More than a month after my last visit to Salmon Hole, the landscape has changed completely going from fall straight into a February winter.
I tried to take the same pictures as I did earlier in the year so you could really get a sense of how much the land changed, so if you go back and look at my previous posts you can see a really interesting shift in landscape.
The biggest change that I observed besides the obvious snow coverage, were the massive (and quite numerous) blocks of ice that formed on the banks of the Winooski River. Some were massive and thick while others broke as soon as I stepped on them. These fascinated me as I have never encountered something like this, and I am stumped on figuring out what causes this to happen. I want to say it is due to ice forming on rocks and expanding, but some of the areas in which I found the blocks didn’t have large rocks when I last stopped by.
With the fresh coating of snow on the ground, activity from the previous night was evident.
The dead of winter commences, and all but the evergreens lose their leaves. This allows for ample twig hunting! While there were many twigs to be found, I was only able to take pictures of two before the cold claimed the life of my phone.
Paper Birch Twig
White Oak Twig
I would like to apologize for my depiction of the twig, I am a horrible artist and this is really the best I can do.
One other phenological change I noticed before I left, was the overhead space in the woods. During summer/fall, it is hard to get a clear view of the sky as the canopy covers most of it. However with the area being populated by mostly deciduous trees, now when you look up you are greeted by a beautiful display of blue sky peaking through the intertwined maze of bare branches the trees have on display.
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