"ice caves" formed on Awosting Falls trail

[petercbenson]

Trail Report: Saturday, March 11, 2007

It was still cold yesterday during my hike from the Awosting parking lot to Awosting Falls and then to the Trapps Road.

On the trail winding to the base of Awosting Falls a layer of ice had cascaded over the rock overhangs to the right of the trail. These walls of thick yellow ice have created a fairly large cave, accessable through several "windows" in the ice. Pretty cool to crawl inside!

The falls itself had frozen, too. There's a cone of ice built up from the mouth of the falls to the base. Last weekend, after all the rain, the water had broken out of the ice and had worn out a giant opening half way down. The melting ice looked like a gaping mouth with teeth! The water, surging down the Peter's Kill and full of ice, was the color of pale jade.

Took some pics in case these cold weather formations disappeared before anyone else had a chance to check 'em out (click on the Awosting Falls 3/11/07 album):

http://shotsfromthetrail.shutterfly.com

See ya on the trails!
Pete