On January 8, 2024, a day or two after we got a reasonable amount of snow and a day before we got a sizeable amount of rain, I went out for a quick expedition to take some snow pictures, while the snow was still around. I went to Sapsucker Woods and then Sunset Park. I used my 50mm (equivalent) lens at Sapsucker Woods since it is lightweight. For some of the pictures, I used the "poor man's wide angle lens" which is to say I took a bunch of pictures and stitched them together in Photoshop, so many are larger than average. 001-DSC_7925-header: Sapsucker Woods 001-DSC_7925-headertext:
Sapsucker Woods is two wooded areas by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology across the highway from the Ithaca Airport. Oddly enough, it's not that loud and the animals don't seem to care. Next to the lab there's a big pond with trails around it. On the other side of the road is a wooded area with trails that include an artwork by Andy Goldsworthy. The trails aren't very long but they're pleasant to walk around and often it's not crowded at all (well, especially in winter). 001-DSC_7925: Hey, it's a map at Sapsucker Woods! 002-tree_Panorama3: Some trees in Sapsucker Woods and snow! 003-DSC_7913: Ice on a pool of water. It calls for me to try to walk on it and sink! 005-DSC_7916: The Footbridge...of DOOOM! 006-DSC_7917: A closeup of the snow on top of the posts on the footbridge (of DOOOM!). 006a-footbridgePanorama: The bridge beckons the traveler to go deeper, DEEPER into the woods. 007-Path_Panorama: A vertical panorama of some trees by the path. 008-DSC_7924: Wait...is that Goldsowrthy's cairn? Shhh, don't spook it! 009-DSC_7926: A few inches of snow was piled on the map's roof. 010-Small_Poind_Panorama1: A small frozen pond sits in the back of the woods. 011-DSC_7940: The Cairn by artist Andy Goldsworthy, made in 2008. 012-DSC_7941: The bottom of The Cairn. 013-DSC_7942: A banana tree...no, it's a tree pretending to be a banana! 014-Ice-Heart_Panorama1: Latte ice! I think the little pool went through a few freeze/thaw cycles and formed what looks to me like some sort of decorated coffee (I don't drink it, so what do I know). It looks vaguely heart-shaped. Also, there's a upside-down copyright symbol (©) at the lower right corner which looks kind of odd. I blame Corporate Ice. 015-Pond_Panorama1: Panoramic shopw of the pond by The Cornell Lab of Ornithology with the Lab building on the right. Note that there were two and only two geese walking cautiously on the ice. They managed to get into the picture twice. I think it wasn't a problem. 016-DSC_7952: A shelter by the pond by the Lab of Ornithology. It's a combination of 4x4 boards and actual living trees (that are fucking up the zombie-wood boards). 017-tree_post_Panorama1: Panoramic view of one of the trees growing around and through one of the shelter's legs. 018-tree_post_Panorama2: Another veritcal panoramic shot of how a living tree is slowly ripping the shit out of the support leg for the shelter. "Life always finds a way...TO DESTROY THINGS!" 019-DSC_7967: The Silver Stork! Or maybe the Chrome Crane. Or Bismuth Bird? It's shiny metal and very bright around all that snow. 020-DSC_7968: Another view of the metal statue of the bird, the pond, and two geese in the distance that didn't care. 021-Inletd_Panorama-header: Sunset Park 021-Inletd_Panorama-headertext:
Sunset Park is a very small park (or pull-off) in Cayuga Heights on the south west side of Caygua Lake with a nice view of the lake. 021-Inletd_Panorama: A panoramic picture of the Cayuga Lake inlet's red and white marker lights. 022-tree_Panorama2: A tree that looks like veins branching out with Cayuga Lake in the distance. 023-DSC_7975: Just a tree with snow on it's tentacled branches. 024-westward_Panorama: Panoramic view looking to the hills south of Cayuga Lake.