I feel like I shouldn’t complain since our winter really didn’t get bad, my personal opinion, until December with our first snow. My opinion has since changed as it’s been a long winter to all of us here, as I’m sure in other parts of the country. When March rolls around we all think spring can’t be too far off. Well, let me tell ya’ Mother Nature had other ideas about that! I’m going to share some photos I took when this change came about.
Our home is close to the end of Pike Creek where it empties into the Mississippi River here in Little Falls. The creek was still frozen and we always keep a check on it to see when the ice starts to move out. We don’t want to miss this event, especially since it can be destructive as well as awesome to see. Well, on the morning of March 17th my husband, Ben, had gone out to see how things were going, came back to the house, yanked open the back door calling hon, get your camera and come down to the bridge. I knew from that something was going on and quickly hung my camera around my neck, I drop everything so this is my safety precaution, grabbed my coat and took off running.
During the night hours rushing water and ice started coming down the still frozen creek. The first photo shows how high the water was to the south bank of our property as well as how fast it was moving.
The photo below was taken from our bridge, as Pike Creek runs through part of our property. The ice had already gone under our bridge and was moving south toward the Mississippi River.
When we checked the creek on the morning of March 21, we found more ice and less water, which was not moving, had come down over the frozen creek. When you look at this photo below, in the foreground in the area where there is only water, you can see a yellowish color just under the surface. That is part of the frozen creek. Notice some debris mixed in with the ice. This photo taken north from our bridge, which would be toward Charles A. Lindbergh State Park
The photo below was also taken from our bridge over Pike Creek of the west bank of our property. If you look closely you can see a yellowish color under the ice by the tree, which is the frozen creek. On this photo notice the ice jam to the right of the background spilling onto the property.
The last photo taken from our bridge shows huge chunks of ice, some resting on the frozen creek. As soon as the water in the creek starts to move again, the ice will empty into the Mississippi River.
That’s it for today. Hope you’ve enjoyed the photos. Check back again as I will be posting more.
~ Alice Smuda