O Canada!

February was a month filled with an amazing amount of snow.  It started with a blizzard and never let up.  Nearing the last weekend of the month a mountain-top storm ensued with gale-force winds.  A state of emergency was declared for the region and the National Guard called in to help with snow removal.  In the midst of the last storm my trusty snowblower became not so trusty and died.  A pulley snapped.  Thankfully I was able to borrow a neighbor's snowblower and keep our driveway open.

But today was entirely different.  Sun!  I don't believe we've had more than 3 or 4 sunny days since the beginning of this year.  Our spirits lifted, Deb and I decided to go on a Canadian vacation...sort of.

Up the hill from our home is Dolly Sods.  A 30 minute climb with snowshoes takes us to an entirely different world.  As we headed out we passed through woods with sunlight filtering through the trees falling on the snowpack below.

Soon we encountered frost-coated trees.  This is a type of Hoar Frost  known as soft rime and forms on the windward side of branches.

A bit further up the conditions become more severe and a different type of frost is encountered, hard rime.  At the top of the ridge and extending across the plateau beyond hard rime coats all the trees, rocks and wind-blown surface snow.

Drifts fill in the voids between spruce trees.

A survey across the open plains yields a view that is similar to the tundra region in Canada.

Under foot are mountain laurel and blueberry bushes.  In a few short months this area will be filled with new life.  But for now it is still locked in winter's grasp.  

Before leaving the area we saw some drifted in animal tracks that might have been from a bobcat and found some scat that fit that description as well.  I would love to get look at one of those elusive creatures sometime.