The snow is very slowly releasing it's grip on the ground. I got there a little late around 8 AM and the ice layer across all the trails was still mostly frozen. next time I will remember to bring my ice grippers. I didn't sink much even though the snow was still 12" deep in a few spots. The crust is now quite thick. The walk out wasn't too bad, but 2 hours later the ice layer had started to melt and made the main trail back quite slick.
The boardwalk is still closed, but you get to walk all the way to it before you find out. I wonder if it's covered with snow, or if the refreezing actually damaged it this winter. It's my favorite section, so it being continually closed is a let down. I'll have to remember next time and wander down to the pond and stream across the street.
It's maple sap harvesting season again. This year there was a trash can being used at one point. I kind of prefer the metal buckets, though there isn't really much of a difference.
This is the same place I captured graceful shadows on the snow a few weeks ago. The snow has since melted in strange places and seems more like the surface of the moon.
I wonder if all the short pine trees will bounce back from spending months stuck to the ground. I did see a number of larger trees snapped in half across teh paths, so maybe being bendy isn't so bad.
The trails all had leaves and branches embedded in them. My guess is the sun warms them up just enough for them to slowly melt down in the snow. The ice cocooning them however was quite nice.
Closeup of nice ice.
More ice.
Near the end of my trek I spotted this curious fellow. I have never seen a spider out in snow before. It was alive and walked away while I was watching. I imagine it isn't very happy about being out right now, but it didn't seem to bothered.
There were plenty of vague footprints to sort through. Most of the prints were obviously people, but I spotted a few deer tracks, possibly coyote, and raccoon as well.
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