An ice fisherman was unloading gear from his truck when I pulled into the Egypt Meadow trail-head of Bruce Lake Natural Area, north of Promised Land. It was 18 degrees with a light breeze there at 1,840 feet. The lake and the land were deep in snow — a brilliant, blue-and-white Po-cono postcard.

The trail I’m taking today skirts the western shore of 47-acre Egypt Meadow Lake. Dammed by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s, the lake accommodates many beaver lodges, and four of them come into view along the trail. Passing through stands of huge rhododendrons, I can see the ice fisherman at work — bluegill, largemouth bass, pumpkinseed and yellow perch are common catches here.

The lake is fed by creeks that rise in Panther Swamp to the west and Balsam Swamp to the south. At the CCC’s dam spillway, water pours into Egypt Creek. Miles later, after joining other small creeks, the water reaches the Lackawaxen River – home of eagles and Zane Grey, and a tributary of the mighty Delaware River. The pure lake water, protected by the natural area’s 2,485 acres of land, eventually flows with the Delaware to the Atlantic Ocean.

Along the trail, enormous tumbled boulders are everywhere. Many sport crops of a lichen called rock tripe — a desperation food that ice-age people would have used to fend off starvation. Mountain laurel, beech, many kinds of oak, maples, and evergreens abound. One tall, old hemlock has a girth of more than 12 feet.

At the halfway point, a footbridge crosses the lake’s inlet from Balsam Swamp. Beavers have built low stick-dams here to raise the water level to their liking. From here, you can continue along the woods road to Bruce Lake, an ice-created kettle-lake, another mile and a half distant.

Instead of continuing to Bruce Lake, I head back along the wide woods road to Panther Swamp Trail. This narrow single track takes me past snow-covered wetlands, up a rocky outcropping, and eventually back to the trailhead.

Scouting a trail in February for a mid-March hike is a dilemma. The season is changing fast — there’s more warmth in the sun; the days are longer. Today’s trail, with snow packed by cross-country skiers and snowshoers, makes for easy walking. But by the third week of March, the snow will likely be gone, and the trail will be rocky. Today, native rhododendrons gang the narrow trail, their leaves almost black, furled like bats. Lake views are clear through their branches. For the hike, the rhodie foliage will be full and open, and lake views will be sporadic.

The boulders, lichen, beaver lodges, hemlocks and mixed hardwood trees will all look different. Snowmelt will reveal vernal pools and swampy ground, and in places the trail will be wet. There will be more birds.

For now, I’m grateful for the gift of a late-winter light throwing deep indigo and lavender shadows across snow and ice … and look forward to walking here again as spring begins. Come on along!

Carol Hillestad is a hike leader and writer for Get Outdoors Poconos, a grant-funded series administered by Brodhead Watershed Association.