Cold and Ice. I like ice.

I waited for a 'warmer' day to go hiking and check out the Ice Falls and the Rock Shelter on Wintergreen Trail. I thought I dressed properly. 

Thought being the word of the day.

The worst part was my mitten - gloves. I chose the very wrong ones. I thought the polar fleece ones would be plenty warm. They are thin and work in most of the weather but apparently not in temperatures in the low teens with a slight breeze. I should have worn my little cheap thin gloves and my hand made mittens with the double palm.

Lesson learned. I balled up my hands inside the mitten gloves and stuck them inside my jacket pockets in an effort to warm them up.

Charlie and I went on regardless of the cold fingers. I was smart enough to add a scarf to the contents of my backpack so I could use that to protect my face from the breeze off the river. I generally pack a spare pair of gloves or mittens too. Ach. Lesson learned.

We made it without any trouble to the place where there is a Rock Shelter that turns into an Ice Cave by February. I wanted to see how the warm weather, fog, and rain, affected the building of the ice. Was it all gone? Was it there?

It was there and it surprised me. The Rock Shelter itself is huge. The ice was long and but I couldn't get a good shot of it.

Here is a shot from 2019 that a friend took of me hugging the ice.

The cooler parts are not the rock shelter itself, but the area that it drains down into. 

There are actually 2 areas of Ice Falls in this one spot. Water drains constantly from across the ridge and flows over this area and out to the river.

Here is a wide view from the bottom. 

This view is stunning. I don't think many people get to see this because the climb down is pretty intense. The Shelter I was pictured in .. is in the top right of this photo. So it is quite a distance that the water flows.

To the left is an ice falls. To me, it is one of the prettiest ice formations I've ever seen.

I always climb down to view it in the winter. I just can't help myself.

Along the trail there are a few other interesting places to see ice. This one is a bit treacherous if you are not paying attention and try to walk over it when snow covers it.

We made it to the end of the long bluff and got a shot of the river below us. In many places it was frozen over. However the river is dangerous when iced over because the water is flowing underneath it.

We made the trip safely despite getting a bit chilled along the way. I did end up using the scarf to keep my chin and face warm while walking back into the slight breeze. It was nice to get in the car and turn on the seat heater.

I'll be back to all the places I can get to as many times as possible throughout this winter.

Fun in ice

 My wayward son and his girlfriend came to visit on Friday. Of course Emily's little girl Amari was the highlight. I'm just a sucker for little ones...no matter what!

They call her Mari. And pronounce it Mar-eee. For whatever reason, Mari decided I was okay and made her intentions always clear with her hands with the universal 'kid' sign of UP! UP!

Come on, who cannot have their heart melted by a little one like this!

To be sure, she was also fascinated by my Skunk Hat. 

The trail was beaten down into pure ice and we all wore ice cleats except the little one. We took turns carrying her or steering her by her hood. It involved a lot of 2 year old gibberish and sometimes yelling by Mari. I told mom and son to let her holler all she wanted, we were in the 'wild' woods and it didn't bother me at all. 

After all, she has immense energy. Cold fresh air and a hike would be great for her after a 4 hour car ride.

To get into the ice caves/shelters is not easy on a good day. This day it was all ice from the recent rains. Mari has no fear at all. Here is a pre slide check. Emily is down the icy path ready for catching her daughter. Mari loved it.

Here Mari decides to run to me across the slippery ice.

Group shot. I set my little pocket camera on a mini tripod and set the delay for 30 seconds. I slid down the ice formation to the others and scrambled to get in the shot. My son was like: BE Careful Mom! And we all laughed when I slid past them to the dirt.

We ended out trek at Weister Creek's ice formations and headed back to the car.

My youngest, Mari, and I:

and Weister Creek:

I have to admit I had fun. It was a difficult hike with a little one and we did it. 

Next time I told them we'd take an easy trail that we could take a stroller on. Yeah...maybe! 

The Hunt for Blue Ice

In 2015, Mr. Morris and I found an amazing place where spring seeped water out between rocks in a deep dry run.
In the summer this area stays shadowed because of its position and the heavy forest canopy.

In the winter the trees are bare and the winter sun barely breaks over the edge of the ridge. The water seeps and freezes, seeps and freezes. 

I used to think that certain minerals caused the ice to look a certain color. I may be a little right when water seeps over red clay and gives the ice a reddish orange color. But blue ice has a different explanation. It has to do with the the light refraction and what part of the light spectrum is absorbed and which color is reflected.

All that aside. 

In 2015, the ice looked blue.

