Early Spring doesn't always make for the best hiking in the forest, but there is a surprising beauty in the landscape before it again comes to life.
Photo courtesy of Linda Rubell
In
the spring of 2020, there was a lot of rapid melt, leaving large
puddles of green-brown water and patches of dirty ice. The reflections
were stunning, as shown in the following photos:
Shortly after the above 5 photos were taken, I missed an opportunity. There was a heavy blizzard. I went out into the forest at the end of the day when the snow had stopped - but without a camera. The puddles of green-brown water had turned into a jigsaw puzzle of small patches of green-brown water interspersed with irregular shapes of tufted fresh white snow. It was spectacular. The springs of 2021 and 2022 didn't provide the same opportunity, but I'll try again.
The winter of 2021-22 saw a near-record amount of snow in Winnipeg, with very high snowfalls in December, January, February, and April. Then, the rains came (and didn't stop). Overall, including both snow and rain, 2022 was Winnipeg's wettest year on record. Not being able to absorb all the water from the melt and from the rain, large areas of the forest (and even sections of some trails) remained flooded right through the summer and autumn, as shown below:
As the ditches and many areas of the forest remained flooded in June 2022, we were treated to an unusual sight. The puddles were covered with cotton from the aspens, making it look almost as if the forest was still covered with snow, or with dense floor-level clouds. The cotton comes from the catkins on female aspen trees, and the amount of it suggests that the aspens produced an extra large volume of it this year, possibly because of the amount of water in the soil. The following photos show the phenomenon.
Next: Spring Again