Icy Park In Late March

 After a rainy day and hearing the chilly wind roaring last night, I was curious what the park would be like, and decided to check it out shortly after 7 a.m.

The Prospect Street entrance was covered with a layer of ice.  On the trail most of the accumulated water was gone and the surface looked surprisingly dry up untill the junction of the two ponds.  The small pond was frozen, and the ice formed patterns near the shore. The large pond was not frozen but ice crystals could be seen on the ground near the shore.   After passing the dam I took a walk toward the two-bridge trail.  Here multiple areas were covered with a thin layer of ice. Spiky ice crystals could be seen in several places.  

The patterns of these ice crystals are relatively new to me.  Growing up as a fan of war movies, to me these looked like an ammunition depot from ancient time.

Instead of drying out, the wood-ear mushrooms were frozen and preserved reasonably well.  Compared to yesterday, the helmet-shaped one changed its camouflage, reminding me of a contrast between those used in the North Africa battlefield and those used in the Battle of the Bulge.  

With some creativity and imagination, the shapes of the mushrooms can appear as faces of humans and animals, and even with facial expressions.

While I was examining the mushrooms, I saw fresh animal tracks on the trail along the fence on the west border of the park.  As there were no human footprints accompanying, I suspect a coyote left his or her signature shortly before I arrived.