On Sunday, the sun was shining and the temps were above freezing.  Not that these things are necessary, but they encourage outdoor activity this time of year.  We went for a hike in the state park and decided to challenge ourselves by climbing down a ravine to the creek bed.

Normally this time of year, that would be impossible, due to heavy snow.  Bu this year, the creek isn't even frozen - as you can see above.  The creek isn't even swelling from run-off.

An odd winter, indeed.

Although in the shadowy recessed of the hill side, you can see ice formations from the ground water escaping.

The second picture should give a bit of perspective - the side of the ravine is probably about 30ft down to the creek bed, not horribly steep, but you wouldn't want to just fling yourself down the side.  As we were exploring and photographing, a man yelled down to us asking how we got down there.  Not sure what he expected for an answer but he didn't have much of a reply for, "Uh... we climbed down?"

I was going to say, "We jumped, and the landing was soft. Give it a try!"  But I'm sure if he survived it, I would have gotten sued.