In the early days of december, the salmon hole, though the same rocky outcrop, appears vastly different from our first visit in the fall. No deciduous trees hold on to their leaves, though, without snow, there is still an abundance of decaying, gray-brown leaf litter covering the pants leading down to and around the shore. The evergreen species still hold onto their needles, including a stout red pine growing from the space between two large limestone slabs.
Though most of the previous foliage has changed from it’s full green colors, through the fall oranges and yellows, and now exists as bare, dull brown, the moss on the ground remains the same vibrant green. Alongside the moss are paper-thin sheets of wind-carved ice, with thin white strata spiraling in and out of cavities in the surrounding rocks. Similar frost crystals leave radiating spiny patterns in the dry silt sediment.
In terms of animal activity, where there once was an abundance of waterfowl, and small birds roosting high in the trees, the area is free of birdsong. There was one gull, which was struggling to remove a dead fish from the water. Very silly.
Overall, my favorite part of the salmon hole this year has been looking at the moss on the rocks, and the way the water moves over the rocks. Both are very pretty, in my opinion.
