Winter Woods

 

 

We've just finished a long weekend here, what with a 'PA' Day on Friday and 'Family Day' on Monday.  Yesterday was sunny and bright, so my son and I decided to take the dog for a long walk in the woods.

 

Winter is still hanging on tightly in our region.

 

 

But I like walking in the woods in the winter.  The crunch and squeak of the snow under your boots.  The cold fresh air.  When we first started out the sun was actually warm when we got out from under the canopy of pines and firs.  But under the trees, there was a chill and stillness.

 

 

The creek is frozen over more now than it was in January.  Not frozen enough for walking on however.

 

 

Just a bit of open water where it's running fast.

 

 

The banks were heavy with icicles from a thaw a week ago ...

 

 

The dog and my son stopped long enough for me to take a shot of them ...

We prefer to hike on the less-used trail.

Didn't see another person back there, but there was evidence of another sort of life ...

 

... beaver live in this area, and I see they've been busy at these large trees.

 

 

Beautiful lighting through the cedar woods lining the creek ...

 

Then back into the pine forests, where you can feel the temperature drop and the cold creeps across your shoulders.

 

It was late in the afternoon as we finally made the turn to head back.  The sun was lowering, and the shadows were lengthening.

 

It's so quiet back here in the woods.

 

A very still day, with just an occasional brush of a breeze, setting the snow to flurry down off the higher branches and sparkle in the sun.

 

The sun cast great relief patterns on the bark of these old trees.  I love how the 'sepia' function highlights the texture of bark.

 

You'd think this tree had a disease, but no, this is it's natural state of flaky-looking bark.

 

The birch tree with its papery bark curling off in places.  I'm glad no one has marked up this tree.  Often people like to peel the birch bark off the tree ... because they can.  Do they know it will kill the tree eventually?

 

 

Another birch with a rough side.

 

Tiny fungus growing along the lines of the bark on this young tree.

 

 

This next one is an ancient maple ... huge!  I wouldn't be surprised if some small owl lives in this hollow left by a rotted out branch.

 

 

And maples, of course, bring us to this!

 

 

Yes, that's maple sap you see starting its early spring seeping.  The sap starts to run fully in March (usually).  We need sunny days which warm the trees and gets the sap moving, but cold nights.  My parents collected sap for many years on their property, and we always had our own maple syrup ... this was one of the hardest things to see go when they sold their country home.  It was a big family deal for us to all come out and help with the 'boiling down' which we did right there in the woods.

 

Well, we're almost back now, just a little bit longer.  Oh, just a couple more shots ... I can't resist these hollowed out ghosts of trees.

 

But someone has had enough of my picture taking.

 

 

And the light really is fading now ...

We've been hiking for three hours ... I think I heard someone's tummy grumble.

Goodbye craggy old trees ... till next time we visit.

 

 

Thanks for stopping by.

 

Wendy :)

 

Sometimes along the path I like to stop and imagine what it would be like there in the woods in the dark.  We used to hike through our own woods in the dark in the winter with the moon shining on the snow.  So magical.  So cold!  We took our toboggans to the village park on the other side of the woods for night tobogganing.  The woods were a different place at night ;)