
Last Saturday I woke up to not only the snow that fell on Friday but a temperature of 9 degrees F. That told me we wouldn’t be seeing any melting going on. By 11 am it was 22 degrees, but with the wind the feel-like temperature was more like 18 degrees, so I opted for a place where I knew I could be out of the wind. Beaver Brook and the abandoned road that follows it lie at the bottom of a natural canyon sheltered by hills on 3 sides, so there usually isn’t much wind there.

It was still cold though.

I have a friend in California who grew up here and is very fond of this place, so I like to come here at least once in each of the four seasons so he can see what it’s looking like. The place itself doesn’t change much but the weather sure does. I’ve seen waist deep snow on the old road.

There is a small cave here that I’ve always thought looked like a perfect spot for an animal den and sure enough I could see tracks in the snow that looked like they might have been bobcat tracks, but since we’d had a little more snow overnight it was hard to tell. The cave goes much further back into the hillside than what it looks like here.

Stair-step moss (Hylocomium splendens) is a pretty moss that I only find in this place. It’s very delicate looking but it can take a lot of winter ice and snow and grows as far north as the arctic tundra. It is also called glittering wood moss because it sparkles when the light is right. It grows on the stone that caps the cave and seems to like places where it can hang over an edge.

The seep hadn’t frozen, but it rarely does. When you see this frozen over you know it is extremely cold. Hydrologically speaking a seep is a wet place where water reaches the surface from an underground aquifer, and this one stays just like this winter and summer. I saw it freeze one winter but I’ve never seen it dry up. It’s a good place for birds and animals to come and drink.

Near the seep is a boulder fall, and on some of the stones in the boulder fall dog lichens grow. I hoped to see them on this day but they were covered by snow. The sky was a beautiful blue though, and that more than made up for their lack.

Also near the seep is a tree that I’ve been watching. It died at some point and has been sloughing off its bark for at least two years now. When you find a tree in the woods that is completely without bark, this is why. Sometimes you can even find a bunched-up pile of shed bark at a tree’s base. It is normal for live, healthy trees to lose some bark, but not like this.

A goldenrod held out its seeds for birds that didn’t seem interested. There seems to be a lot of that going on here. Many fruits and seeds are not being eaten like they were a few years ago.

I love to see the sunlight falling on golden birches. It shows how they come by their name. They are also called yellow birch (Betula alleghaniensis) but to me they’re golden. Swamp birch is another name for this tree that is the largest and most valuable birch. They can live to 100 years regularly but at least one was found that was over 200 years old.

I was lucky to find a fallen golden birch branch that had the female seed heads (strobili) attached. They are quite big on this birch; about the size of bush clover seed heads, or the tip of your thumb.

And here was a single fallen golden birch seed, which is about twice the size of the gray birch seed I showed in a recent post. I’ve read that redpolls, pine siskins, chickadees, and other songbirds eat these seeds. Ruffed grouse eat the seeds, catkins, and buds, and red squirrels like the seeds and sap.

Golden and paper birches both have bark that peels like this. As any camper knows, it’s great for starting a campfire. That’s because it contains betulin, which is highly flammable. It is also water repelling, and that’s probably why Native Americans used birch bark for their canoes.

There was lots of ice on the ledges. These ledges don’t see a lot of sunshine; I’d guess maybe two or three hours per day, so the ice grows slowly. It is clear and hard.

The sunshine that falls here in winter comes over the hillside to the right, out of this view. In winter it takes its time reaching the other hillside on the left, so much of the road is shaded. It can be a cold walk. The overhead electric wires just follow this handy corridor. There are no houses here.

I met and old timer up here once who told me that rock climbers used to practice on that erratic over on the other side of the brook. It is big; maybe twice the size of the 40-ton Tippin Rock in Swanzey.

I loved the way the reflected light fell on the water in this spot. So much beauty, everywhere you look.

In the place where the brook becomes wide and calm it had iced over. I’ve seen Beaver Brook with ice three or four feet thick on it, so thick that the brook lost its singing voice. I’m hoping I don’t see that this year.

The icicles hanging from the stones in the brook have large “feet” and I think that is because they grew in length as far as the water surface and then, once they couldn’t grow any longer, they grew wider instead. I’ve watched the ice in the Westmoreland deep cut and when it reaches the surface of the drainage channels it widens, just like this. If that is what is happening here then the water level has dropped about a foot since the icicles grew.

Ice hung from every stone. Anywhere water splashes is a good place to look for ice formations.

The seed pods of Indian pipe plants (Monotropa uniflora) look like small, carved wooden melons. This one had split to release the tiny, winged seeds. They split into five parts and each segment will eventually fall off, leaving the hard, dried central style behind. I had to take my gloves off to get this shot so it is a bit rushed. I wanted to show more of the top so we could see the funnel shaped hole in the stigma, but it was cold. The wiry looking bits are what is left of its ten dried stamens which, when the plant is flowering are inside the petals. You can see one of the dried petals behind the seed pod there in the lower right. It really is fascinating how much of the flower’s structure is still there in the dead plants. I always like to stop and take a closer look when I see them.

