Cool Water Sycamores #09311

The Story

Sycamore trees in snow line the banks of a small stream. Blue skies above and cool late afternoon blue shadows all around add to the winter freshness of this scene, and it certainly was all that. The snow has mounded on the stream rocks, making the larger ones into small Arctic islands and smaller ones into white toboggan hats. Thin ice has formed on the slower-moving parts of the water. In this quiet park with only the sound of trickling water, this winter landscape was ideal for some calming personal serenity.

Although it looks like I was standing in the stream to take this picture, there was a very low bridge to walk out onto. It was the height of crisp winter freshness and cold weather beauty that day and not one for getting the feet wet!

Sycamore trees line many watercourses and it’s easy to find a stream from a distance by looking for their white limbs high in the air. They like their feet in the water the best, as seen here and unlike myself, but they can be happy anywhere wet or damp. These trees have been known to seed in and grow right over small springs. Sycamore trees seed readily along streams and rivers by dropping hundreds of small urchin-like seedpods that float away downstream.

As part of their natural process, sycamore trees bark peels away in large brown strips all through the summer months. That lets the white show underneath, making sycamores rather easy to identify. By the end of the year, most of the tree higher up is pure white through the dead of winter, which can be quite a sight in the winter sun.

Location: Mingo Creek County Park, near Finleyville, rural Washington County, Pennsylvania.