ice

An icy walk in the woods

Day before yesterday, neighbour and I took an icy walk in the woods. The intention was to walk around the two dams we have here in Tumba, the big one and the smaller one. This path is popular for skiers in the winter when it is snow-covered, for walkers and runners when snow-free.

Snow was more or less gone among the trees.

The roads were covered with ice… You had to be very careful and keep to the sides of the road so you wouldn’t slip and fall and slide down the slope.

We finally made it down to the big dam by small steps and carefully moving in order not to slip. By the dam and the road there, there is a fence you could hold on to. The fall from the big dam was all ice too.

The big dam was still ice-covered.

The above is the waterfall from the Big Dam. All icy but water still streamed strongly there. A couple of weeks more and ice will probably be gone.

The ice is now melting and dangerous if somebody would risk to try to walk in it. There were signs of walking on the ice. I would never… Some years ago an elk drowned here when it went through the ice. But the ice is melting close to the shore and where the waterfall is under the tree-bridge.

When we passed here there was a cyclist from the other direction with very thick wheels on his bike. He somehow managed to pass and get up the slope with his bike.

This corner of the Big Dam later in spring is a mating place for frogs and the water then is full of frogs, the path also full of frogs passing from the below the waterfall up to the dam. And the dam itself for a while is filled with frogs and baby-frogs. Just now the path is slippery with ice, then it will be frogs instead…

We made it all the way to the smaller dam too. At this time of the year you can actually see it as the trees and bushes have no leaves. Later on it disappears behind the greenery.

The ice looked thicker at the small dam. And its’ waterfall for transport of the water further down the slope was blocked by tree-branches.

The waterfall from the small dam was more icy and less water than the one from the big dam. It is unnerving to take photos from above at these spots. You don’t want to drop your mobile here…

Not far from here there is a way out of the woods, down to the main road. We opted to leave the woods here as the remaining path we usually take is in shadier parts of the woods and therefore probably even more icy and slippery. We were pretty fed up of the slipping on ice by this time.

By the roadside there were ice-falls from the slope above. That’s what happens when the snow melts and then freezes again. Reasonably warm daytime, freezing at nights.

The icy roadside is pretty interesting and beautiful I think. Last years growth still stand up through the ice.

I’ve always been fascinated by the icefalls you see by the roadside at this time of year.

When we were home again after approximately 10500 steps, we saw the first tussilago by the lawn in our garden. Despite all the ice out there, it now must be spring… right?