Fox's Tracks Lead Into Drain Pipe?

 After the snow storm yesterday, I was so exited to check my trail cams that I forgot to put on my boots. The snow was relatively deep (up to my exposed ankles) and fell into my shoes as I trudged up the hill next to the highway, Into the woods at juniper hill I went. I ended up discovering that my "Deer-cam" had only gotten a video of a grey squirrel, and taken lots of videos of blowing snow during the storm.

I started finding animal tracks on the snow. There weren't many, because the snow was only a day old, but I found mouse tracks (I guess the subnivean network hasn't been dug yet), Tracks which I couldn't identify at first but eventually realized they were left by a fox, and cottontail tracks. Guess which is which.

 

                        

(First one is fox, second is mouse, third is cottontail)

I started following the tracks. My ankles were numb as snow fell into my shoe, and melted against my skin. I would have preferred slush or ice over what I was walking through. The trail of fox footprints led me through the young pine growth...

                          Under a fallen aspen tree...   not an obstacle for something small like a fox.

                     Through an area that for most of the year is a shady mosquito-infested muddy area where most trees can't grow, but in the winter, it becomes a convenient snowy clearing...

they then led me up the hill, towards the school, weaving around the bases of the massive Eastern White Pines that shade the hillside...

I wasn't sure what happened here, with the odd hole to the side of the trail. I think it may have pounced on a Subnivean rodent, beneath the surface...

The fox had leaped over a snow covered, fallen white wine, barely clearing it, apparently...

                        It then went around the unearthed root system of another fallen white pine.

then they met up with two other lines of tracks, all three lines going into a green, plastic pipe. There must be a gap in the plastic casing, where a fox mother plans to give birth. So I guess I found yet another active fox den. neat...

This is what I saw when I peered into the drain pipe. There was clearly water flowing out, trickling into the leaf litter on the hillside, which then froze.

I hope this dosent trick the parents. It would be awful if the vixen gives birth, only to find that her den is flooding from ice melt. I'm sure they have a backup den somewhere else, just in case. Obviously, I am going to set up a Trail Camera there soon. Stay tuned for results.