Last weekend I was itching to see a frozen waterfall so I went up to 40 foot falls in Surry. Unfortunately all the hemlock trees made it so dark that photography was out of the question, so instead I ended up at Porcupine falls in Gilsum. It was a very cold day with a breeze blowing, so it was a brisk hike up the old road.
A break in the stone wall beside the road reminded me of a Chinese dragon so I had to get a photo of it.
Further down the wall I saw some sulfur dust lichen (Chrysothrix chlorina) growing on the underside of a stone. I don’t know if it is sunlight or rain that this lichen dislikes but I always find it growing under some type of overhang where neither can fall directly on it, as if it were too shy to be seen.
Somebody crossed and re-crossed the trail many times. I’m guessing it was a field mouse.
I’m also guessing that the same little critter that left all of the tracks in the snow had been eating this mushroom, but I don’t know that for sure. I took this photo because what struck me most was how the mushroom was whiter than the snow.
I saw some Indian tobacco (Lobelia inflata) seed heads poking up out of the snow and they made me wish that I could see the small blue flowers that preceded them. It’ll be a while yet before I see them or any other flowers though. This little lobelia gets its common name from the way its seed pods look like the tobacco pouches that were carried by Native Americans.
One of the strangest things about this hike was the silence. I wish I could somehow show how very different a walk like this can be between summer and winter. Last fall on my first trip to see this waterfall it was simple; I just followed the roar of the stream, but on this day there was no roar or any other sound except my own huffing and puffing and the squeak of the snow. I had to watch carefully for the turnoff that I knew was somewhere up ahead.
This bridge crossing the stream marks the place but it’s out in the woods a few yards away from the old road and I passed it even though I was watching for it. I had to backtrack to find it.
The view of the frozen falls from the bridge was a bit anti-climactic, and I decided as I stood here that frozen waterfalls in general aren’t that exciting; at least, from what I’ve seen of them.
A side view wasn’t much more spectacular, but the photos don’t really convey the bigness of the thing. I’m guessing the height of the ice is maybe 35-40 feet from top to bottom.
Nobody was sitting on the bench and I wasn’t surprised. It was very cold and I was starting to shiver, so I thought I better get walking.
I stopped to see what I thought was a yellow slime mold growing on a log the last time I was here but now I see that it is hairy, much like the filamentous Trentepohlia aurea algae I find growing on the rock faces in the deep rail trail cut in Westmoreland. I’ve read that it can be yellow, among other colors, and that it can grow on logs. In China there is a red variant that has carpeted an entire river valley and is so beautiful and unusual that it has become a tourist attraction. The valley has been renamed “Red Stone Valley.”
I saw a reddish brown mushroom on a birch tree that was frozen as solid as a brick. When I think of mushrooms that grow on birch trees I think of birch polypores (Piptoporus betulinus), but this wasn’t one of those because it had gills instead of pores. I have a feeling that this might have been a late fall oyster mushroom (Panellus serotinus.) We have seven different varieties of oyster mushroom here in New England and they can be found on a variety of trees in spring through late fall.
The mushroom grew on the birch tree at about knee high but I wanted a shot of its gills so I took off my gloves and knelt in the snow, taking and rejecting shot after shot. Occasionally I get so engrossed in the object at hand that I lose myself in it and often have no idea how long I’ve been studying it. That happened on this day and as usual ended with the realization that once again I had been outside of myself. Not only had I lost track of time but I hadn’t felt the cold, and that isn’t wise in January in New Hampshire. Feeling the cold is what helps us keep Jack Frost from stealing our fingers and toes.
There are certain towns, or areas inside of towns, in Cheshire County that have a very strangely colored soil that has always looked orange to me. Since I’m colorblind I’ve always told myself that it was really brown but no, my color finding software sees orange as well. In my last post I found out that oak leaves really can be pink and now we have orange soil.
I should mention that seeing this soil on your property is a bad sign because it is pure silty sand and few plants will grow well in it. If you have this kind of poor soil you should immediately start adding all of the compost and manure that you can get your hands on before trying to grow a garden.
