A preview of things to come?

Sunshine glints through frozen droplets
Dangling from the lichens in the tree
Autumn by the calendar is not yet at its end
A sneak-peek of weather soon to be

Delicate

A little sunshine on a frosty morning.
Click on the image for a larger view.

Cold Snap

Dead trees frozen in a slow-moving river-bend.

Underside

The sun glares off icy lake water clinging to the pilings supporting this small car bridge.

Stuck

What resembles a seal frozen in the ice atop this small lake is actually driftwood debris.
No actual animals were harmed in the shooting of this image.

Iced Coffee

Chilly in the Seattle Area today...

Amazing Water

Click the image to enlarge for clearer detail.

Water. It is basic to life as we know it. We drink it, bathe in it, cook with it. But left to its own devices, aided by cold temperatures, variable humidity and wind, water crystallizes into amazing shapes. Seen here up close is snow after it sat for a while in such conditions.

Snow falls in many places. To most of us, snow is just part of the background. Something pretty on the trees; something to plow from the roadway, shovel out of the driveway, or ball up and throw at someone. But in nature, the closer we look, the more interesting things get.

Patterns on the Surface of the Ice

Ice crystal forms shape the surface of a puddle. Just outside the focal field, sunlight scatters off the facets.

White Crystalline Fur

As the temperatures sink into the 20s, snow that had fallen over the previous day serves as a substrate for crystal growth.


Water molecules in the air settle on the exposed ice surfaces, extending the existing crystals into this furry configuration.


Close up, the individual crystals appear as individual towers of ice.

Nature's Wonder

Throughout the natural world, many shapes are found again and again in different contexts. We see circles, ellipses, spirals, waves, lines, polygons, and many other shapes at various levels of complexity.


Here we have what appear to be feathers similar to those found on birds, but in this case, made entirely of ice, formed spontaneously over the top of a wet spot of ground. As the temperature dropped, the water feeding this puddle slowed, lowering its level. Molecule by molecule, water evaporated from the top of the lowered puddle and condensed on the crystals that had already begun to form on the earlier surface of the puddle, arranging themselves in this pattern.

After the Fall

It's still officially Autumn but already the snow from the first winter storm of the season is melting away. A winged seed pod still hangs from a Japanese Maple tree that only a few weeks ago was in the midst of a spectacular color show.


Trapped beneath the ice crust on a frozen puddle, a fallen maple leaf peers up at the rising sunlight.

Anchorage Again

After our whirlwind tour, we returned to Anchorage to recover and prepare for our trip home. This was our third Anchorage stop, having overnighted there between leaving Valdez and setting out for Homer. It will probably not be our last.

While in town, we again dined at the Glacier Brewhouse and had lunch at the Europa Bakery Cafe. The Europa Bakery is a local operation that provides artisan breads that are sold in supermarkets, Costco, and served in the fine restaurants. One of their breads, the spent grain loaf, includes the depleated malted grain after it has been used at the Glacier Brewhouse microbrewery. Not surprisingly, this is the bread served at the Glacier Brewhouse restaurant. It's delicious.

This is a festive time of year in Anchorage. Winter temperatures rarely rise above freezing, so ice sculptures can last quite a long time. In a local park next to the Anchorage Performing Arts Center, a sunken area in the landscape design is filled with water to create an ice rink. Around this rink are placed blocks of ice that are then carved into a variety of shapes and illuminated with colored light.

Turnagain Arm

South of Anchorage is a waterway dubbed Turnagain Arm by Captain Cook as he had to turn again and again navigating it. Today we travel along this arm, around the bend to the Kenai, and all the way down to the town of Homer.
Along its northern bank runs a road and a rail line. In winter, sea water, its salinity lowered at the surface by in-flowing river run-off and direct precipitation, freezes into a slushy mixture which ebbs and flows with the rather extreme tides of the northern latitudes.
Waterfalls cascade down toward the road from the mountains above. In winter, when those falls are frozen solid, people can often be seen climbing them.
In the distance, snow covered mountains peek through the mist.
As we progress toward the place where Turnagain Arm ends and the road swings around to connect with the Kenai Peninsula, the sky clears to reveal brightly lit mountains in the distance.
This snow-frosted tree "snag" marked our passage from the turnagain arm to the pass cut by Alaska Highway 1 down into the Kenai.

Thompson Pass

Leaving Valdez, we drive through the Thompson Pass, this time in daylight. Before the day is out, we will return to Anchorage.

Frozen waterfalls at the gateway to the Thompson Pass

Up here, the snow can fall very heavily and get very deep. At night, in heavy snowfall, with everything covered in white, often the only visual references available are the reflective panels at the ends of the marker arms above the roadway.

A break in the overcast admits bright sunlight. White mountain snow against the background of brightly illuminated clouds makes for an amazing sight.

Mountain ranges abound in Alaska, and our perspective affords glorious view after glorious view.

Down this road leads into the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park. But not today.