Beautiful Creations of Water

A few weeks back, Vanessa and I, and our dog Rosie, were taking a walk out in back of our rental near the Uncompahgre River between Ridgway and Ouray and noticed the most dramatic examples of surface hoar frost I have ever seen. Some of the frost crystal were four inches in height and made a forest of little ice trees. Upon close inspection, you can see the exquisite patterns of the way water vapor freezes, similar to snowflake architecture but with vertically oriented flat blades . Once again, I am blown away with the creativity of water to produce such amazing beauty overnight, simply using moist air, freezing temperatures, and a base layer of snow!