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Crazy, miniature ice structures found on my home trail
posted by John : December 10, 2017
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Ice falls
Everything grows up, but this sure looks like it's flowing down.
When the weather doesn't cooperate or I just can't drag myself out of bed at 5am for an early Sunday morning hike I head to my home trail just up the road. Many people don't like hiking the same trail even once let alone 10-20 times a year, but I find it comforting to be in familiar surroundings. Familiar doesn't mean boring, though. Even a location as familiar as this can still surprise.
On this trip the surprise was finding a large section of the trail torn by frost. No one else had yet been up this far (it's beyond the main attraction where most people turn around) so I had it all to myself.
Where the wet ground had dropped below freezing the ice had pushed up the surface. The newly formed, miniature caverns were supported by pillars of ice worthy of Superman's Fortress of Solitude. Where the ice had broken through the ground it grew in spindly curls, some with little clumps of dirt on the end.
Unfortunately, this ice was very fragile and I knew it wouldn't last more than a few hikers passing by. Nor would it survive a few more degrees of warmth. Regardless, it was a reminder that there are amazing things to see even on our most familiar, home trails.
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