Canyon Falls in the Winter: Part 4: Last in the Series (I promise!)

(*This post was pre-published and written about 1 1/2 weeks ago.
It has been between 55 and 65 degrees in the U.P. for the last week, and the snow is melting SO FAST here now...I am sure Canyon Falls does not look like this today...)
As you probably know, as a regular reader, this is the FOURTH (and final) of a four part series showing photos of our hike into Canyon Falls.

If you missed the first three blogposts about this trip, just keep dropping down below this blogpost and you will find them interspersed with others.

As you also know, from Part Three...we hiked all the way into Canyon Falls

only to find out that they were frozen over.

But the trip in was wonderful.

And, as every photographer knows....sometimes the journey to a destination brings you wonderful shots.

Sometimes even better than the destination.

We loved that day.

It was warm, and sunny and cheerful. The woods were quiet and so pretty.

Here were my hubby's tools of the day:

Old fashioned snowshoes!

I only fell once, and that is when I turned too quick to take a photo and forgot I had snowshoes on and tripped over my own snowshoe. (Hey, I never SAID I was coordinated!)Here was a nice surprise.

And, it was so nice to see a shot of red in all the white:

We wondered what made these in the tree?:

A woodpecker maybe???

We FINALLY reached the falls!
I was waiting to see the winter wonderland spectacle of rushing water and ice combined!!!!
But....WHERE WERE the waterfalls?????? (We only saw a wall of ice!):


But the ice was beautiful...so we didn't mind:

I wasn't disappointed there were no REAL falls, because the ice falls were just as intriguing.

It was time to hike back on our snowshoes, which we did, enjoying the wonderful, quiet woods along the way back to the car.
On the way home, we went exploring down a few side roads to see if we could see any wildlife.

On a ride down a side road, we saw this train....obviously "retired" for the winter:





And gorgeous, prickly thistles:

We REALLY wondered who made THIS hole...look how square it is!

Leprechauns, maybe?:

We headed home, full of memories of this wonderful outing.

Before I let you go, here are a few more pictures for you:

More of the "ice falls":

Winter peace and stillness in black and white:

I hope the peace and tranquility of winter

left you refreshed

and

ready

for

spring......