We headed North as the forecast called for snow. I was hoping to make it back before the snow started, not wanting to drive down the mountain along the "edge of the world" part on slippery roads. We had received about an inch of snow the night before and there was a pretty dusting on the ground and evergreen trees. The temp was just below freezing and it was slightly foggy. As we made our way up the mountain, the amount of ice on the trees increased until we were in a world of white with amazing thorn-like ice crystals covering everything, turning even the deer carcass into something beautiful.
As we continued down the road, dropping slightly in elevation, the magical land of ice disappeared. We checked out the beaver lodge and walked on the boardwalk.
The Tundra Swans will show up in the next month, but for now, it was just ice and silence.
When I looked up more about the ice at home, I discovered that what we saw was rime ice. This article about rime ice and hoar frost is really interesting.