In the dead of winter, it’s nice to have a variety of recreational outlets to make the most of these cold, short days. Many of these activities involve gravity and, whether fighting uphill against it or speeding downhill with it, it’s real easy to miss another reason winter is a special time. How about slowing it down and going for a good, old-fashioned nature hike? And if you’d like to learn a little something extra about snowy, mid-winter ecology in the San Juans, the locally based non-profit Durango?Nature Studies leads informative hiking endeavors from full moon excursions to daytime rambles. Here’s a look at their weekly winter tour on Tuesdays around the Haviland Lake area. For more info, check their website at www.durangonaturestudies.org

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  Participants learn to identify spruce and fir trees by the characteristics of their needles.

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  The group follows a snowy trail in classic, nature hike formation.

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  Fox tracks cross a fresh blanket of snow.

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  Bored-out holes on the bark of a ponderosa pine show where a hungry woodpecker hunted for insects.

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  Program coordinator Klancy Nixon points out fresh mouse tracks leading into a burrow.