Winter Snow

I want to show you some winter scenes from the nature park today. I'm doing this because I had the same opportunity to show you some spectacular fall pictures a few months ago, but I was so not ready for fall that I neglected to share them with you. One of those pictures came up on my computer background today and took my breath away.

I'm not going to do that for my winter photos. I don't want to let the beauty of winter go by without sharing it, so I have these for you today. Maybe I'll share the fall pictures with you in a few weeks anyway. There really hasn't been much snow here yet, but it's enough to cover the ground now, and it's not going away.

This first photo was taken at the front of the park, right at the point where I walk around a bend and can't see the parking lot anymore. This is the first place I begin to feel that I'm away from civilization. If I were to turn around here we would see the very spot where I saw my first male deer only a few weeks ago.

Here is a typical trail in this forest. I was really surprised to see how white the trails were here, considering there wasn't really much snow out here at all. I'm not sure there was much more than an inch of snowfall, but the forest floor was covered, and it hasn't gone away yet.

Usually whenever there is snow or rain of any kind These trails seem to shed all of it very easily. They made the trails only a little over a year ago, and they made sure that moisture of any kind runs off of them easily. Even when it's pouring rain the trails stay dry enough to hike. I guess nobody told the snow to stay off the trails.

I really don't know where I got this picture, but it must have come from somewhere near the front of the park at that first trail before it branches into two. This thick brush in the front of the picture is only at that front trail, and it's very hard to get through. I've never tried to do it, but one of these days I'm going to go for a journey into that part of the forest.

This is a picture of what the lake looks like right now. It's the first time I've seen it covered with snow. Always before there has either been only ice or water. The white of the snow on the smooth surface of the lake makes everything look so clean.

The best thing I've noticed about winter is that my pictures seem to come out much better. The light seems to be distributed more evenly. Look how blue the sky looks in the picture, while the ground and everything else is still bright enough to see clearly. This never happens in the summer. Back then I only get either the ground or the sky to come out right. Not both.

I hope you liked this post for today. I'm working on something special for Christmas Eve right now. It will be a little more creative than this one, and totally unique. I'm not sure if it will come out right yet, but if it does everybody will have fun with it. I know a lot of you may not be able to read it that day, but it will be worth going back to later. In the meantime, I'll see you tomorrow with my regular post.