Spring Creek: Reflections of a Covered Bridge

Friday was another one of those ultra-chilly mornings we sometimes get this time of year. The temperature on our front porch was 2 degrees F (around minus 17 C) when I got up. And you can guess what was on my mind: was there hoar frost, or frost mist rising, somewhere?

So I drove in to work along Spring Creek and checked out a few of my usual haunts. It had been quite windy overnight and there wasn't any hoar frost. There was, however, mist over the water, but just a bit of it, nothing dramatic. I wondered how things looked these days at Spring Creek Park, so I stopped for 15 minutes to check it out.

It has been very cold in central Pennsylvania, and it promises to get even colder this weekend, with record-breaking lows possible Sunday into Monday. The surface of Spring Creek has been trying to freeze. In some spots, the surface was already a third to a half frozen over. There was still enough open water to give me some nice reflections in the morning sun, which provided light, but little heat.

Now, you may not believe it, but I once spotted a mermaid in these parts. She was sunning herself on a nearby rock. But it's no weather for mermaids today. And on past visits, I have sometimes waded into the creek in my bare feet, or in my trusty Crocs, to take pictures. But I think if I had to cross the creek on this day, I might just be persuaded to use the bridge instead. . . .

The song to accompany this photo of the covered bridge at Spring Creek is one of my favorite songs about a bridge: Simon and Garfunkel, with Bridge over Troubled Waters. Here are two versions: one from 1969, and the other from the Concert in Central Park, in 1981.