Frozen Falls

I decided to get out while it was warm and get some shots of the frozen world I live in!!  I had heard that Minnehaha Falls was frozen over and knew it would be a good place to start!  You might remember these falls from the first entry of my 365 project:

They looked much different today.


As I got out of my car and started walking to the falls, I noticed a wild turkey. I stopped to get a few shots, hoping that I didn't scare him away.  You can see people in the back ground were also snapping away.

I got a few shots because I wasn't sure when he was going to leave. 

Then I walked closer and he didn't budge so I got another picture.  He ended up just minding his own business as people walked right past him. He must have been hungry!

Then I got to the falls, there were a few people out, I mean it was a gorgeous day, it was 37 degrees I was in my light jacket, no gloves... it was almost like spring time!

But unlike springtime, the falls were definitely frozen.
I wanted to go down to the base to get some better pictures, but the stairs were closed for the season. I could see that this wasn't stopping people so I lugged my camera bag over my shoulder and my tripod strap over the other and thought I would venture down.  There was a guy couple in front of me, who I got to watch fall on their butts on the way down. They ended up just sliding down on their butts like it was a slide. I started to, but did not want to go as fast so I would slow myself by holding on to the railing. After two flights (and 4 more to go) I knew this wasn't going to work long because my butt was frozen through my jeans and my hands were getting cold from holding the metal rail. 

So I hoped over the little edge and found that walking down the hill in the snow (where there were other tracks) was much easier than sliding down the stairs. Although everyone behind me ended up sliding because of course that was more fun (but they also weren't carrying boo-koo dollars in camera gear! But I finally made it to the bottom and it was well worth it!

There was even a little bird drinking out of the open spots in the creek.

Going up was a little easier the other side wasn't complete ice and there was a little pathway of snow to the far left of the stairs that I could climb up. It almost felt like I was rock climbing because there were little grooves in the snow that I had to get my footing in before I stepped up to the next step. 

It was amazing how the frozen falls gave off this blue cast.

After the falls I headed over to get some shots of the frozen Mississippi river.. I'll get those up in my next post! 


Thanks for reading!