in Tracking and the Art of Seeing says "the fisher front track usually measures 2 1/8 -3 7/8" long X 2 1/8" to 3 1/4" wide but can splay up to 4". The front track can be much longer if the heal pad registers, adding about an inch to the length." That might explain the 5" length. He says to try to measure a single non-registered track to get a better fix. He says the female is much smaller than the male so you probably saw a male. He also says fishers usually weigh 6 to 12 pounds sometimes more for large males.

You may well have an opportunity to see more tracks or even the fisher. Rezendez says fishers have certain corridors along which they travel to and from their hunting grounds. One corridor may lead to a snowshoe hare habitat, another to a good squirrel area, and so on. He says if you find one of these corridors, you can expect to find a fresh fisher track every 2 or 3 days.

I hope Mrs FG bought you Rezendez's book for Christmas. He's got 8 pages devoted just to fishers. Maybe I should send you mine. Lot of use I'm getting down here in the flatlands. Oh well I have lots of time to read I guess.

I didn’t see this mentioned. One way to help distinguish cat (felidae) and dog (canidae) from weasel (mustelidae) [fisher is in the weasel family] is the number of toes. Cat and dog is four, weasel is five. Also a print in the snow can be larger looking depending on the snow condition and length of time the print was there. Length of the stride helps also.

Nice pictures and report, forestgnome.