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Snowshoeing at Summit Creek

Posted on January 19, 2023January 30, 2025

Summit Creek is one of my favourite places to hike, walk, snowshoe, and explore. The massive cedars and cottonwoods blot out the sky and shadow the ground; mushrooms abound in colourful and strange groups; the creek winds through sandy banks showcasing its pellucid waters; there’s so much to take in. I could spend hours – days, even – just wandering through the forest.

I recently went snowshoeing there with my family, and though it’s the wintry month of January, there was still so much to photograph. Witch’s butter fungus was dabbed on every other lichened branch, melting snow freckled boughs and moss with water droplets, and textures and patterns hidden in birch bark and maple seeds exemplified nature’s artistic brilliance.

I’ve posted a few other blog posts with photos from Summit Creek (see my post ‘Adventures at Summit Creek’ parts I and II), and every series of images from there is different. The forest there metamorphoses into a different wonderland every time I go there, it seems, and it makes the hike all the more magical to witness the shapeshifting wilderness around me.

These fiery red needles belonged to a dead balsam fir. They were quite stunning among all the other green conifers. © Hazel Peel-Hodgson, 2023
Water droplets sprinkled on birch bark. © Hazel Peel-Hodgson, 2023
I was happy to have found some strange and interesting fungus. © Hazel Peel-Hodgson, 2023
More water droplets! © Hazel Peel-Hodgson, 2023
Moss capsules. © Hazel Peel-Hodgson, 2023
© Hazel Peel-Hodgson, 2023
© Hazel Peel-Hodgson, 2023
The underside of balsam fir branches. © Hazel Peel-Hodgson, 2023
The discarded web of a spider, including the skin of its departed host. © Hazel Peel-Hodgson, 2023
Witch’s butter. © Hazel Peel-Hodgson, 2023
Yellow birch bark. © Hazel Peel-Hodgson, 2023
Tiny cups on the underside of a branch. © Hazel Peel-Hodgson, 2023
Summit creek itself. © Hazel Peel-Hodgson, 2023
Maple seeds. © Hazel Peel-Hodgson, 2023
Ripples in the creek. © Hazel Peel-Hodgson, 2023
© Hazel Peel-Hodgson, 2023
A single bead of water caught on a strand of lichen. © Hazel Peel-Hodgson, 2023
© Hazel Peel-Hodgson, 2023
© Hazel Peel-Hodgson, 2023
© Hazel Peel-Hodgson, 2023
More water droplets. © Hazel Peel-Hodgson, 2023
© Hazel Peel-Hodgson, 2023

6 thoughts on “Snowshoeing at Summit Creek”

  1. Shamus says:
    January 19, 2023 at 11:12 am

    Hazel those are great shots. Love the affinity for water. Keep up the good work

    Reply
    1. hazelraine says:
      January 20, 2023 at 11:11 am

      Thank you for your comment! Much appreciated.

      Reply
  2. Mama Bear says:
    January 20, 2023 at 12:18 pm

    Wow Hazel, once again, so much beauty in your pictures and words. I love the red fir tree shots, and the water droplets on the fir branch, and the bark close ups. Really, all of these shots are amazing.

    Reply
    1. hazelraine says:
      January 20, 2023 at 1:03 pm

      Thank you, Mom! <3

      Reply
  3. aloha69 says:
    January 29, 2023 at 1:08 pm

    That fungus takes on the looks of a jellyfish stuck to a tree branch. The pattern on the tree bark gives it an appearance of a spinning cylinder.

    Reply
    1. hazelraine says:
      January 30, 2023 at 10:58 am

      <3

      Reply

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