Owl Canyon Ice

Frigid Canyon

Owl Canyon is not often on my short list of canyons to visit while at Starved Rock State Park, but that may change. Over the years, I've forgotten about this relatively small canyon, and only passed over the top of it to hike to other more "interesting" canyons.

On this trip, I decided to take a quick look into the Owl Canyon while I waited for others to climb down the dozens of stairs. I was pleasantly surprised to see a rather large formation of ice clinging to the rim of the canyon.

Icy Owl Canyon

Only a few of the canyons here have ice formations that allow you to walk easily and completely behind them, and this is one of them.  While the ice fall isn't wide and thin, creating an ice cave, it's still a unique perspective to view the ice "stalactite and stalagmite."

As a matter of fact, we visited this canyon twice that day, once on the way in and once on the way out. The second time, the canyon floor was filling up with water from the melting snow, making it a bit more difficult to reach the frozen waterfall, but not as difficult as some of the other canyons that afternoon.  Some were impassible with rapid water flowing across the trails.

Owl Canyon Ice

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