Kaaterskill High Peak from Dibble’s Quarry
Along the Pecoy Notch Trail on the way to Pecoy Notch just east of Sugarloaf Mountain in the Catskills. Kaaterskill High Peak is on the skyline.

Dibble’s Quarry was mined for sidewalk slate used in New York City but over the years that it’s been part of a state park people have built a menagerie of cairns, chairs, tables, and fortresses out of the slate.

Beaver dam and pond below Pecoy Notch
This beaver pond and dam sits next to the Pecoy Notch Trail. Behind the dam and pond you can see Pecoy Notch and Sugarloaf Mountain, one of the Catskills. The Devil’s Path runs along the skyline here, it’s a spectacular hike that Dave and I have done. Today we just went up to the notch using micro spikes.

This beaver pond is active and there are fresh tree stumps where the beavers have taken wood for the dam and for food.

Stream coming out of Pecoy Notch
This stream is part of the drainage from Twin and Sugarloaf Mountains and Pecoy Notch.

Race Brook, Southwestern Massachusetts. More ice formations from our hike up Race Brook Falls and Mt. Race. This one’s got a lot of small detail which I’m delighted the point and shoot camera picked up.

Race Brook Falls, Massachusetts. On the way down from Mt. Race Loren and I noticed a great reflection in the new ice on Race Brook. To the left in this frame the brook makes a small drop over some rocks making ripples that are freezing in this pool. I’m beginning to see how these wonderful ice patterns form and it’s going to help me look for spots where I can shoot more.

Schaghticoke Ridge, Appalachian Trail, Kent, Connecticut. This is one of our favorite hikes in the area, from Bull’s Bridge to Kent on the AT. Near the New York/Connecticut border we crossed a little stream that had some nice ice on it. Had to stop and see if I could capture some patterns.

Dave, Bill and I took a hike up to the Pinnacle overlooking Lake Waramaug in the Macricostas Preserve yesterday. The ice on Bee Brook was stunning where the stream braided and the flow of the water was disrupted. Had it not been in the 20′s (F) we’d have hung out longer looking for more patterns but cold hands and Christmas eve pulled us away.

Mt. Everett Reservation, Massachusetts. We hiked up Everett and then around Guilder Pond and I caught Dave out on a cliff shooting an island in the pond. Everett isn’t a hard hike although it’s the second highest point in Massachusetts. Guilder Pond is a jewell that makes the entire hike worthwhile. In July the mountain laurel around this pond is mind-blowing.

While hiking up Bear Mountain today we stopped a few times to take pictures of ice. As someone with Raynaud’s syndrome (cold hands from a faulty thermostat) it’s tough to take gloves off and take pictures on cold days. A solution for me is carrying hand warmers and more serious mittens for the times I get in trouble. I used both today and the problem abated quickly and we had a great hike.

Fantastic series of landscape photographs.

[via Steve Splonskowski]

North of Great Barrington, MA. We almost always stop at this pond on our way up to to Mt. Greylock and back in October we caught a sunrise on it. Combined with the fall colors it was quite an amazing morning of photography.

My flickr contact Julian has posted a spectacular monochrome landscape.