Tonti Canyon Freeze

Tonti Canyon in Winter
Starved Rock's Tonti Canyon has two waterfalls, and both usually freeze into dramatic ice formations. This season's first freeze began the icing, but the relatively warm weather of this day took a toll on the ice. The large hanging ice already fell from the canyon walls, leaving only piles of ice on the canyon floor, and the frozen mounds formed like stalagmites.

Fallen Ice in Tonti Canyon

The large chunks of ice weigh hundreds of pounds, so when they fall, they can do plenty of damage to anything underneath.  When visiting the frozen waterfalls, never walk under them - ever.

Tonti Canyon Freeze

The melting ice freezes once it lands on the ground, and in some cases, the canyon floor is glazed with shiny, slippery ice.

Tonti Canyon is a blind canyon, meaning it's a dead end, and only open on one end. Walking to the end of the canyon, one can climb onto the debris pile for a bird's eye view of the entire canyon.

End of the Canyon

2 comments:

Mikey said...

What date was this taken? Ice climbing purposes

Tom Gill said...

This was taken on December 22, 2016. My guess is that all or most of this ice has melted by now. However, it's going to be cold this week, so it may build up once again.