A Week in Colorado

I spent last week in Colorado, both for work and play. Over the years, the number of people that I am close to, both family and friends, who live in the Denver/Boulder area seems to have grown somewhat exponentially. I flew out a few days before my conference so I could spend time with several of them. I met up with my brother Friday afternoon and we drove up to Roxborough State Park. Roxborough's claim to fame is the upright rocks of the Fountain Formation, a sandstone formed around 300 million years ago during the Pennsylvanian Period. This formation also forms the Flatirons in Boulder, Colorado, and Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs.

We didn't have a lot of time to explore because the park closes at 5 p.m. in the winter, but we were able to walk around for about 45 minutes. That was enough to get a few nice views.  

This is looking east from the trail. There is a 12-point Mule Deer Buck in the center of the photo. Unfortunately, I only had my small camera with me, so I couldn't get a good picture of him.

On Saturday, my brother and I went hiking in Castelwood Canyon State Park. The park includes ruins of Castelwood Canyon Dam, which failed in 1933. The canyon itself is a pretty jumble of boulders and a clear, babbling creek.

 Looking down towards the canyon.

 Aspens along the canyon trail.

 Dried Oak leaves.

This boulder is interesting because it fell off of the cliffs above (as a side note, those are full-size trees around it). Then the lake formed by Castlewood Canyon Dam deposited sediment around it, partially burying it. Once the dam failed, the creek eroded the sediments away on one side of it, leaving it as it is today.

I spent Saturday night with my friend from Tangled Up in Denver and her family. Then, on Sunday, I visited friends who moved to the Denver area from DC. We took a drive up towards Mt. Evans Sunday evening. 

The road was mostly clear. As we were driving up, we did see a snowplow on its way down. 

Echo Lake, which, according to Wikipedia, is at 10,600 feet. It was cold. And beautiful. We turned around at Echo Lake because it was getting cold and headed back to Idaho Springs for dinner. We ate at Tommyknocker Brewery, which clearly survives on the quality of its beer rather than that of its food. On Monday, I met up with my coworkers and began a week of a conference, meetings, and good restaurants in Denver. I had a great time, especially seeing my brother and friends and exploring, but I'm glad to be home.

Old Rag Mountain Stewards Final 2013 Weekend

Michael and I spent the weekend out with Old Rag Mountain Stewards, doing our normal trail patrol and having a little fun, too. Saturday's group of volunteers met up at the Berry Hollow parking lot and got the very last three spaces there. The volunteers who stopped at the fee station to pick up a backcountry permit spoke of flying monkeys, crazy large groups, and full parking lots on the other side of the mountain. This is what passes for a normal fall Saturday on Old Rag.

The mountain was just as crowded as was observed in the parking lot. After setting up camp, we walked up the Saddle Trail. Multiple groups of 20 or more people passed us on their way down. The summit was pandemonium. There was a dull roar from all of the people talking over the wind. We picked up trash in the area, which was a little maddening. There is a small ravine that leads off of the north side of the summit that, I swear, had nearly as much trash as a back alley in downtown Washington, DC. Some of it, like the energy bar wrappers, probably just blew there, but the water bottles and bricks, yes, bricks, were almost certainly thrown. Around an hour before sunset, we started asking people if they had lights for the walk down (which takes most people 2-2.5 hours). Some do, many don't. Did I mention the guy in a union suit? At this point, anyone who goes into the woods to get away from people is probably crossing Old Rag off of their list of hikes they want to do. I don't blame you. Fall Saturdays are Old Rag at its worst and most crowded. 

But, Old Rag is beautiful and amazing in the fall, too. At some point, the crowd thinned and I realized the dull roar was just wind. I wandered around taking pictures, watching the ravens play on the wind, and enjoying what was left of the fall colors. As the sun dropped below the horizon, we headed down to Old Rag Shelter. The six of us camping out had a nice cookout at the shelter. We shared the fire with another group camping nearby. That night, all of us listened to the wind scream above us, happy to be camping below it.

Sunday couldn't have been more different than the day before for Old Rag Mountain Stewards. Like Saturday morning, we hiked up the Saddle Trail, but there we turned off on a climbers path and bushwhacked to a completely different adventure. We repeated an ascent that we had done three years ago. We spent the whole day making our way up slabs on the west face of the mountain, an area that few people other than a handful of climbers ever see. This year it was cold and crazy windy. Three years ago, we hung out on the last slab waiting for the rappel rope to be set. This year, those of us who arrived on that slab first tucked ourselves into a nook to get out of the wind. The sun was nearly set by the time we reached the Saddle Trail and our group had spent the day on the busiest mountain in the mid-Atlantic in solitude. A great end to another season with Old Rag Mountain Stewards.

