Clearing Trails

Couple of full days of hard work clearing trails of trees downed in the ice storm. Beautiful days, high today was 60F. (Hi tomorrow 31F and low 14F).  There were several large impassable wind/ice falls of trees across trails. The last one today I found was by the old tornado tree by the NW12 post. A massive boxelder trunk had snapped and fallen on a more massive ~ 90 cm DBH decaying pecan snag. Combined the debris was too much to clear. I re-routed the trail north and moved the NW12 post fifteen feet north.
Other large wind/ice falls on the Two Pecan trail, the Barney Jct cutoff (Barney is missing), the NW Ponds trail at the East Pond, the E-W trail at the vines west of the Elm Bridge and a few others on the south end of the Tree Loop. I still need to check the northern rim trails.
At 5:20 walking southwest from the center of the Woods, making my way out, the setting sun through the forest was a pulsing brilliant beacon of molten gold.
I saw three deer heading east along the South Boundary Trail at sunset. Earlier this morning I saw four of the puppies at the center south entrance where someone has spread a bale of hay. Unfortunately I also saw a new adult dog, a yellow golden long-haired (?) retriever-sized dog moving west from the Beaver dam.
There was still a complete covering of ice in shaded portions of the Wash. At the Elm Bridge where there was no ice, there were a half dozen delicate aquatic flies busy skimming and circling above the water .. size of chironomids but not sure what they were.
The biggest cottonwood (one of two camera trees) had lost a massive canopy branch from the south side.

Aftermath of the Ice

Transient warming in the Woods today, yesterday, tomorrow after the destructive ice storm and 3-4 cold days last week. All of the ice was gone today except in shaded nooks, so I took my saw at 9:30 and went to see what needed to be done.
 I walked the Tree Loop from the NE Gate, clearing small obstructions and some broken branches but nothing significant until I reached the southern end of the Loop.  A good-sized middle age sugarberry there had a large limb broken down on several other trees and the trail was impassable. Sugarberries in Olivers Woods have had the most breakage in this storm. I cut, hauled, pulled and eventually cleared the original path. I tried to cut as little as possible and pull broken limbs toward the base of the parent tree. By noon time I had finished the Tree Loop. If there is no more ice damage this winter, it will look good again by spring leaf-out.
After a noon break, I returned to walk the NW Ponds Trail at 1:30. The NW pond depth was 2.25 ft. (full). There was no sign of life there. The East Pond was inaccessible with a large fall on the north side of the pond. The West Trail was more clear than I had suspected it would be. There was one good sized mess just north of the junction with the the Main SW trail.
The worst ice breakage and trail blockage was on the north side of the East Pond. Large heavy oak, ash and elm branches had fallen along the trail. It was like a jig saw puzzle in reverse figuring out how to untangle, cut and remove it all. Happy to get it done.
Encountered just one group of four deer.

Icy Winter Solstice

Freezing rain began last night. By 3 a.m. power was going out. At 6 a.m. there were sounds of branches breaking and smashing to ground. Freezing rain had largely stopped by 2 p.m.  I went to the SW Gate at 5 p.m. to see what the ice had done.
Ice transformed the Woods.. beautiful drooping ice-covered branches, shrubs, privet - green leaves with ice, indian currant Symphoricarpos light brown stem and red berries encased in ice. Most beautiful was the West Dune Trail where the dense snail seed and honeysuckle vines overhead covered in ice made the trail into a silvery tunnel. Along oak trails, new fallen leaves of early winter were still 3 dimensional, not compressed into thin layers of decomposition.
Tree breakage was widespread. It was happening while I was there.. a sudden loud breaking sound of a solid branch followed by a silvery shower of shed ice falling.
I cleared many tops and branches that could be dragged away from the trail. I will not use the saw until a few days from now when ice has melted and trees, now bent deeply,  have rebounded as much as they will. Part of survival as a young tree or old in this environment. You adapt to ice, to sudden weight bending you double. to breakage of your top crown. Trees and branches are loaded to their limit. A small breeze rocking and swaying the trees triggers more breakage. I will walk all the trails in the Woods with saw and loppers to clear largish breakage/ blowdowns.
Water was high at Island Crossing - filled the Wash but did not rise to cover the Island. East Pond was full. Water along the main SW trail had backed up above the Beaver Dam and was rising but had not reached Grandfather cottonwood at 5:30. SW end of the E-W trail was underwater. I detoured, walking west, off-trail parallel to the rising water in the Main SW Wash. Beautiful, exciting unusual time to be in the Woods.

Walk before the storm

End of a cold overcast afternoon before the ice storm due at sunset, I went to the Ponds entrance to the Woods at 4 p.m. for an hour. Three deer around the NW pond. The Woods were fairly bare. The last deciduous leaves off the Bumelia are gone now. On a long walk around many of the trails there were some small branches down in the SE but nothing larger. Chickadees (and titmice) were scolding and active by the East Pond near Claire's observation point. There was water in the Wash but it stopped short of the Elm Bridge.. no water flowing at Island Crossing. The two ponds were fairly full. One place along trail there was a track of deer scraping the soil with its hoof.. like it was excavating.
Tonight fairly strong/ heavy ice storm. We'll see what is damaged.