A Snowy Day in 'Toga Town!

Oh man, this is why I love living here in northern New York State:  Snow!  Beautiful snow!  Here's my inner-city Saratoga Springs backyard today:

When we first moved to Saratoga in 1970, snow was a given.  And lots of it, too.  That first winter we lived here, we had record snowfall, 120 inches total for the season.  When our then five-year-old daughter walked the four blocks to kindergarten, she disappeared between snowbanks as soon as she turned from our front sidewalk.  "Oh boy," I thought, "this is REAL winter!" 

We haven't had that kind of snow for more than 50 years now. Just yesterday, I could still see the grassy ground everywhere, showing between meager patches of crusty old snow.  But it started snowing in earnest last night, and by this morning the trees and shrubs were heaped with the fluffy stuff that was glittering in the sunlight.  These Winterberry shrubs grow by my front steps.

Ah, but with rain and temps rising into the 40s two days from now, this may be the last time we'll enjoy snow's beauty again this winter.  A quick trip to nearby Saratoga Spa State Park allowed me to fully experience it before it gets washed away.

On this long allee, the snow-covered branches of tall White Pines formed a canopy over the trail.

At the edge of the lawn near the Ferndell Pavilion, the beauty of these snow-crusted trees took my breath away.

That fairyland beauty persisted as I made my way down the Ferndell Ravine, a woodsy trail that passes between steep forested banks, a tiny creek rippling alongside it.

After walking through the park's picnic area, the scene along Geyser Creek was exquisite, as the rushing creek rollicked along past the Island Spouter.

The name "Geyser Creek" was no doubt inspired by the mineral-water spring that spouts from the center of this island, an enormous limey accretion called a "tufa." But this is not, in fact, a geyser, since geysers obtain their energy from geothermal heat. Better referred to as a "spouter," this skyward-shooting spring obtains its energy from a subterranean buildup of carbon dioxide gasses. The water is quite cold.

While the water that emerges from the spouter and spreads across the tufa is itself crystal clear, the dissolved iron in the water reacts with the oxygen in the air to turn the surface it floods across a rusty red.

But the icicles ornamenting the tufa's edge confirm that the mineralized water remains uncolored.

This snowy trail along the creek tempted me to follow it, but my aching knee began to tell me it was time to go home.

I am scheduled to have a total knee replacement surgery on February 11, so I am afraid it will be some time after that before I can venture out to the woods for extensive walks. But I do hope the healing will be complete by the time the waterways will be warm enough to tempt me to manage getting in and out of my canoe.  I'm so happy I got out today to experience this beautiful snowfall.  As climate change continues unabated, this may be my last opportunity to witness such beauty this winter.