Seventh Annual Canaan Valley Weekend

We spent this past weekend with our friends in the Canaan Valley in West Virginia. This is our seventh (!) year doing this. I can't believe it has been that long. Time flies. We rent a lovely house close to a bunch of outdoor activities and cross our fingers that there might be snow. This year, we got a lot of rain and a little snow, and a whole lot of cold. Not to mention great food, board games, and a wonderful weekend spent with friends.

On Saturday, Michael and I went for a long walk in Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge. This bridge was perched oddly on a hillside, about 200 yards above the nearest creek.

 Michael pausing to take pictures on a hillside.

 Birch leaves.

Clouds descending over Canaan Valley. At this point it was starting to snow a little bit. That would pick up and then change to rain later in the afternoon. It finally changed back to snow Sunday morning.

 Trees on the edge of the meadow.

 The trail crosses the stream at this point. A beaver decided the trail crossing was a great place to build its home.

 The beaver dam near its den.

 We surprised a grouse alongside the trail. It left wing prints in the snow when it flew off.

 On Sunday, Michael and I and three friends went over to Blackwater Falls State Park. Since it rained all night, the falls were running hard. The red color is from tanins in the soil.

 Icicles near Blackwater Falls.

 Another view of the falls.

 We also walked down to Elkala Falls.

 Rhododendron leaves curled up in the cold (it was about 15 degrees).

 Our final stop was Lindy Point. Normally, this is a really nice view of Blackwater Canyon. On Sunday, it was a view of the cloud!

 Michael and I at Lindy Point.

There was a lunar eclipse on Sunday night. It kept clouding up, but right near the end of totality, we got a clear view. It was _cold_. It was around -8 and pretty windy. It was so cold that the trees popped and cracked around us. There were many things I could have done to get sharper pictures, but in the cold and at that late hour, I didn't think things through clearly. I'm just happy we got to see it!

End of the Year

It has been a while. 2018 wasn't the easiest year, but we ended it on a lovely note with a weekend spent with another couple in Jones Mountain Cabin in Shenandoah National Park. We hiked the four miles to the cabin under gray skies after yet another in a long series of downpours in the wettest year on record in the mid-Atlantic. I was glad that we didn't have to cross the two rivers we hiked along - the Rapidan, which was running bank to bank, and the Staunton, which was also running high. We made it to the cabin in time to see the skies clear at dusk. Jones Mountain Cabin doesn't have any electricity or running water. Heat is from the wood stove and water is from the spring outside. We spent a lovely weekend eating good food, hiking a little and relaxing on a lovely porch. It was a great way to send off 2018 and welcome the new year.

 A tributary of the Staunton River.

 Club moss carpeting the forest floor.

 Near sunset, the valleys filled with clouds, which can seen through the trees. This is from the porch of the cabin.

 Sunrise from the cabin.

 Jones Mountain Cabin at sunrise.

 The overlook near Bear Church Rock. We hiked up here on Saturday morning.

 Ferns and moss.

 Bear Church Rock.

 Bright green moss.

 Taking a break at Bear Church Rock.

 Michael and I took a walk up the hill near the cabin near sunset.

 Turkey Fan fungus on a tree on our hike out.

 One of the many waterfalls on the Staunton River on the hike back to the car.

Orchid leaves. This species of orchid sends up its leaves in the winter when there is less undergrowth to compete with. They die off in the spring and the plant blooms in mid-late summer.

Catching Up Part 2: June Rain and Heat

The weather in early June was pretty terrible. It rained several weekends in a row and then it rained some more. Michael's brother and his family visited us for a week, which was wonderful. And we got a few hikes in.

Pass Mountain: We hiked from Thornton Gap in Shenandoah National Park on the Appalachian Trail to the junction with the Thornton River Trail. It was a 13 mile out and back that covered some short sections of trail that we hadn't done before. On the way back, we picked up a few short side loops just to make it interesting. The hike was nice, the weather wasn't spectacular. It was overcast most of the day and about halfway back to the car, a thunderstorm caught us and we got drenched. It was still better than staying home, but it did mean I didn't take as many pictures as usual.

