Calm And Cold Before The Storm: A Frigid Hike In The Susquehanna Wetlands.

Frigid arctic air arrived in Northeastern Pennsylvania on Friday night. It was  0 degrees when I woke up Saturday morning and a major snowstorm was predicted  for Sunday. I took  my usual 2 mile morning walk in the cold and wind  through my neighborhood in Hazle Township, Luzerne County.   This time, however, I walked a lot faster in frigid conditions. When I returned home I had a cup of coffee, and waited until I thawed  out before I decided  to drive to the Susquehanna Wetlands.

It was warmer when I arrived at the wetlands, a mild 4 degrees.  It felt even warmer since there was less wind at this lower elevation. But it was still frigid and I felt it.  I left my Jeep under mostly cloudy skies and walked along the frozen Water Fowl ponds near the entrance road. I was surprised, and glad, there wasn’t  much snow on the ground. I didn’t see or  hear a single  bird near the ponds.

The access road is gated for the Winter and it was about a 1/2 mile walk to the parking lot and trail head into the wetlands.  I often see some bird activity on the access road,  usually woodpeckers,  wrens or sparrows, but there wasn’t a  bird,or any  other critter stirring on  this frigid morning.         

At the parking lot I always walk down to the ancient and historic Susquehanna River.  I love this scenic river, one of the oldest on our planet, and have explored it from it’s source  at Ostego  Lake in New York to  it’s end in the Chesapeake Bay at Havre de Grace Maryland.   There was a lot of ice on the river, but in an unusual place. a large pack of ice in the middle of the river.           

I left the river and hiked into the wetlands.   The tall oak, maple and sumac trees  were bare, brown and unwelcoming under the cloudy skies. 

The woods  along the ice covered  canals and ponds were also mostly brown and gray.

 The  green garlic mustard and Dame’s  rocket leaves I have seen growing along the trail  were gone, finally frozen  by  the frigid weather.  

The only green on the trails  were the   princess pine or tree clubmoss. They looked like tiny Christmas trees.

Although, the  wildflowers of Spring, Summer and Fall are gone  there  was still some color and  beauty in the frozen wetlands, there were some shriveled red winterberries,

and blue green briar berries along the trail,

and  shriveled bracken fern,

deertongue grass and

Virginaia wild rye grass.   I know they don’t compare to the beauty of a trout lily, a duck flower, or a New England aster but they are beautiful in subtle way.

I walked along the frozen canals

and ponds in the wetlands,

and back down to the Susquehanna River. Here I saw more ice on the river,

and I flock of common mergansers swimming in the open water between the ice.

They quickly flew off when they saw me.

I walked along the river, where there was still some snow on the trail,

and took the  new trails in the old farm meadows and fields.     I thought I would see some bird activity here but there was nothing moving in the cold morning air.

There were still frozen black walnuts on the ground in meadows,

and dried cutleaf teasel flowers.

I had walked about two miles and my toes ,  fingers and face were frozen.   I decided to walk back, and as I walked along a frozen canal

I  saw a flock of dark eyed junco, or “snowbirds” foraging for seeds on the plants on the ice in the frozen canal.  These birds migrate from here from northern forest in the Winter.           

Watching the juncos I also saw few more of  our Winter resident birds, white throated sparrows,  looking for seeds on the icy canal.,

and a red bellied woodpecker,         

and a downy woodpecker  searching for dormant insects under the barks of trees. I heard tufted titmice and black-capped chickadees but I was to cold to stand around and try and photograph them.

I began my walk back to my Jeep under the  cloudy skies and  in the frigid temperature.

I saw a couple more critters, this gray squirrel scampering across the trail.

and this male northern cardinal perched in a tree.   I probably  could have photographed more of the Winter president birds that reside in the wetlands in the frigid weather. However, i was freezing. Unlike my long leisurely walks in the warmer months, where I can stop for a 1/2 to photograph a bird or insect. I was walking fast and looking forward to ending my hike and getting out of the single digit temperatures.  Here is a link to gallery on my blog web page with some more photographs of the birds I saw  on my hike. .   Susquehanna Wetlands birds January 24 2026. 

I walked through the wetlands again, past the frozen canals, 

and was glad to reach my Jeep and turn the heat on. It was a cold hike but I was glad there was no snow. According to the forecast I thought it might be the last snowless hike in the wetlands in quite a while. The forecast called for over a foot of snow on Sunday. And it was right. As I finish typing this I can see over 12 inches of snow on the ground out my window that arrived on Sunday. The temperature today, Tuesday was 5 degrees, and the predicated low are for below zero for the rest of the week.  It will not be a pleasant wherever I decide to hike this weekend, and I am counting the days until Spring, 53 days as I finish this blog. Here is a link to gallery on my blog web page with some more photographs from my hike in the frozen Susquehanna Wetlands.   Susquehanna Wetlands January 24 2026.

“Every mile is two in the winter.” George Herbert 

“Ice burns, and it is hard to the warm-skinned to distinguish one
sensation, fire, from the other, frost.”
― A.S. Byatt,

fskokoski@gmail.com

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