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“I frequently tramped eight or ten miles through the deepest snow to keep an appointment with a beech tree, or a yellow birch, or an old acquaintance among the pines,” wrote Thoreau. For many naturalists, the destination is not a place but a discovery. A fresh snowfall can turn an ordinary walk into a page of stories waiting to be read—deer, fox, otter, fisher, and countless other travellers revealing where they have been. The promise of unfamiliar tracks, a hidden wetland, or a corner of forest never before explored is often reason enough to head out. Like Thoreau’s trees, these wild encounters become old acquaintances that draw us back again and again. -Chad Clifford