Winter is slowly easing toward spring in my valley. The red-winged blackbirds have returned, early harbingers of changing seasons. I heard Canada geese honking as they flew above the forest yesterday. Soon the sandhill cranes will arrive. The snow, while still thick on the ground, is ever-so-slowly melting, reducing, disappearing. I always miss the snow once it’s gone, but spring’s early wildflowers and the arrival of migrating birds quickly distract me.
To usher winter on its way, here’s the last installment (for this year) of fences in winter.
Warming temperatures expose a small creek from its snowy cover as it runs under a fence. February 18, 2019.Layers of white and blue. March 3, 2018.A tangle of fences and gates in snow on New Years Eve day 2018.Late winter, when the snow crusts firm enough to hold a dog’s weight. March 3, 2019.Intersections. February 7, 2020.A frosty mesh gate. February 12, 2017.Fog’s gift: thick frost on everything. January 10, 2016.Morning fog leaving its frosty marks on a fence, Christmas Day 2019.A magical confluence of frost, snow, clouds, trees and fences. January 15, 2019.
Feature image: Conall emerging from the snow berm in front of a split rail fence on a foggy winter morning, Valentine’s Day 2019.
I delight in exploring the national forest near my Idaho home on foot, whether trail running, hiking, or xc skiing, with my two dogs by my side, taking photos of nature and wildlife. An author and freelance writer, I love observing and writing about the natural world, and dogs, and am a long-time contributing editor at Bark magazine. I used to practice law for a living. I much prefer the writing life.
View all posts by Rebecca Wallick
29 thoughts on “Fences VI”
Beautiful. I especially like (love) the final photo.
I’m always sorry to see winter go. Spring is completely unforeseeable. Summer is short here and everything — horseflies, birds, humans — go rushing at it full tilt like there’s a gun at their backs. In May the Texans start arriving in the RVS. The middle of July is the Stampede — and the joke here is that’s the beginning of summer. The first weekend in September is the Potato Festival and you can feel the change. Harvest is on. The Texans are gone. The streets are quiet. There’s lots of work from September to November, but the scary months of uncertainty about water and other possible problems are over. Everything is a known quantity by then. Our trees start turning in August. Worn out from the pressure of summer. In October Bear starts asking if it’s really starting to get good again. ❤ And it is.
Thank you! Yes, I got lucky with that last one (and it’s sibling, which is the current header photo on my site). Just happened to drive by on a very cold, frosty morning when the mundane turned stunning. When I slammed on the brakes and jumped out of the car to take photos, the boys were confused 🙂
You’ve hit on the challenge of living in a small town reliant on tourism. The influx of outsiders who treat the area like Disneyland. Here’s it’s year-round, with ski resorts and snowmobiling drawing them in winter, then the usual summer stuff of a mountain town (golf, hiking, mountain biking, rafting, boating) from Memorial Day through Labor Day with tons of events and live music all summer, especially on holidays. The town of 5,000 can balloon to 20,000 on a summer holiday weekend. We locals stay out of town on holidays; too crazy. And once that calms down after Labor Day, it’s killing season. Always something. But beats city life any day.
Same exact calendar here. The most beautiful season for hiking is also hunting season with its complicated calendar of this kind of gun but not that kind of gun or no guns at all, just bow-hunting.
Not bad at all. It’s just that I live on a US highway and in May they (you?) start arriving driving immense motorhomes or pick-ups pulling fifth wheels and/or trailers to live in for 3 months. My street changes completely for 3 months from a quiet street to a thoroughfare.
But as PEOPLE the Texans are great. They bring money to my impoverished valley and they truly love it here. Nothing bad at all. ❤
They get a bad rep here in Idaho, as do Californians (mostly second home owners, not full time residents). Not sure why, other than they’re “outsiders” and most of the “newcomers” buying up homes come from those two states.
Same here. I think it’s because they can spend more on a home than local people can — at least that’s the story here. It’s impossible for locals to buy a house in South Fork but rich retirees from Denver and Texas can buy McMansions. In a way, it is turning beautiful natural places into areas only for the rich. Naturally, some people resent it. There are whole TOWNS up in the mountains west of here that are only populated in summer.
But there’s a kind of linguistic pandering up there. When people greet me with “Y’all” I wince. What happened to “howdy” for the love of god? 😉
As for Californians? I kind of am one after 30 years there. When I moved here, people thought I had money because I’d come from CA. It was a rough first couple of years… Actually, it’s only been in the last year that I’ve been “accepted.” Still, I never experienced hostility more aggressive than I did when I was driving around San Diego and still had my Colorado plates.
