Ice!

This has been a fairly warm winter, but in mid-January, we finally got some snow. As it often happens around here in winter the roads are too dangerous to drive on when it snows, so we hunkered down for 2 days until it started to warm up. It had not been warm enough to freeze the local lake or waterfalls, so we headed to Big Ivy in Barnardsville NC to check out the streams. The roads were icy in the park, but it was only for about 1 mile and then the road was closed. Luckily, there were 2 open pull-offs with numerous opportunities in the small stream that ran close by. There was snow on the rocks with ice built up along the edges. The stream was still rushing along. The top picture gives a general feeling of the area. The stream was 8-15 feet across with rocks and small cascades.

The photo below shows a smaller area in color. The color doesn’t add much for me.

I liked how the snow covered rocks rimmed with ice created decorative ‘islands’ in the stream. Do you prefer these winter streamscapes in black and white or color?