On the last day of February, I decided to take a ride out to a favorite location. It was a cold day and I had hoped to get a few shots of ice around Cucumber Falls in Ohiopyle State Park. The drive out was beautiful. A lot of show had fallen in the preceding days and with it being cold for so long, I was a little concerned about the state of the roads. Fortunately, everything was clear and dry all the way there. When I arrived at the parking area for the falls, I was surprised to see so many vehicles. I didn’t think that many others would venture out on such a cold, albeit sunny, day.  To my surprise, I found that the reason for the crowd was that the falls was completely frozen! Water still flowed through the center, but it was encased in a textured column of ice.  This was far more exciting than I had expected! I made my way down the ice covered steps and took a moment to marvel at Mother Nature’s handiwork.

I had planned on the presence of water, so I was wearing my knee high rubber boots (with little traction). It was difficult to navigate all of the ice, but I managed to avoid broken bones while getting good angles on the massive wall of ice that was in front of me.

I braved the walk behind the falls to get a few shots of the light coming through the ice. The peril was extremely worth it.

Few things had escaped the collection of ice. This rhododendron was not one of them.

I made my way along the rock wall to another small column of ice that caught my eye.

I loved the way that the ice was pointed and rough on the top end, but smooth like melted glass on the bottom.

I ventured down to the banks of the Yough river and validated my choice of footwear. I stepped out into the river to grab a few more shots. The water was frozen and fractured in some spots.

In other spots it flowed quickly and was disturbed by a few large stones beneath the surface.

I was treated by a contrast of light and shadows on my walk back to the frozen waterfall.

I took advantage of the lack of visitors to lay on my back to grab this image.

As light was disappearing, I shot a 50 image panorama of the falls. I believe that it stitched well.

It was a wonderfully surprising visit with the added bonus of not falling through the ice.  I’m really over that, by the way.

On my way out, I stopped to capture the long shadows and blue sky around a little church and graveyard.

Although I am looking forward to spring growth and warmer temperatures, I’m really happy to have experienced this rare sight and even more happy to be able to share it!