I wanted to take a photo of some moss covered in ice to show how tough mosses really are, but when I saw this photo I was more interested in the ice than the moss because of the strange light that seems to be inside it. It’s as if the light of creation itself was in there, shining out of this tiny drop. It reminded me of photos taken by the Hubble Space Telescope and of William Blake holding infinity in the palm of his hand in his poem Auguries of Innocence.
Lose yourself in nature and find peace. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
Thanks for coming by.
Beautiful pictures as usual Allen, love seeing the snow, ice, frozen water. Someone did a really good job building the foot bridge!
Thanks Michael. Someone told me that a group from New York called the Jolly Rovers who go all over the country building trails are the ones who built that bridge. They did a great job!
Allen, you get up to the most interesting things! Literally, in this case.
I try to keep people entertained.
It works!
It’s amazing that waterfalls should freeze. I don’t think we’ve ever had weather that cold here and I’m not sure I’d want to go walking if we did. Fingerless gloves with flip,over mittens are very popular here and I own several pairs, they’re great when you want to take photos in the cold. I’m surprised everyone in New Hampshire doesn’t have a pair.
Yes, I’ve seen some massive frozen waterfalls and they’ll stay that way until usually the end of February. I’m looking for the gloves that have one or two fingertips that flip open but they’re hard to find in stores here.
A frozen waterfall must be eerie, like a giant frozen into stone. The silence of the place in winter must make such a contrast to your summer visits. I’d like to see a frozen waterfall but I’d like to come back with all my fingers and toes feeling happy. Amelia
It is a bit eerie and it isn’t usually as cold here as it has been this January.
I definitely see the face in the last photo! Please ask Laura from TouringNH to make you some of her special wrist-warmers! They velcro around your wrists and have pockets for those little hand-warmer-thingies. I find they warm the blood going into your hands so when you have to pull off the gloves to work buckles on horse tack or buttons on cameras, your fingers stay warm! Amazing inventions and they work so well in our NH winters.
Thanks for the wrist warmer tip Martha. I’ll have to ask Laura about her invention. I’ve been looking for a pair of gloves with one or two fingers that flip open but I haven’t had any luck yet in the stores in this area. I know they make them but they’re hard to find.
I still don’t see a face in the ice but that makes at least three of you who do, so Ben will be happy!
Wonderful post! Your oyster mushroom looks a bit like the unidentified one I found. So thanks for that. Frozen waterfalls are so hard to photograph, with white glaring back into the camera. I had to chuckle when you said they aren’t that interesting. I felt the same, when comparing them to the magnetism of watching flowing water fall.
Thank you Sue. Those winter mushrooms can fool you because they often change color as they freeze and thaw and what started out cream colored might end up dark brown. Frozen waterfalls really are hard to photograph. Most of the ones that I’ve seen were just a big blob of white, reflecting light. It’s hard to get the camera to recognize any real detail in them unless you underexpose.
Definitely winter photos, I do really like the forest when there are so few footprints in the snow; that is such a special time.
Thank you Charlie. There’s nothing quite like fresh snow, I agree.
Reblogged this on Dawn of Divine Rays.
Thank you for the re-blog Agnes.
You’re very welcome, Allen. Have a beautiful week ahead. Namaste
What a beautiful hike on a cold snowy day!
It was nice, though it would have been nicer if we had gained a few degrees.
The silence, and the lack of smells. Very different, hiking in winter. I suppose those field mice better fatten up and hunker down for Tuesday’s Snowpocalypse.
Yes, it sure is. I’m hoping they’re wrong about Tuesday!
A very impressive waterfall. Good dragon, too.
Thanks!
It’s funny, I feel the cold when trying to photograph fungi, but not while I’m chasing a bird around. Then it hits me, my fingers are nearly frozen. 😉
I think that the frozen falls would be hard to photograph, as there’s little to give us an idea how large they really are. From your description, they sound impressive, even if they are making any sound while frozen. 😉
Hang in there, we’ll have plenty more cold blasts yet this winter, but we should be seeing signs of spring’s approach any time now.
Thanks Jerry! I suppose we all lose ourselves in different things. Not a good idea at this time of year though!
It was hard to figure out the best side of the frozen falls. In the end I think I just decided that they didn’t have one, but that was an awful lot of frozen water nonetheless.
