2.16.12 The temperature was in the upper 30's and old snow had softened to corn snow. I meandered through a mixed wood en route to an open field until I came to a stream. A coyote recently had chosen the same spot as I for crossing. Backtracking the animal, its gait was even, and its tracks indented the surface just enough to follow as it came from the upper reaches of the mountain. However, as it came to the open water, footprints imprinted much deeper as it powered off the edge to clear the 3-foot wide expanse by nearly two feet of margin.