Snow Falls

Jo and I were trying to decide where we wanted to go for this snowshoe trip, and I really really really wanted to see a frozen waterfall, so we decided to head up to Wild Basin to see what we could find in the way of ice falls. Jo warned me not to get too excited, as the falls would most likely just be covered in snow...Still, I was excited anyway.

It was a snowy, grey day; no clear, blue skies in the forecast for us. The sun tried its best to fight its way through the misty snow, but without much luck.

The good thing about snowshoing is that it's hard physical work that keeps you moving, making it a great way to stay warm, even when it is snowy and cold. We were following a river (off to the left of the picture,) but it was completely iced over.

One thing most people don't know about Jo is how strong he is. This boulder had fallen across the path, but sweet Jo was nice enough to move it out of the way for me, so I didn't have to go all the way around. Thanks, babe.

My boyfriend is such a good sport. Here we are, out in the cold and snow, and I want him to stick his face in a snowbank for me...

And, of course he does...

Thanks, babe. I know your nose was black for weeks because of the frostbite you got, but, on the bright side, I got the pictures I wanted!

This is shot looking out on the river from a bridge. We could here hints of the gurgling water below, but the snow definitely muffled the sound to almost nothing. I love knowing that there is water under all that snow that refuses to stop, even for the winter.

These next few shots are very exciting for me. Jo and I were playing around with the camera, trying to get a cute couple shot (that will come later,) when I spotted something that I've been wanting to see for a long time now. Drumroll please... Can you see it? Right in the middle of the picture, next to the small tree...a snowshoe hare!

We were both excited and grabbed the camera to try to get some more shots. It was during this process that we noticed something a bit odd about the hare's face. At first I thought it was just a spot of brown fur around the hare's left eye. Then we realized the awful truth: this poor little guy had sustained some horrible injury, which had left some pretty severe scar tissue behind as a testament to how close to death this hare had come. It seemed to be healed over and he appeared to be in otherwise good health, but I sure hope the injury hasn't affected his chance of survival too much. That's nature for you, "red in tooth and claw," as Darwin so eloquently put it.

Wherever you are, little snowshoe hare, we both hope you are happy in your little bunny world and doing well.

A little while later, I couldn't help serving up Jo a nice fat snowball to the head...

But then we went back to the CCS we were trying to get before the hare showed up. Super excited about finally finding the B&W button on the camera!!!

Shortly after, we reached the falls. I'm honestly not sure why we didn't take pictures of the falls, except that maybe it looked pretty much like the river scene earlier: logs and boulders covered in snow. We decided to keep going to Ouzel falls, which I hadn't seen yet, so we pressed on. The trail was much less packed down after leaving the falls, so the going was a bit slower. We couldn't resist stopping to take pics of these amazing snow formations that had formed on a bridge.

A trail shot, of course. It was simply lovely, as always, being out in the snow-covered woods.

And here's my boy, with snowflakes on his eyelashes, looking adorable sprinkled all over with white powder.

We finally made it to Ouzel falls. It was completely iced over, so we hiked right up to it in order to get a better look.

Solid. Ice.

At this point, we decided to stop and eat lunch. The problem was that we were both getting chilly at this point, so after a quick slide down the trail and a quick PBandJ sandwich, we headed back.