Pictures:

The view down below the Ravine of Trash. The wind took care of a lot of the leaves this weekend.

I'm not sure why anyone would haul bricks up the mountain, but throwing them into a ravine off of the summit makes even less sense. This was just one of more than a dozen.

Did I mention the guy in the union suit? It turns out that he did have pants with him. He just stripped down to his long johns on the summit. Whatever floats his boat.

Fall colors from the summit.

One of my favorite things about fall on Old Rag is watching the ravens play on the wind near sunset. There was plenty of wind for them this weekend. They are hard to photograph clearly, but once in a while I get a few good shots.

Another raven riding a thermal.

This group of ravens were diving and soaring south of the summit.

The spot where I always take a photo. Three weeks ago, there were many more leaves on the trees. Winter has arrived at the summit.

The shadow of Old Rag in the valley.

As we got ready to leave the summit, I happened to look down the Saddle Trail and, just for a minute, all of the trees were bathed in red light from the sunset. A few seconds after I took this picture, it was all gone.

 We spent Sunday coming up the mountain the hard way: on ropes. We didn't really climb so much as use the ropes to assist walking up steep slabs and as safety lines. I didn't get many pictures, but this one is at the top of the ascent.

Sunset from a boulder in the ravine we climbed to get back to the trail. 

Tuckahoe State Park: Peak Leaf Colors

Tuckahoe State Park is located near Maryland's Eastern Shore, out on the DelMarVa peninsula. Neither Michael nor I felt like driving very far today, so we decided to check it out. It isn't a very big park, but the trails connect to make a 9.4 mile loop, which is further than I've hiked one day since January. Although it was very windy where we parked, the trails were tucked into a small somewhat protected valley, so we didn't get too much of it. Out of the wind, it was a very pleasant day to be out.

The leaves were at their peak today. This is the Tuckahoe Valley Trail.

Piney Branch

Leaves on Piney Branch.

Michael on the bridge over Piney Branch. Although Tuckahoe State Park is in a relatively wet, coastal area, the trails were pretty dry. The soil is very sandy and well-drained. Most of the wetter spots were bridged or had bog boards.

There was a lot of evidence of people who lived here before it was a park. This pile of metal is actually an old bicycle. The front fork, rim, and fenders are visible.

I'm not sure why people have piled bits of glass, pottery, feathers, and small rocks at the base of this tree, but it was neatly done.

A Sweet Gum leaf in the sun.

Eyonymous americanus (Strawberry Bush). These little pink fruit are about the size of a quarter and are growing on a low shrub. I'm not sure what they are. Thanks to David for identifying them for me.

Symphiotrichum racemosum (Small White Asters). These are probably the last flowers to bloom in the area for the year.

Oak leaves in the sun.

I walked right by this Black Rat Snake, but Michael noticed it lying right beside the trail. It wasn't especially big - maybe three feet long.

Old Rag: Turning Leaves, Ice, and a Rescue

At the last minute, Michael and I decided to go to Old Rag yesterday for a day with Old Rag Mountain Stewards. Another volunteer had put together a geology talk about the mountain and we thought it would be interesting to hear it. By the time we arrived, the large parking lot was full and the neighbor's pasture was about half full (to the tune of $10 per car).

Like last week, we hiked up the fire road first to avoid the crowds. The leaves don't seem to have reached peak colors yet - there is still a lot of green in the valleys, but they also don't seem like they are as bright this year as they were last year.

We stopped for lunch on a boulder along the Saddle Trail and found a leaf with two of these little guys. This is some type of caterpillar, but it is the first time I've ever seen one. so I am not sure what it is. As usual, if anyone has any ideas, send them my way. Thanks to Bob Look for identifying this as Isa textula (Crowned Slug Caterpillar), which turns into the Crowned Slug Moth.

The first hoar frost of the year, pushing up from a bed of moss on the upper Saddle Trail. Nearby, there is also a seep right on the trail that ices over around this time of year. What was damp last week was icy this week. Sunlight almost never hits it and the wind tends to blow there most of the time. Once it ices over, it will often be frozen until March or April.

Ice in one of the many potholes on the summit.

 Looking south from the summit of Old Rag.

The boulder scramble below the summit. I took a similar photo last week and the leaves don't appear to have gotten any brighter. Most of the trees higher up on the mountains are bare.