I stopped to look at the chubby purple buds of red elderberry (Sambucus racemosa). Buds with many bud scales that overlap like shingles are called imbricate buds. A gummy resin often fills the spaces between the scales and makes the bud waterproof. If ice should form inside the bud scales it could kill the bud. I’ve seen these buds in the past with purple and green stipes and they were beautiful. The colors reminded me of drawings of court jesters that I’ve seen. I can’t say why some buds are striped and others are not but I have a feeling that temperature might have something to do with it. Many plants like American wintergreen, turn purple in winter and I’ve noticed that the color is darker when it is cold.

As is often the case these days I didn’t dare to climb down the embankment to get a good view of the falls, but this shot from 2015 is a good representation of what I saw by peeking through the brush on this day. There was a good roar but I’ve seen even the falls covered by ice in the past, quieted by the cold.

As I was leaving, I noticed that the sun was higher in the sky and its light had reached the brook. There wasn’t much warmth but there was light. This shot also shows how treacherous climbing down to the water would be, and this spot would be much easier than at the falls. You’ve got to be careful up here because you’d wait quite a little while for any help to come and in this cold that wouldn’t be good.

The sunshine had also reached the icicles on the ledges but I’d be surprised if it had enough time to do any real melting. It won’t be long though. There is a little more daylight each day and it will be March before we know it.
In the winter, the world gets sharp. Beautiful things happen. ~Peter Fiore
Thanks for coming by.
I heard about this latest cold snap and snowfall. Beautiful, and cold! You are right, spring is not all that far off, and the days are noticeably longer. Thank you for haring these images, Allen.
You’re welcome. Spring can’t come soon enough for me. It has always been my favorite season.
THANK YOU so much for sharing these beautiful WInter views and YES, In the winter, the world does get sharper and beautiful things do happen.
You’re welcome Krys. We’re in full winter mode here right now!
Your Monotropa photo is beautiful! So well-focused and the color is perfect. And you’re right– this flower does hold on to a lot of its parts. Thanks for braving the cold and sharing what you see in nature.
You’re welcome Annie, and thank you. I love looking at these seed pods, but they aren’t easily reproduced in a photo, I’ve discovered.
Beaver Brook is beautiful with the sun shining through the trees. I like your seep pictures too, seeps can have some interesting things nearby. The chubby purple buds of the red elderberry look like a bit of spring! Great post. I’m glad you braved the cold.
Thank you Chris! Tomorrow we find out what cold really is, with -30 wind chills expected. I’ll be staying in!
The only things I’ve ever found near the two or three seeps I know of are swamp beacons, those “aquatic fungi.”
I’ve been looking at buds today and my only thoughts are of spring. It won’t be long!
Even though I wouldn’t like to share your chilly weather, I am envious of the wonderful ice formations that you have.
I didn’t think it was going to be a very good year for them but it appears that I was wrong.
Loved the moss picture, and I, too, an glad you didn’t attempt to get closer to the waterfall. Stay warm!
Thank you Su. No, I have to be more sensible these days so I’m not going to attempt anything that seems iffy. I hope it’s warm where you are!
How lovely to walk with you this beautiful morning as th far southern sun is just beaming over the Blue Ridge through the window here in my warm room. Your images & thoughts about them are so evocative of a snowy woodland in winter up North.
Thank you. We hadn’t had a lot of snow or cold this winter but that seems to have righted itself, at least for the time being. 7 lonely degrees for a high on Saturday, they say!
Brrrr! I’m inside, dressed warmly, with a cozy throw over me and I’m still getting chills just looking at all that ice, snow, and cold water, Allen. You’re quite the adventuresome nature explorer. I’m wondering if the seeds and berries left uneaten speak to a diminishing population of the critters who’d normally have eaten them? Lots of beautiful winter scenes, thanks!
Sorry to make you shiver, Ginny! I hope this cold hasn’t reached that far south.
I’ve heard that we’ve lost great numbers of our the bird populations but I hate to think what that means. I’m hoping there is just too much food available because of all the rain we had last summer. We certainly aren’t short of mice and chipmunks!
Thanks for sharing a lovely walk in the snow-covered winter woods!
You’re welcome. It took a while but we finally had a real snowstorm!
Thanks for all the beautiful shots of the brook walk. I have to admit that it took a big bowl of hot soup for me to get through it. But it was worth it. I love the ice formations and the red elderberry buds are beautiful. Glad to see that you are not venturing down to the brook.
Thanks Dave. This morning I’m wishing for the 22 degrees we had that day, because it is zero at the moment.
I don’t think you’ll notice too many changes the next time you get up there. You’ll find that it’s just as beautiful as you remember it being.
You were brave to go out and take photographs on such a very chilly day. I loved all your pictures of icicles, not a thing I ever see.
Thank you Susan. I think I should hope that you never do see ice like we have there in London. We have plenty this year, so far.