Ushering in Spring - An Arctic Landscape

Ushering in Spring

A classic seasonal storm swept across the foothills, lengthening an unending stretch of cold and wet. Dawn broke gray and murky as a thick vapor of fog permeated the pine forest, evoking an eerie atmosphere.

The illusion of great depth was exaggerated as trees in the distance were placid silhouettes while the nearer rocks revealed a rough texture. An abandoned homestead was barely visible as it melded into the haunted hillside.

When the turbulent episode finally hit, the snow came pouring down in sheets of freezing rain transforming the local wetlands into a white valley. Evergreen Lake with its black water, icy shoreline and invisible horizon looked like an Arctic landscape.

The only inhabitants to be found on that frigid evening were a few geese whose silent wake shattered the serene reflections. Although a shock to the system, the winter-like weather is not unusual for this time of year.

By the morning after, powder blue skies began to reappear and that same old cabin came into crystal clear view. The deep forest was a dazzling display of dappled light and silvery shadows.

The trail’s edges were blurred by drifts of melted slush. The wet snow was smothered over everything creating an encrusted shell that can only be cracked by another attempt to usher in Spring.

Rocks revealed a rough texture

Dawn broke gray and murky

An abandoned homestead

A silent wake shattered reflections

An Arctic landscape

Snow came pouring down like rain

A white valley

Blue skies began to reappear

The old cabin came into clear view