I wanted to take Charlie to the East end of the valley and see if the ice was forming with the sudden freeze we'd had.

The land I hike on is nearly one square mile of uninhabited land with two valleys and two streams. It has been referred to as one of the more remote pieces of land in the county. And this is my neighbor's family owned land. 
Charlie and I got no more than halfway down the valley when someone in the far distance started shooting. It was far off, but it echoed down the valley. It sounded as like an assault rifle.

Poor Charlie became a Pekenhund Puddle of nerves. Or if you like a PekenPuddle. Anytime I knelt down to peer at something interesting or try to photograph it, Charlie pawed his way into my lap, my leg, or tried to get on my back if I was low enough.
Poor thing. I picked him up and carefully continued down the valley carrying him over icy rocks and negotiating stream crossings.

The Big Spring

When we got to the Big Spring, Charlie could barely be consoled. I had to photograph this while sitting on a root with my feet planted in the spring water and Charlie in my lap. 

This spot is always interesting. This huge spring bubbles up at the base of this steep hill. In cold snaps anything sticking out of the spring is covered in beautiful frost.

The gunfire stopped and we headed around the bend towards the steep dry run.

And it was a beautiful sight.
Charlie and I made our way up the dry run to the tiny spring.

Here is what happens when Charlie 'helps'. I was trying to photograph the tiny spring seeping out of the rocks...

You guessed it, whoever got the assault rifle had reloaded and was popping off again in the far distance. That was too close for Charlie.

We were done. We found the Blue [ish] Ice and visited the Big Spring. The little dog was ready to go home and dive into his blankets on the couch for a long nap.

...and I felt good deep inside.

Nature always seems to do that for me.

He said...

"Why don't you take a day off?"

My husband was sitting in front of the TV while I was looking out the window at the mules I'd just got back in from feeding.
Charlie was buried in blankets on the couch.

"What a good idea!" I answered. "I'm going to the Ice Caves, do you mind?"

I got that look that sort of said he DID mind. Then I asked if he wished to come along. He gave me another look.
I then asked if he wanted me to stay home and watch him watch TV?

He shrugged and replied, "You are going to go anyway."

That was sort of a snub I guess. So I thought about it for a bit. I didn't want to make him feel bad. But he was able to get up and move around if his brain would let him, but I think his brain won't at this time. I ask him to go places with me and have lunch and he decides he'd rather sit at home. Socialization is very important for him. Yet he avoids it like the plague.

"Yes, you are right. I am going anyway because I cannot sit around all day." I am honest with him and he knows I hike or walk every single day when not shoveling or doing chores.

So I packed my backpack with my usual gear and headed out.

I'm so glad I did.

I enjoyed a beautiful hike exploring the Ice Formations near Wiester Creek in the Kickapoo Valley Reserve.
Saturday the Reserve had a paid guided tour  and the folks that had walked made a nicely packed trail which made the hike much easier.

View from above the first 'ice caves'.

Inside the 'caves'.

The footing was a bit tricky, but I'd planned ahead with my YakTraks so it wasn't too bad.

The second ice formations. Inside and outside.

It was eerie listening to the water drip from the rocks through the ice formations.

I continued on towards a good view of Wiester Creek and the tiny bluff where more ice formed.

I noted that the guided tour ended there and circled back, but I knew about the old equine trail that went up and over those ice formations to another one that is usually not seen by anyone.

My hike ended at the Orange Ice.

Charlie and I had come to this same spot on the 4th of January and it had changed!

I headed home after talking with a group of people in the parking area that were headed out. They'd asked if the hike was worth it.

"Oh yes."

And it was.

Three hours to myself was very helpful. I felt refreshed.

All was quiet when I got home.
Rich was taking his usual nap.


He complained of not feeling well after supper and went to bed.
I worked on the gnarly tree and the Fairy House project until I felt ready to go to bed.

Let's see what Monday will bring us.

I like Ice

Okay, some folks think I am crazy, but I do like winter. I love winter. I get excited for snowfalls, I enjoy a good ice storm [see I am not driving in those if I don't have to any more!], I like cold snaps.

I was going to work in the shed. The tool 'table' is my next project. But then two days of near zero temperatures got me thinking.
The quick thaw and the quick freeze over the weekend combined with all the moisture we had just might provide for some Ice Formations if one knew where to look.

I drove to Kickapoo Valley Reserve and went in to browse and vote for the photos in the contest. I actually voted for someone else's photo. It was a beautiful shot of the frozen Kickapoo River.

