Morning y’all,
It’s a beautiful but cold morning on the mountain today.
I took a short hike yesterday afternoon and spotted icicles on the north side of the mountain. Temperatures were in the upper 20’s but the wind was blowing which made it feel colder than it was.
I decided to go for a quick hike on the mountain this morning. The air was crisp, the temperature was 21 degrees when I started. There are only a few things green on the mountain now, pine trees, white pines, hemlocks, holly trees, mountain laurel and moss! As I hiked around the Northside of the mountain where it is always moist and shaded, I found a few large patches of green moss. The moss I found today was eye-catching green unlike nearly all other plants that have already turned brown.
Many people don’t give moss much thought but what’s not to like about moss? Not sure what type of moss this is but it is different than most I find on the mountain. This variety grows in large clumps.
This moss was covering large rocks.
I found a really large area of bright green color moss.
A white pine seedling growing in a large patch of moss.
The moss covers a lot of the large rocks.
Found these large icicles, the longest is about 12 inches long. After hiking for about an hour and fifteen minutes, I decided to head back to the house for hot chocolate!
We had a perfect ending to a perfect day and as it begins, so it ends. A strong cold front moved across upstate South Carolina Wednesday evening that led to the most beautiful sunset. I caught these pictures from our deck just a few minutes before dark. The reflection of the sun on the clouds was beautiful.
The cold front spawned snow flurries and bitter cold temperatures. By 9:00 PM the skies were clear, the temperature read 22 degrees and gusty winds gave us a wind chill of 12 degrees.
I found the evidence of our cold night the next morning down at our mountain spring which is on the North Slope.
Michael's Woodcrafts 