While walking the Piermont Marsh trail at Tallman Mountain State Park in Sparkill, New York a few Saturdays ago, it was starting to look like it had recently snowed.

Of course, that was highly unlikely, seeing as how the temps were in the low 90s ℉.

I was headed up in elevation to the Sawmill Picnic Area with its awesome vantage point from which to look down on the Hudson River.

This picnic area also provides a very nice view of both the old and new Tappan Zee bridges (the new one is currently under construction).

The old bridge is rusting away like a piece of junk and is being replaced with a state-of-the-art new bridge that is purported to be mostly maintenance-free for a period of about 100 years.

From the Piermont Marsh trail, you have to take about a 10-minute climb up a rather steep series of hand-placed stone steps which lead you up to the Sawmill Picnic Area.

About halfway along this wide dirt trail it really did start to look as though it had snowed. I wasn't sure what produced this cottony substance that could fool you from a distance.

It wasn't until getting back home that I decided to try and solve this mystery.

And what I've concluded is that this faux snow was courtesy of the mighty Eastern Cottonwood tree.

They can grow quite tall and they release their seeds in a fluffy white mixture in late Spring. One of the functions of this seed and fibrous mixture is to enhance the successful distribution of the seeds as they are carried to destinations unknown by the wind.

While I was unaware at the time and, thus, didn't capture any images of a cottonwood tree as proof of its existence in the park, here are a few links that lend credence to my claim: