So That Was Winter?

Today marks the first day of Spring, hardly a milestone this year.  I skied four times, three of them at night in Six Mile Creek when conditions were good enough but the forecast was for warmer temps in the morning.  It seemed that every time some ice formed somewhere it would get warm and break it up.  That's what is evident in these photos I took in the Adirondacks.
Maybe next year....

So That Was Winter?

We did have one sub-zero degree weekend that formed some solid ice in many of the streams and bodies of water.  Gail's sister, Martha, was visiting from Minnesota and we dragged her around town figuring she could withstand the conditions.  It was about -4 when we went by Ithaca Falls.

So That Was Winter?

A few days later it was in the 60's again accompanied by over an inch of rain.  I had the day off from school but was in the neighborhood so went past Ithaca Falls again.  At first I tried to get near the falls but the water/ice was high and rising so I went up on the bridge to get a look.  Just as I got up there all the ice let go and started flowing under me.  Thankfully there wasn't any ice downstream so there wasn't a jam to back it up and it flowed out to the lake.

So That Was Winter?

One winter tradition endures, even under circumstances that hardly seemed like the real season.  I traveled to Pharaoh Lake with some friends, this year limited to just Roy and Glenn.  I got there on Thursday and beat the arrival of heavy rain that kept up for 18 hours, even when it stopped the clouds were still so low condensation was happening on everything so it might have been raining anyway.  The sky did clear by the time the others got in Friday morning.  It was 60 degrees and really foggy so I wasn't too sure about the safety of the ice (it had been in the 50's and 60's for a few days), but then I remembered an article about knowing when it's OK to go out on ice and it turned out it was mostly safe, just a little melting along the edges and in the channels between islands, and near inlets and the outlet.  Coincidentally, my camera got submerged at one point so this may be my last blog post unless I get a new one.

So That Was Winter?

There wasn't any snow melting, but the ice from Wolf Pond was swelling the creek that empties into Pharaoh Lake.  After seeing it in the mist on Thursday I made a return trip while the sun went down Friday.

So That Was Winter?

I had great ambitions of a hike while in the Adirondacks, inspired by our trip to the White Mountains last summer.  I was going to visit the cliffs of Treadway Mountain overlooking Pharaoh Lake (top photo), the trail approaches the summit from the side opposite from the lake, but first one has to get around Grizzle Mountain (bottom photo).  The whole range is in the middle picture, it would have been about 11 miles.  Roy joined me for the first part to Grizzle Ocean but once there I figured I'd just return to Pharaoh with him rather than split up.  Another day.