We were just about to head down the Ridge Trail and listen to a geology lesson, when we received a call for an injured hiker. We spent the rest of the afternoon and most of the evening working with the National Park Service and the Shenandoah Mountain Rescue Group to get the patient safely to transport. This is a shot of the summit right at dusk from the Saddle Trail. We had stopped to take a quick break at a spot I have hiked by a thousand times before without really looking up. As I was looking around, I realized I had a clear view of the summit and just enough time to get my camera out.

Old Rag: Back Open for Business

After seventeen days' respite during one of the busiest times of the year, Old Rag - and the rest of the National Park System - is back open for business. I expected that this past weekend, normally one of the busiest of the whole year, would be absolutely insane. I figured that everyone who had wanted to hike the mountain over the past two weekends would be out. I don't know what Saturday was like, other than hearing reports that it was pretty busy, but yesterday was surprisingly quiet, for Old Rag, at least. The parking lot certainly filled, but the crowd was pleasant and friendly.

A new volunteer joined us and we did our normal fall weekend routine: Walk up the fire road against the prevailing hiking direction. The fire road is beautiful this time of year, with bright yellow tulip poplars lining both sides of it. Hiking the opposite direction of most people allows us to avoid the long lines at various choke points in the rock scramble and it allows us to find out what is going on above us on the mountain by chatting with descending hikers. We lingered on the summit for quite a while and, once we decided the crowds had thinned, descended through the rock scramble. It was a nice fall day to be out on the mountain and it was a great day for another reason. Believe it or not, I haven't summitted Old Rag in almost a year due to a foot injury that stubbornly refused to heal through the spring. It is on the mend now and it is wonderful to be back in the woods.

Pictures:

A maple leaf near the summit.

Looking south from the summit towards Fork Mountain.

Hamamelis virginiana (Witch Hazel). This is the last flower of the year to bloom - a sure sign that winter will soon arrive.

Looking east from the summit and down the rock scramble.

Dennstaedtia punctilobula (Hay Scented Ferns) in a crevice in the rock scramble.

Fall colors at the spot where I always take a picture.

The view from the first false summit in the fading sunlight.

Ohiopyle State Park: Escaping the Rain

It rained a lot in the Mid-Atlantic last week. A Lot. Baltimore-Washington International Airport received over 5.5 inches of rain on Friday alone. By Sunday, we were ready to see some sun and dry out a little bit. With federally-managed lands closed due to the government shutdown, we figured it was a great time to visit a state park. We headed west with Wild Type of Horizontal Tread, away from the storm, to Ohiopyle State Park in western Pennsylvania. Ohiopyle State Park has been on the hiking to-do list for a long time, but it is a three-hour drive, so we just hadn't gotten around to it before. We did a series of relatively short hikes that added up to seven or eight miles and let us check out several of the park's many waterfalls, which is the longest distance I've hiked since January of this year.

We started with the Meadow Run area. We did a loop that took us to a series of low waterfalls. Ironically, the streams were all running low in Ohiopyle State Park. Although it had rained the day before, the park is too far west to have gotten much of the rain from last week's storm.

The Meadow Run Cascades.

Looking down Meadow Run at the first hints of fall colors.

After completing the loop, we drove to Jonathan Run trailhead. We hiked down the trail along the stream, meeting just a few other hikers on the way. The fall colors are really just getting started, but we were treated to some bright leaves.

A pretty yellow tree along the trail.

Looking down Jonathan Run.

A bright orange fungus on a downed log. Maybe Chicken of the Woods?

Upper Jonathan Run Falls.

Getting to the lower falls on Jonathan Run was a quite a scramble. Since there had been a little bit of rain the day before, slippery wet leaves and roots made it even more interesting. I think I made most of the descent on my rear end. The view was totally worth it.

Another view of the lower falls on Jonathan Run. After scrambling back up to the trail, we hiked a little further downstream to the Great Allegheny Passage Trail, which passes through the park. We took a short break before returning to the car the way we came.

Our next stop was supposed to be Cucumber Run, but the parking lot was completely full, so we decided to go see the main attraction:  Ohiopyle Falls on the Youghiogheny River.

The main falls from the Ferncliff Natural Area, across the river from the main viewing platform. The area was pretty crowded with sightseers and fishermen, but it was worth the walk to get below the falls.

These fossils were a neat surprise on the walk down to Ohiopyle Falls. This is a Lepidodendron (a type of tree known as a scale tree) fossil. We saw other fossils, but most of them weren't clear enough to photograph well.

After returning to the car, we made another, this time successful, attempt to see Cucumber Falls. It was worth the wait.

 Cucumber Falls.

The view from behind Cucumber Falls. We had a great day. I was really happy to get back out in the woods after a long absence. We will definitely go back to Ohiopyle State Park.