Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Magic Mountain


One of the thrills of exploring the winter mountain landscapes is that now and then you catch the unwary. We had begun our climb mid-afternoon and were nearing the summit about 5 o'clock when most creatures expect us humans to be warming ourselves by the fires below. Rounding a bend in the snow clocked forest, we suddenly encountered this scene shown in the photo: a rare glimpse of a wood gnome dressed in winter garb just emerging from its lair! It instantly froze in its tracks hoping not to be noticed, but of course we were on the alert for just such a sighting. I managed to grab this quick photo... I know..., amazing creature isn't he?

3 comments:

Douglas Wilcox said...

Brilliant and very well spotted! I had no idea they were so well camouflaged.

:o)

Silbs said...

Indeed. Known to exist for centuries, no one has ever been able to locate where their habitat is during summer. What a wonderful step forward for science. Congradulations.

gfid said...

i'm sure i've spotted them in muskeg bogs in the Yukon during summer. perhaps only on vacation?

i followed your earlier link to 'i speak for canadian rivers', and signed the petition.