A side effect of having the temperatures vary between 10 and 60 degrees Fahrenheit within days is that one can admire interesting ice formations while hiking in pleasantly warm weather.
What we see here are thin layers of ice over shallow running water, in some of the little creeks that flow through Yellowwood State Forest.
Rocks make for quicker thawing, and the hickory leaves from last fall adapt by becoming translucent.
Near hexagonal patterns like this one occur often in nature when homogeneous material breaks under uniform pressure. It’s the first time I have seen this with ice, and I would love to see how it forms in a time lapse movie.
Another one, at a different location.
The Inner Frame 