I zipped up and headed out on the Wintergreen Trail. I had brought my converted Infrared camera and the 'hot' filter which converts it back to the normal light visible light spectrum.
So many IR photographers put their cameras away when the leaves fall. But I thought it would be fun to see what happens in the winter.

It didn't take me long to get to the place of the well hidden 'Ice Caves' or 'Ice Falls'. I don't think these are very well known at all.

I think the ice reflected the same light spectrum as the sky did! This is not how it looks in the camera review screen. The sky and the ice appeared brownish orange. When developing IR for color a person has to swap the red and blue color channels.

No matter, I really liked how this turned out.

Another shot taken in visible light with the hot filter on the camera. I love the odd look of Infrared, but also love this shot. If the cold weather continues, the water will continue to flow out of the ground and over the ice building a huge formation.

I wore kids little knit gloves with open fingers and a pair of my Grandmother's hand knit mittens with a second layer of wool over the knit part. I was able to keep my hands warm in between shots and changing filters.

When I got to the bluff I'd wished that I'd also worn my face mask that I could pull up to my nose. It was brutally cold in the wind on top of those rocks.

Infrared again...

However, the view was worth it.
The ice that was forming on the surface of the river actually made eerie noises as they floated along hitting the rocks and shore below. At first I didn't know what it was and looked around for some sort of Creaky Monster.

I turned around and headed back as I had other things to get done at home. I really wanted to walk to the end of the trail but decided to leave that for another day.

I made a late lunch for Rich and he decided to take a nap. Charlie was nagging me for a walk so I went out and got Sven and we went off again.

I thought it would be too cold for the dog and the goat. I was wrong. The two of them seemed to enjoy the fresh air the same as little kids do. At least I didn't have to remind them to wear scarves or a nice warm coat. They already had nice fur coats on.

I didn't have Charlie's beeper collar on and at one point he decided to head off on a trail following his nose. I imagine it must have been the fresh scent of a deer. He came back and I decided enough was enough. I wasn't forgetting that collar next time!

The creek provided me with some beautiful ice formations to look at. I admit it. I am a ice/frozen falls/water junkie! I just can't get enough of searching for them.

See?
Doesn't Mother Nature make some of the coolest formations with water?

We live in a 'hollow' which means that the sun disappears from the sky a bit earlier than it does on the ridge. I called to my faithful dog and goat and we headed back up the ridge road.

My two pals and I headed home to do chores and make supper.
We'd had quite the day.

Bad Weather is Good for..

Hiking and Photography! Really!

The NOAA said "Winter Storm Warning" for my area. For the area we had planned on going was "Winter Weather Advisory".

Now what exactly did that mean?
Well.
For my place it meant. Thundersnow, lightening, hail, rain, snow, more rain, more snow, and then sleet. And then Freezing Rain.

I woke up when the lightening and thunder occurred. It was loud and incredible. Then came the hail. 

Well, never mind that. I met up with the Kenosha Crew and we ate breakfast while deciding on where to 'adventure' first. We got into our Subaru's and headed to Mirror Lake.
I'd always wanted to go there and hadn't been there yet.

When I bought my annual sticker for my car my friends came in with me. The lady behind the counter sort of gave us a funny look when we picked up a trial map.
We gleefully announced we were going hiking!

I'm pretty sure she locked the door behind us.
Nah...she didn't. Maybe just radioed the rangers about the crazy folks in two Subarus.
We drove on the crunchy slippery roads with a mist of freezing sleet/rain/mist coming down.
We found an area that was open for parking and proceeded to put on hiking gear.

"Look mom...dad! I ran down the log and got out here!"
Mom and dad: "Be careful!"

"Whoops! Hey my boot IS waterproof!"

And we went on hiking.

And we went exploring. 
Do you know what it is like to feel like you have a whole State Park all to yourself? No? 
Well we did. The mist came down and when a bit of a breeze picked up we found places to get out of the wind.

I followed an old staircase that lead to nowhere and found an interesting view that looked out over the frozen lake.

However, the view straight down where my friends had been was just as interesting.

And roots. I like roots, so gnarly, so sturdy, so intriguing!

We headed down into the 'gorge' under the Ishnala Bridge and sort of wandered around exploring. Everyone did their own thing.

And that was just the first day of our 3rd annual Ice Hike. We were pretty sure that winter would have left us, but fortuneatly Mother Nature to quote my friend Daryl, "Did not disappoint."

I wonder if the lady in the Admissions office breathed a sigh of relief when we drove out. 

Little did she know that we were going to do it all again the next day, only someplace else.