I agree, spring isn’t too far away. I’ll start looking for skunk cabbage and signs of flowing tree sap in a couple of weeks, provided it warms up a bit during the day.
I’ve been watching the hawks, they seem to be flirting already in preparation for mating. Raptors mate and nest early, so that their young have time to learn to hunt before the next winter sets in. But, I’ll be looking for skunk cabbage too.
I’m glad to hear that the hawks know that spring is near!
Maybe because I don’t see as much ice and snow as you in the States, I am not at all tired of your winter posts. If snow and ice is all you have at the moment you have to make the most of it and you certainly do. I loved that magical last shot – the ice is beautiful and the bright green of the moss is glorious!
Thank you Clare. Hearing us complain about winter is fairly common here. I’m glad that you aren’t sick of seeing it because we’ll see more of it here before it ends. I’m glad you like the frozen moss. I should have said in the post that the light in the ice didn’t come from a flash because I didn’t use one.
Which makes it even more amazing!
Alan, Have you ever thought about taking a break at this time of year and going to tropical island for a vacation and sending us from photos form there, you know, with tropical plants and birds? A break would be good. All these winter images of yours are starting to depress me. I’m already sick of winter. Bring on the skunk cabbage now!
I think if I went to a tropical island I might never come back. Sorry about all the winter photos but that seems to be all that nature is willing to give me at the moment. I don’t get depressed by winter but I do know what you mean-I’m ready to see some skunk cabbages too!
I thought the waterfall looked quite impressive and well worth a visit on our behalf.
Thank you, I’m glad to hear that. I think I’m still shivering from that hike and it was a week ago!
Love the reference to Blake and your post also made me think of Robert Frost Funny thing, when I looked at the last photo I saw the long face too…HA! (you saw a dragon in the stones, so there you go!!!)
Thank you. As I was just saying to Ben, it would be very strange if we all saw the same things in these photos. Unheard of even, in my experience. That’s what makes it so much fun!
what *i8* see in the last photo is a face. Can you see it too?
I don’t see it but I’m not at all surprised that you do. We all seem to see different things in bits of nature like this and I think that’s part of what makes nature study so interesting.
Try starting with regarding the main “triangle” of the water drop as a chin. Then above that is a highlight on the left side of the nose. Off to the face’s right side (our left) is a piece of greenery that provides the ear, then coming back to (our) right we encounter the face’s right eye.
Sorry Ben but I’m still not seeing it, even with the photo right beside your description as I was reading it. Not a big surprise. In fact I’d be very surprised if we all saw the same thing in any of these photos. Someone else does see what you do though-see the comment by the nice Canadian lady at An Embarrassment of Freedom.
Oh well, never mind. 🙂
And now I know why they call it Indian tobacco.
That’s the story I’ve heard anyhow! Welcome back. I haven’t seen you in the blogosphere for a while.
Real life kept me away for a while, and I’ve been having a hard time making it back.
Thanks for letting me accompany you on your snowy walk in the New Hampshire woods. We’re snowless here in central Ohio.
You’re welcome. It’s always good to have you come along. I hope you can still say that you’re snowless after today’s storm. We probably got about 5 inches or so.
Excellent photo of the mushroom gills, and I know what you mean about being in a “nature time warp!” Fun!
Thanks Paula. Fun as long as you don’t get frostbite. I have to take my gloves off to use the camera so I need to pay attention when it’s that cold.
That was quite a nice hike. “Mine” was warmer than yours. The white mushroom that had been eaten on looked like a sculpture to me. Good way to start the day!
Thank you. I wish I could have done this one from home. It was really cold!
I’ve hiked to Garwin Falls in Wilton in the winter and it really is pretty in person, but hard to photograph well. The best is when it is only partially frozen so you get the ice and the water. Great hike!
Thanks Laura. I should have gotten up there earlier but I wanted to wait for a sunny day. As you know we haven’t had many of those so I had to wait weeks and by that time the falls were frozen solid.
I liked the stone Chinese dragon but you were right about the frozen waterfall. Just as well you put the height in, it was difficult to imagine it so big.
Thank you Susan. A big pile of ice just isn’t as exciting as rushing water, no matter how you look at it.