vaneramos | Dec. 19th, 2003

Yesterday while returning across Victoria Road bridge, I noticed a movement in the distance upstream. The bridge is heavily travelled, but I waited for a break in the traffic and crossed to get a better look. I glimpsed a small brown shape crawl onto the edge of an ice shelf. Just having visited the lodge, I first thought beaver, but this was smaller and more agile, most likely a muskrat. By the time I reached the guardrail it has disappeared underwater.

Standing there I heard the sound of falling water, and looked down to see it pouring from a drain over the edge of the limestone cliff, forming a fantastic ice palace below. I wouldn't have heard or seen it on the far side of the bridge had it not been for the muskrat. It was so beautiful I had to retrace my steps and half-clamber, half-slide down a break in the cliff to approach the waterfall from below and take pictures.

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