My smile says it all. |
This was the first if many ice formations. |
I had visited this fall earlier this summer. |
The forest was calm and the trees here were mixed with hemlock, pine, old birch, beech, and maple. Mosses grew thick on the rock walls and trees. This place has not been touched by to many people. This was my kind of place I thought. As I left the falls though and searched for a way up and around them, I stumbled upon an old wood trail. Shoot. I took solace in knowing it hadn't been used for quite some time. It was still my kind of place.
This section of stream had an ice wall over 70m long. |
Looks like a great lunch to me. |
Now I was going to cross over the ridge and into another small stream. The climb up the last bit of the hill was steep but not near as steep as the drop down into the next valley. Somewhere in between I managed to lose my brand new North Face gloves...DANG. Oh well. There was no way I was going back for them.
This next valley had two tributaries I would explore but first I had to navigate down the steep terrain before I could walk up stream to where I anticipated the falls and walls would be. After some slipping and sliding I made it to the valley bottom. I looked back up at the slope and took a couple of photos but they did no justice to the terrain.
The stream would break off in two directions a short distance up and it was here where the lines on my topo map were tight and it was here that I wanted to go. I took a drink of water and then dropped my gear before heading up the icy ravine. To get out I would have to go back by here. In no more than 200m the valley narrowed and I could feel a chill from the ice walls as they got closer. The first trib was a cirque and was an impressive spot. My smile could near touch eaxh side of the valley as I climbed as high as I dared.
I was all warm smiles in this cold cirque. |
The second trib had less ice as it was more south facing and a longer straight rock wall and less of a cirque. It had a long cascading waterfall. The water dropping off the top kept the rock exposed and the dark green moss was a beautiful contrast to the bluish white ice. I felt small in this place yet it was only a small fragment of this wonderful Province.
The dark water line was a cool contrast. |
As I returned to my pack I turned and looked back up the ravine one last time. It is always a bitter feeling when I leave places like this. I still had a long hike back to my vehicle but once I moved down stream a kilometer or so, Google maps showed a cut line I could follow back towards the road. Good thing because I was starting to get short in daylight.
I hope you get outside soon and push into new areas off the beaten path.
1 comment:
Wow...How beautifully you portrait this story, i love my reading.
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