Icy winter woods in Shenandoah Valley

A walk in the winter woods....

The remains of the ice storm that hit the Shenandoah Valley earlier this week are definitely sticking around. With daytime temperatures in the 20s and overnight temps in the single digits, there is still plenty of ice around.

I love the winter woods, and yesterday offered the opportunity to slip away with my camera into the quiet and solitude and look at the beauty while also taking in the damage. The temp was mid-20s with little breeze. The trail was covered with ice shards that had fallen from limbs; the layer of ice on the ground was frozen solid enough to walk on top of it without breaking through.


The icy white woods reminded me of a wonderland, a fairy tale forest, and occasonally I would hear an ice shard fall to the ground with a blunted tinkling sound as it hit and then skated along the ice.

The weight of the ice had caused damage to trees, splitting away limbs of some and breaking out the tops in others ... and a lot of grapevine was on the ground where it had fallen out of the trees.

My footing was a little treacherous in places but the soles of my hiking boots gripped the icy surface and safely carried me along the trail.

The quiet ... it was so nice to be alone in the silence of those icy woods on a cold winter day.

Icicles hang from deck at SWAC Girl's house

Photos by SWAC girl