Unless someone came in on foot, horseback or showmachine, I was the first person to visit here this year.

Cool.

And now, you are, too.

No one else here but a lone rare Franklin's gull, freezing its tush out on the ice.

This time in the migration, I'm sure it was expecting open water, and none too happy with this hard stuff.

Not that the lake hasn't thawed yet. Judging by the frozen waves of slush on the shoreline, it must have been at least partially thawed recently.

The last set of vehicle tracks turned back only a mile south of here. Won't be long before someone else comes this far.

But this morning, it was all mine.

Mine and the gull's.