The siren song of honking Canadian Geese lured me down to the river. That and wanting to take photographs of anything but moss today. I was hoping to find happy signs of Spring. What I ending up finding was the cruel grip of Winter exposed on the bank of the Grasse River.

There were a few Canadian Geese swimming along the far side of the river. But what I ’saw’ was the ice jam that had until recently choked the river had broken up leaving thick sheets of ice tumbled along the bank. Spring now rules on the north shore. Nothing harsh there – I have to agree with Martha Stewart. Breaking the back of Old Man Winter.
...’that’s a good thing’

The Grasse is greener on the other side of the river. Over on my side of the river a wooded hill shades the ice until late afternoon. On this side Winter still grips the river bank. It’s slowly losing it’s grasp but the ice still extends a good way into the river from the shoreline.

The following photographs are no more gruesome than Mother Nature herself. But your imagination may be. What happened here is anyone’s guess. I certainly don’t have a clue how this coyote got caught in this predicament. There is a run off stream that flows to that spot. Could the body been washed downhill? Or did the varmint slip into the river while crossing and pushed to this point by the ice?

I can’t be positive this is a coyote. I’m just guessing. It’s been ‘no more’ for a long time and is yucky looking. Besides that all the run off has left the coat caked in silt and grit. But whatever it is the image provokes some horrific thoughts.

Pleasant Dreams

Try not to think about it.

It’s fine to snowmobile but dammit if you get caught swimming here.

I was expecting to find more ice formations. The dam waterfall only had one good ice formation.

A bit hard to see but icicles are nearly horizontal on the back side of the ice formation.

This is a photo that would have been impossible to get last year. There used to be barricades on both ends of the bridge. I’d say the contractors did a great job of restoring the old stone arch bridge. About the only noticeable differences you can see from the side are the new guard rails and traffic on the bridge.

Other than the bridge and the lack of snow on the river ice there’s not much difference from:
Last Year’s Dam Post

Some pretty fowl pedestrians on Buck’s Bridge tied up traffic (me) on the way home. I had to stop while they waddled around in a couple directions before finally making up their minds of which way to go. And they had the nerve to honk at me.

These aren’t the only geese that hang around Buck’s Bridge. There’s usually some Canadian Geese among the domestic gaggle gang bobbing in the river. It’s a good place to go if you’re looking for a good goose, photo op that is.

Lampson Falls is not to be missed in winter. From the trail head the walk to the falls takes about 15 minutes. Round trip to the falls and back is less than a half mile and it’s likely someone has ‘broken trail’ through the snow since this is a popular year round spot.

The waterfall is located in the Lampson Falls Parcel of the Grasse River Wild Forest Preserve. The trail head is on County Route 27 in the Town of Clare, 15 miles south of Canton, NY.

It had been 4 days since the last visitors had been there and there were a couple of inches of new snow on what seemed to be a well packed road. The timing was perfect though. The wind had not yet got hold of the snow that clung to the trees.

Can’t you read? START here.

About a third of the way in is a place to sign in. On the way back don’t forget to sign out. You don’t want anyone to come looking for ya if you forget.

A footpath brought me to the head of the falls. No way was I going to go past this tree.

Looking upstream at the head of the falls.

Looking downriver from the head of the falls.

The footpath off the main trail is dangerous. Ice under the snow on the steep slope is as slippery as curling ice. I strongly suggest going down hill if you use the footpath. Better to land on something soft instead of your face when your feet go out from under you. My sore butt was a small price to pay for these photos midway down the falls.

An open pool of water at the base of the falls was only visible from this perspective midway down.

A view from the beach area below the falls. In summer this is a nice swimming hole and picnic spot.

Some close up photos of the ice at the base of the waterfalls.

Lampson Falls is around 40 feet high and about 100 feet across.