A winterly mix walk through the park

Русский

So, we have a warm moist air high up in the sky and a frigid air stuck close to the ground. The rain that turns into ice close to the ground is the result. It got bad enough that the companies closed their doors for the day. I had to go check out how my trees are doing in these conditions.

But before I could even make to the trees I faced an obstacle that I decided to turn back and look for another route:

The bridge was covered with an invisible sheet of ice. Crashing into the stream was not on my agenda.

It was also a good time to understand better how the water is flowing and where to work on improvements next spring and summer. With the snow gone and the ground frozen it was easy to see the streams of water forming, creating ice "rivers" and with water flowing over them. For example, in one place a part of the road covered with gravel the water would be going under the gravel, not easy to see how much water is actually going there. Now the river of ice formed between the stones and it became apparent that a part of the road became river's bed:

The river of ice Jan 2017

If left like this the soil from under the road will keep washing away. This is easy to fix, that is clear what to do, fixing it, maybe another matter. Clearly marked lines on the road with a small backhoe should do the trick.

Now getting closer to the trees. The row of ponderosa pine along the road looked like these:

Ponderosa pine Jan 2017. Covered with a layer of ice.

A close up of this picture shows the needles completely covered with a film of ice. It is very fortunate that there is absolutely no wind with this ice storm. Otherwise this would be a bad news with branches and needles snapping.

Unsurprisingly, the sequoias also had decorations made out of ice.

Sequoia covered with ice in January 2017

Finally, a wide angle shot of the park, with the icy streams and freezing rain. Nature does not have a poor weather. Every kind of weather is a bliss. It almost rhymes :)