Hiking out a winter mountain trail after a heavy wet winter snow storm. This is a trail near the highland scenic highway in West Virginia. Rusty and I hiked about two miles out here, it was really beautiful and the snow was about 30 inches or deeper in many places. The sun shining on these trees gave a nice light for a scenic nature picture during our hike.

After we made it up to Summit Lake in Nicholas county West Virginia after a major snow storm, we found an ice fisherman out on the lake. we asked if it was safe and he said the ice is 1 foot thick with another 2 feet of snow on top. This was an amazingly beautiful site to behold. We had never stood in the middle of a froze lake before, so this was a unique experience.

Scenic winter waterfall with snow covered rocks. Deep in the New River Gorge during a winter snow storm. We climbed down into this ravine to get to this waterfall. Although you can see the creek from the road you cannot see this waterfall. the only way you can see this is to actually climb down here.

This Black Bear just woke up from sleeping as it is snowing. His Mouth is wide open, you can see his teeth, and he looks to be roaring angry.He looks like he could be pretty mad and upset that somebody woke him up while he was sleeping. When they sleep in the winter like this their food intake dramatically decreases. This is because they are not expending energy mating and looking for food.

A beautiful winter waterfall scene during a snow storm deep in the New River Gorge area of West Virginia. Notice how long this waterfall is, it must be 100 feet from top to bottom. Many cascades start above the main waterfall before it plunges into the pool below.

This wolf smells something on the ground. Maybe he is looking for food under the snow. I like how this wolf is looking up in this direction. This is a fairly large wolf he looks like he is healthy.

This large bull elk has a massive rack of antlers. He could certainly fair well in a fight with another elk with a rack like that. This stance he is standing in seems like he is posing for the camera.

A red tail hawk getting ready to take flight from a tree branch in the winter. These predatory birds are very majestic looking. They are also known as a chicken hawk however they almost never prey upon chickens.

A big mountain lion in a Winter West Virginia forest scene. Pine trees are heavy with snow while the green mountain laurel peeks out from under the fresh blanket snow. This cougar is well fed and is motionless staring in my direction. I certainly would not want to be this cats next meal. It probably outweighs me by 50 lbs.

A Ferocious Wild Animal a Fisher showing teeth in the winter snow. If you browse the other pictures of this fisher he looks very cute and fluffy but beware looks can be deceiving. These animals are predators and have large teeth meant for tearing flesh and breaking bones. The remind me of a badger or a small wolverine.