Wow, you have such a varied ensemble of captures going on here! One more beautiful than the next. And it’s odd to think we are close to the end of winter at this point. It doesn’t seem so, but I say the same thing every year, so there’s that.
Thanks! Snow forces me to spend more time in the valley, on roads lined by fences, so my eye is naturally drawn to them. As the snow melts and I gain more access to the forest, no more fences, but lots of wildflowers instead. Be prepared for the switch in focus… 😉
Thank you! Me, too; that spot offers some of the best morning-sun-breaking-through-fog-and-trees shots in the valley.
Hope you get a dry spell ’til your leaky roof can be repaired. Don’t know how you survive the drip, drip, drip…!
I really like the 2nd from last with those tall trees, the sun and the moody mist. Very atmospheric. With the fence in the foreground I feel like I am actually there!
Me, too; I’ve always liked scenes where something – trees, buildings, boats, people – are partially obscured by fog. So mysterious, or as you say, atmospheric!
As usual, all very nice. It’s starting to look like we’re going to get through the season without a single snowstorm. We got a glazing of ice one time, but that’s it. Temps are hitting 50 everyday. Kind of miss it, kind of don’t.
Thanks, Jeff.
No snow, all winter? Wow. Well, maybe next year….
I’m already missing winter. This morning, the first and last tenth of a mile of our forest run was on mud, the snow having melted off the road to the parking lot in the past couple of days. There are muddy paw prints on my floors. I really don’t like mud season.
And the fences still stand so beautifully ~through ice, fig, snow,…your pictures are glorious. When I was a young girl I experienced beautiful snowfalls in SW MO. It seemed they were something to count on. Since the ice storm of ‘07-08 we could expect more glazes than fluffy inches. Here in Branson, as I prepare to go back into RV for workkamping, I hear and see the robins~and in a drive to St. Louis recently squinted our 2 flocks of geese headed North. Summer will bring flocks of tourists here. There will be many families enjoying smiles and memories. And I long for the mountains less traveled. My oldest son is in Alaska, but met his wife in Mountain Home, Idaho, while stationed there for nearly 6 years. I’ve always loved the West. My youngest and his wife just moved from Montana to Washington yesterday. Missouri is in their rear view mirror. As they journey on, and my grand kids frolic and thrive in those areas, I will be planning a journey to settle in your “neck of the woods”….and find fences. 💚
Thank you! Too bad your winters are more ice than snow now. Ice I can do without.
There’s much to see and love in the PNW/West. Nice that your kids settled in Alaska/Montana/Washington, all beautiful places. Although Alaska will be a bit of a drive for you! I’m sure you’ll enjoy exploring in your RV!
Wild Sensibility 
Beautiful. I especially like (love) the final photo.
I’m always sorry to see winter go. Spring is completely unforeseeable. Summer is short here and everything — horseflies, birds, humans — go rushing at it full tilt like there’s a gun at their backs. In May the Texans start arriving in the RVS. The middle of July is the Stampede — and the joke here is that’s the beginning of summer. The first weekend in September is the Potato Festival and you can feel the change. Harvest is on. The Texans are gone. The streets are quiet. There’s lots of work from September to November, but the scary months of uncertainty about water and other possible problems are over. Everything is a known quantity by then. Our trees start turning in August. Worn out from the pressure of summer. In October Bear starts asking if it’s really starting to get good again. ❤ And it is.
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Thank you! Yes, I got lucky with that last one (and it’s sibling, which is the current header photo on my site). Just happened to drive by on a very cold, frosty morning when the mundane turned stunning. When I slammed on the brakes and jumped out of the car to take photos, the boys were confused 🙂
You’ve hit on the challenge of living in a small town reliant on tourism. The influx of outsiders who treat the area like Disneyland. Here’s it’s year-round, with ski resorts and snowmobiling drawing them in winter, then the usual summer stuff of a mountain town (golf, hiking, mountain biking, rafting, boating) from Memorial Day through Labor Day with tons of events and live music all summer, especially on holidays. The town of 5,000 can balloon to 20,000 on a summer holiday weekend. We locals stay out of town on holidays; too crazy. And once that calms down after Labor Day, it’s killing season. Always something. But beats city life any day.
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Same exact calendar here. The most beautiful season for hiking is also hunting season with its complicated calendar of this kind of gun but not that kind of gun or no guns at all, just bow-hunting.
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Are the Texans that bad? Just wondering as a native Texan myself.
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Not bad at all. It’s just that I live on a US highway and in May they (you?) start arriving driving immense motorhomes or pick-ups pulling fifth wheels and/or trailers to live in for 3 months. My street changes completely for 3 months from a quiet street to a thoroughfare.
