Ice Out

Winter is coming to an end here in south central Pennsylvania. With warming temperatures and a heavy rain Thursday night the creek threw off its winter cover.
Sadly I did not get to document the event but this morning I was able to photograph the aftermath. I remember ice out from my youth, a time when we lived very near the creek. With the first heavy rain I could hear a cracking and booming sound coming from the creek. Soon this would be followed by a heavy roar of breaking and grinding ice as the large ice sheets would be broken and pushed along by the rushing current slamming into each other and everything else in their path.

As the water level recedes large chunks of ice lay strewn along the creek

Here a block of ice became wedged between trees

To capture this image I set my camera on macro and
put the rim of the lens against the side of an ice block

The trees in this photo are growing on a small island
Notice the damage to their trunks inflicted by the ice

We nearly experienced a tragedy during this event. A neighbor of ours who moved here from the city a few years ago came within a hairsbreadth of losing his life in the creek Friday. He is fine and much the wiser for his experience, but that story must wait until my next post.