This is what you see a lot of on the back roads in early spring. Things like this mean DANGER! Watch out for frost heaves. Frost heaves happen when the ground beneath the pavement freezes and thaws repeatedly, causing bumps or dips that can send you airborne or make your car hit bottom. One year I had rock hard buildup ice and stuff on the frame of my car so I hit every frost heave I came upon as fast as I could, trying to knock off the stuff on my car. It worked for a couple of them but I had to wait until a good thaw for the others.
Here's an excerpt from Wikipedia:
In Arctic regions, frost heaving for hundreds of years can create structures, known as pingos, as high as 60 metres. Frost heaving is also responsible for creating stones in unique shapes such as circles, polygons and stripes. A notable example is the remarkably circular stones of the islands of Spitsbergen.
All I know is that we love frost heaves around here because that means that yes, spring is coming and the frost is starting to go out of the ground. Sometimes they are marked by big skinny sticks (like walking sticks) with orange flags tied to the ends. That makes me laugh: North Country high tech.
Doesn't Pingo sound like a good name for a pet?
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