But as PEOPLE the Texans are great. They bring money to my impoverished valley and they truly love it here. Nothing bad at all. ❤
LikeLiked by 2 people
They get a bad rep here in Idaho, as do Californians (mostly second home owners, not full time residents). Not sure why, other than they’re “outsiders” and most of the “newcomers” buying up homes come from those two states.
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P.S. My aunt and uncle from Montan used to winter in Texas so I guess it’s kind of tit for tat! 🙂
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Same here. I think it’s because they can spend more on a home than local people can — at least that’s the story here. It’s impossible for locals to buy a house in South Fork but rich retirees from Denver and Texas can buy McMansions. In a way, it is turning beautiful natural places into areas only for the rich. Naturally, some people resent it. There are whole TOWNS up in the mountains west of here that are only populated in summer.
But there’s a kind of linguistic pandering up there. When people greet me with “Y’all” I wince. What happened to “howdy” for the love of god? 😉
As for Californians? I kind of am one after 30 years there. When I moved here, people thought I had money because I’d come from CA. It was a rough first couple of years… Actually, it’s only been in the last year that I’ve been “accepted.” Still, I never experienced hostility more aggressive than I did when I was driving around San Diego and still had my Colorado plates.
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Wow, you have such a varied ensemble of captures going on here! One more beautiful than the next. And it’s odd to think we are close to the end of winter at this point. It doesn’t seem so, but I say the same thing every year, so there’s that.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks! Snow forces me to spend more time in the valley, on roads lined by fences, so my eye is naturally drawn to them. As the snow melts and I gain more access to the forest, no more fences, but lots of wildflowers instead. Be prepared for the switch in focus… 😉
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I love it all. 🙂
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Beautiful! I love the foggy shot with 3 trees….
We’re still cold and windy, but what little snow we had melted after a few warm days.
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Thank you! Me, too; that spot offers some of the best morning-sun-breaking-through-fog-and-trees shots in the valley.
Hope you get a dry spell ’til your leaky roof can be repaired. Don’t know how you survive the drip, drip, drip…!
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Thankfully it only drips during heavy rain storms and we haven’t had many of those… yet.
🙄
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I really like the 2nd from last with those tall trees, the sun and the moody mist. Very atmospheric. With the fence in the foreground I feel like I am actually there!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Me, too; I’ve always liked scenes where something – trees, buildings, boats, people – are partially obscured by fog. So mysterious, or as you say, atmospheric!
LikeLiked by 1 person
As usual, all very nice. It’s starting to look like we’re going to get through the season without a single snowstorm. We got a glazing of ice one time, but that’s it. Temps are hitting 50 everyday. Kind of miss it, kind of don’t.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks, Jeff.
No snow, all winter? Wow. Well, maybe next year….
I’m already missing winter. This morning, the first and last tenth of a mile of our forest run was on mud, the snow having melted off the road to the parking lot in the past couple of days. There are muddy paw prints on my floors. I really don’t like mud season.
LikeLiked by 1 person
And the fences still stand so beautifully ~through ice, fig, snow,…your pictures are glorious. When I was a young girl I experienced beautiful snowfalls in SW MO. It seemed they were something to count on. Since the ice storm of ‘07-08 we could expect more glazes than fluffy inches. Here in Branson, as I prepare to go back into RV for workkamping, I hear and see the robins~and in a drive to St. Louis recently squinted our 2 flocks of geese headed North. Summer will bring flocks of tourists here. There will be many families enjoying smiles and memories. And I long for the mountains less traveled. My oldest son is in Alaska, but met his wife in Mountain Home, Idaho, while stationed there for nearly 6 years. I’ve always loved the West. My youngest and his wife just moved from Montana to Washington yesterday. Missouri is in their rear view mirror. As they journey on, and my grand kids frolic and thrive in those areas, I will be planning a journey to settle in your “neck of the woods”….and find fences. 💚
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Thank you! Too bad your winters are more ice than snow now. Ice I can do without.
There’s much to see and love in the PNW/West. Nice that your kids settled in Alaska/Montana/Washington, all beautiful places. Although Alaska will be a bit of a drive for you! I’m sure you’ll enjoy exploring in your RV!
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Please pardon typos 🤦🏼♀️
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Of course!
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My favorite is the one where Connal is playing king of the mountain and Finn is like “Have fun with that. I’m not going up there.”
Hey, you haven’t stopped by the chat room yet. You should check it out. It’s the perfect place for introverts like us.
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Finn knows who has the weight advantage 🙂
Chat room: planning to! Soon!
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Another stunning ensemble. You have quite the eye!
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Thank you, Tom!
Looking forward to switching over the forest wildflower photos soon 🙂
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Such beautifully exquisite images!
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Thank you!!
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Wow – gorgeous pics! Love the morning fog one!
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