This is what happens when there's lots of ice all trying to leave the area all at once

This morning I read a post by a weather page I follow on Facebook that there was an ice jam on the Delaware River up by Trenton, some roads were closed, and to anticipate flooding. I was about 30 minutes away, had all my camera gear with me, and decided to head up and see what it looked like. I was coming from Camden, NJ.

This actually wasn't my first stop for pictures of the ice, but then again, my first photos didn't really give a proper impression of just how much ice there was and how big this jam was. This is looking back at the Lower Trenton Bridge (or the Trenton Makes Bridge) but if you're from the area or have driven by at night, you'll know this as the bridge that lights up at night and says, "Trenton Makes The World Takes." Everything in white is ice - giant chunks, sheets, and pieces of ice just all smashed up against each other.

This shot is basically a 180 degree panorama on the Trenton Makes Bridge. That's the Delaware River underneath all that ice and against expectations, it was actually pretty quiet, If you've ever been on a lake that has frozen, you might hear those weird pings and warbles of the ice moving and cracking ever so slightly. Not so much with this because for the most part, the ice is already smashed together, but if you're near an area where the water is running through and carrying ice with it, when the ice collides together, it does make a pretty cool crunching sound.

Now as cool as the ice was, the best part happened was when I decided to keep going up river to see what the ice looked like farther up, because I came across this awesome beaver!

I had parked at a recreation area along the river to take shots of a train trestle that crossed the Delaware up in Yardley, PA. I hiked down to the water's edge and as I was setting up my tripod, I looked over and this guy was just sitting at the edge of the water, watching me. I was worried that if I moved, he would just jump in the water buuuuut luckily, the water where we were was all frozen, so he really couldn't just jump in. Instead, he just stayed there for like 45 minutes as I shot him, and the river and bridge as I had originally intended. In the end, he became the main focus.

I have never seen a beaver this close in the wild. I've probably driven by them on the side of the road and such, or confused one for a muskrat (which I also saw floating by on a piece of ice), but at one point, I was within reaching distance and he just was completely chill. It was almost like he was mugging for the camera sometimes, as he could reach his little arm onto his back to scratch while using his leg to also scratch. This thing was bigger than all of our cats, and maybe half the size of our 65lb pitbull. Much bigger than I expected.

Of all the shots I took of him, and I took a ton, this was my favorite shot. The tail was so cool looking, and it almost looks textured, like a fish's scales, though I understand it's more leathery and hard than that. He's just so freakin' cute here and I wanted to post cell phone pics to the community here while I was out there shooting this morning asking what we would call this thing (River Flap-Flap, TinyBear, Beaver - Son of Gloin?) but I knew those pictures wouldn't have done it any justice like what my camera caught.

Hope you enjoy.