The day was sucky until....

 But it ended up being a good one.

I meet the neatest folks while hiking. Yesterday I met a very handsome young man named Jesse. Hmm. I think I better start at the beginning.

The morning was cold bright and clear as a bell. My mule dragons were snoozing in the morning sun before I did chores.

I'd forgotten to sign up for class but went anyway and forgot my gym shoes in the car. I should have seen that as a sign, but I dealt with it.

At least I'd already packed my backpack with water, snacks, and all the gear I normally take with me for safety. I'd planned on going Ice Hunting when I got home from town.

The clouds had moved in so it was another one of those very overcast days with the promise of snow in the evening hours.

I decided to bring my Infrared camera anyway. I could take shots of the first ice cave with the startling range of colors that ice has with IR.

When I got to the first site, I was so happy to see ice forming. The previous blog had a photo of me in the upper right 'cave' with Charlie 2 years ago.

[The ice shows up blue because of the way the light waves with IR reflects from it.]

I went to grab my cell phone to take a wide angle shot before climbing down to another spot for a shot with my regular camera.

My cell phone was not in the inside zipped pocket. I stopped in my tracks. WT Heck??? I cursed under my breath and I'd better backtrack and hope the heck I can find it. How the zipped pocket came undone was a mystery to me.

Since I was the first human to leave tracks, backtracking wasn't too hard. After climbing down the steep hill, I found the phone sticking up out of the snow.
Crap. Was it still working? 
Fortunately it fell so that the ports were not buried in snow. I wiped it off and stuck it in my zip pocket once more.

Oddly enough, I checked the pocket after about 50 feet more of hiking and found the zipper coming undone. Mystery solved. I moved the phone to a zip pocket on my pants. Phooey. 

I decided to skip cave site number 2 and head out to the one area of Weister Creek that never disappoints.
We followed a deer trail with Charlie charging ahead.

I wanted to see how the ice was developing on the creek itself. Even the faster flowing areas were freezing over. 

We moved on down to the area where the mini bluffs were. Each year this spot produces amazingly beautiful ice formations as water drips from the rocks to the creek.

These are two samples of shots in Infrared. The blue tinted one with the 'orange ice' is pretty much what is seen in camera.

This second one is with channel swapping. The ice and waters are blue and the foliage is pinkish. I simply reversed the colors for a different effect.

Oddly enough, Charlie knows exactly where we are headed and the route we take. He is waiting patiently for me to catch up to him.

He is also learned NOT to go onto the ice ever. He is actually a pretty wise dog.

I finally pulled my regular camera out of my backpack. [My backpack has a rubber bottom so it doesn't get wet from the snow.]

These spots never cease to wow me. This is basically an off trail adventure which is not easy to get to. Years ago there was maintenance on this 'winter trail' for paid tours in February. In the past few years, the marking of the trail and clearing of trail debris has stopped.

I don't know if it is the new management that did it or lack of workers and funds. 

I climbed over the bluff with the ice on it. There used to be a very nice old trail that we rode our mules on in the 1990's above the ice. I was surprised and dismayed to see that the storms through this year had downed so many trees. 

It was quite the effort, but we rerouted and ended up at another ice formation.

By mid February the ice here is so thick, one cannot see the rocks behind it. As the ice ages and develops more, it takes on the colors of minerals from the seepage.

Here is a shot from 5 years ago in February:

A closer look at the rocks in the creek near where I was standing. The water here rushes by and splashes onto the rocks creating little icicles.

It started to snow so I decided I'd take a quick walk back to the second site and take a peak at those ice caves. 

The climb up the hill [zig zagging because it is so steep] was 135 feet. I can say that I did not do it in a rush. By the time I got to where I could peer down into the rock formations, it had started snowing heavily.

Instead of investigating them, I thought I'd stay up on the pine ridge and just walk above the ice caves and down back towards the parking lot.

This is looking down the bluff at Weister Creek.

Eventually I came to a 'blow down' that was immense. The pine forest had been decimated. The trunks and tops were blasted in every which direction and there was no way I was climbing through it.

I decided to follow a deer trail up and around it and I connected with the West Ridge Trail. I know that means nothing to the readers here, but that meant I had a nice wide cleared trail back to the car.

We got to the car and I placed Charlie in his car seat. I was feeding him a snack and a drink of water when the Kickapoo Valley Reserve Police truck pulled up. 

What do you do when you see a 'cop' car? First thing I think of is 'Sh-t, what did I do now?'

A very tall and handsome young man stepped out and walked over smiling. "On your way out or on you way in?" He asked.

I answered and stuck my hand out to introduce myself.

His name was Jesse. When he stepped up to shake my hand I realized how short I was. If I stared straight ahead I would be looking at the handcuffs on his vest.

Ahhhh. Dark haired and handsome. What I wouldn't have given to be 30 or 40 years younger!

We chatted a while and then he gave me his card. I will say this, he is out there talking to people on the Reserve and presenting a friendly officer vibe.

Damn. So good looking too.

I waved at the snow and said that I'd better get home. 

I sighed when I got in the 'Ru to drive home. The day was kind of sucky, but it sure improved in the parking area!