While hiking in Moran State Park on Orcas Island on a very cold morning last week, we encountered this bizarre wonder of nature:
It was a rotten stump covered with a lush coat of incredibly fine ice fur, maybe 2 inches long, that disintegrated when I touched it. I'd never seen anything like this. I'd seen plenty of hoar frost before, and the crunchy ice crystals that rise up from muddy ground when it freezes, but this stuff was much finer and longer than either of those. It turns out this this phenomenon is called ice hair, and results from just the right combination of mycelium fungus-covered wood and cold temperatures. Scientists have only recently worked out the mechanism that leads to this. It generally grows only at night and melts off in the daytime, so we happened upon this stump at just the right time.
Stump with a lush coat of ice fur
- vibramhead
- Posts: 810
- Joined: November 15th, 2009, 10:52 am
- Location: SW Portland
Re: Stump with a lush coat of ice fur
That has got to be the coolest ice formation I have ever seen. What luck to come across it at just the right time.
Re: Stump with a lush coat of ice fur
That is incredible.
Holy smokes
Holy smokes
- BurnsideBob
- Posts: 540
- Joined: May 6th, 2014, 3:15 pm
- Location: Mount Angel, Oregon
Re: Stump with a lush coat of ice fur
Wow!! Thanks for the explanation. My son Chris and I saw a couple less impressive examples at Silver Falls State Park Dec 30. Growing on rotting salmon berry canes.
Shoulda taken a photo!!
Shoulda taken a photo!!
I keep making protein shakes but they always turn out like margaritas.
Re: Stump with a lush coat of ice fur
Interesting! I've called these "frost flowers" before, but I like your cite/name much better. Seen them on the backside of the Cape Horn trail before, and just this last week they were all over the woods up at WSUV. (Looks like you've run into the group camp's "restroom" area when you stumble upon them.)
Karl
Back on the trail, again...
Back on the trail, again...