 Amianthium muscaetoxicum (Fly Poison) - a member of the lily family.

 A butterfly on some thistle flowers.

 Rosa virginiana (Virginia Rose)

Byrd's Nest Shelter No. 4. This is a day use shelter. There are four Byrd's Nests in Shenandoah National Park and this one is, by far, the least used. Even the trails to it are somewhat overgrown. We spend a lot of time in and around Byrd's Nest No. 2, which is on Old Rag.

We spent the last weekend in June working on Old Rag. It was hot - well above 90 degrees. We spent a lot of time explaining to people that, no, two 20 ounce bottles of water was not sufficient. I realized something while we were listening to the park respond to a number of reports of heat-related illness among hikers in other parts of the park that weekend: We are very fortunate that people have to hike up first on Old Rag. In most of the rest of the park, people hike down the mountain first and can quickly hike beyond their ability to walk back up. Especially when it is 98 degrees out. On Old Rag, people who start feeling bad because of the heat can sit in the shade for a bit and then just walk back down to their car.

In spite of the heat, it was a really nice weekend spent outside. Lots of flowers were blooming. We camped out. The temperature even dropped to something fairly comfortable overnight.

 The hazy, steamy view from the summit.

 Lysimachia quadrifolia (Whorled Loosestrife)

 Minuartia groenlandica (Mountain Sandwort)

Looking north from the summit on Sunday, which was slightly clearer and cooler.

Catching Up Part 1: May Swimming and Hiking

It has been a while, so I'm going to do a couple of posts to catch up. This one will cover May. The first weekend in May, I went to the Bahamas for the wedding of friends. It was a great time and a lovely wedding and I got some snorkeling in. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed it because it had been so long. I borrowed Michael's waterproof point and shoot for the trip.

 The Atlantic side of Long Island near the resort where we stayed.

 Snorkeling! Yep, I'm wearing long sleeves. I really didn't want a terrible snorkeling sunburn.

 A ray partially buried in the sand.

 Coral and fish on the Caribbean side of the island.

The Caribbean side of the island.

The following week, we managed to get a dry hike in on Buck Hollow, Buck Ridge and Marys Rock in Shenandoah National Park. May was rainy, seriously, record-setting levels of wet. The day we hiked this, we just accepted that we were going to be in the clouds and wet the whole time. It actually didn't turn out that way. We could see the clouds just north of us, but it was sunny and a bit above 80 where we hiked. Ten miles north of us it was 60 degrees.

 We climbed Buck Ridge first. This is the bottom of the staircase on that notorious climb. Although it has been several years, I hadn't actually hiked it since they put the steps in. It used to be a steep, gravel mess.

 Rhododendron canescens (Hoary Azalea)

 Cypripedium acaule (Pink Lady Slipper)

 A little Box Turtle on the trail.

 Michael at an overlook near Marys Rock.

Looking back towards Thornton Gap.

For Memorial Day, we decided to pick up a gap in the Appalachian Trail that we hadn't hiked: Rockfish Gap to Reeds Gap. A friend came with us. We started at Reeds Gap and hiked north. The forecast wasn't great, but we decided to go anyway. We got some sun, but it was pretty wet at times, too. There were lots of northbound AT thru-hikers on this section at the end of May.

 The view from the Blue Ridge Parkway where the Appalachian Trail crosses it just north of Reeds Gap.

 Polygonatum biflorum (Solomon's Seal)

 Kalmia latifolia (Mountain Laurel)

 It poured on us before we got to this overlook, but we got a break in time for a view.

 Our first campsite. We got in and managed to pitch our tents just before a thunderstorm hit us. We spent the evening in a damp cloud. It cleared by morning, though.

 Michael on some cliffs north of where we camped.

 Rhododendron catawbiense (Catawba Rhododendron)

 The view from Humpback Rocks. This place was pretty crowded.

 The AT symbol on a log near where we ate lunch.

 The creek near the Paul Wolfe Shelter. We camped near the shelter our second night.

Our last day was spent in the fog. This is the W.J. Mayo Homeplace right along the AT.

We hiked north to Rockfish Gap and then into the park to McCormick Gap, where we had left the car. It was nice to get out for a few days.