Road Trip in May 2012 - Shenandoah National Park Day 1

Our first hike at Shenandoah was at Gravel Springs Gap (mile 17.6). It was a short hike with some steep places. The water from the springs trickled through rock lined channels that we crossed many times as we made the look. The area was lush and we enjoyed our first glimpses of the wild flowers that were already blooming - maybe a bit early this year. I've picked my favorite pictures from the Gravel Springs Hike for the collage below.

Next we decided to hike down to Dark Hollow Falls (mile 51). Like many hikes in Shenandoah from Skyline Drive, the first part is downhill and the return is up.  I took one picture of the falls and then focused on the wildflowers, shelf fungus, and the way rocks hung over the water. This was the first location I photographed trillium and noticed that the maples are significant later than at home where the samara have already flown off the trees.

By the time we made it to the hotel, my Fitbit had recorded that I had climbed the equivalent of over 80 flights of stairs! It was quite a day.

Gleanings of the Week Ending May 5, 2012

The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles I read this past week:

Live stream of Blue Heron nest at Cornell Ornithology Lab - There are 5 chicks…two cameras. I leave it on almost all the time. I love having bird noises in my office and they are so interesting to watch. The chicks are growing fast so don’t wait to take a look. The adult male has the extra plummage on his head (the female lost hers in a battle with an owl) and a missing toe on his right foot. They take turns on the nest.

New Saturn video created from Voyager and Cassini spacecraft images - Video and music

New Reservation System In Place For Firefly Viewing At Great Smokies June 2nd—10th - The fireflies that flash synchronously have become so popular that a ticketing system has been put in place. Good to know if you plan to see them this year.

About One Baby Born Each Hour Addicted to Opiate Drugs in U.S. - very sad

Arabic Records Allow Past Climate to Be Reconstructed - Weather in Iraq/Syria in the 816-1009 time period…a time with lots of cold waves in that area of the world

Yellowstone Super-Eruptions More Numerous Than Thought? - yes, it’s still a super volcano

The Library of Utopia - Another try to create the giant online library

10 Emerging Technologies - A list from Technology Review. It has a pull down so you can look at their list from previous years too

Is automation the handmaiden of inequality? - Productivity per hour has continued to climb while the hourly compensation flatten sometime in the 1970s. Manufacturing jobs in the US have declined precipitously since around 2000 while the manufacturing output has continued to increase (and this in spite of outsource manufacturing to other countries too!). Blog post + comments to get lots of interpretations of the data.

Breakthroughs in glass technology - and they’ll come on line in the next few years...I like the idea of having wall sized screens!

Road Trip in May 2012 - Goshen Pass

Goshen Pass Natural Area Preserve in Virginia is a natural heritage area under the auspices of the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation. We followed the directions in the fact sheet to the parking area located 1.7 miles north of the VDOT rest area on State Road 39 West. There is a swinging bridge to take across the Maury River. It was a great way to start and end the hike!

We were there in the morning and noticed that the little bit of extra warmth from the sun peeking through the clouds made the birds and butterflies more active. It was a wonderful woodland walk. The mountain laurel was just beginning to open and there were other flowers that seemed to be a bit further along in their blooming than what we saw in Shenandoah.

After the hike, I noticed more flowers blooming near the parking lot and walked over to take a look at them. The big surprise was the first hummingbird moth I'd seen this year. These are fun insects to photograph because they are big enough to see easily - but also a bit of a challenge because of their speed. Even with the coolness of the morning, this specimen was extremely active!

Road Trip in May 2012 - Virginia

We just got back from a 3-day road trip to Shenandoah National Park. It was a little cool and wet but the wild flowers were wonderful. We started out referencing the park's wild flower weekend schedule (it's this weekend if you are in the area) then supplemented it. Now that I'm home I'm looking more at their wildflower web page to identify what is in my photographs! I'll post more of my photos of Shenandoah and Goshen Pass over the next few days. The ones today are just the intro!

First are some pictures from the Virginia rest stop. I took a similar picture of the 'welcome' sign back when I took my road trip in December. This one has a lot more green in it! It was also a little warmer and I enjoyed the iris that were beginning to bloom. I also noticed that the benches have the Virginia map shape on their backs - it was too wet to sit on though!

There were not many people at Shenandoah while we were there. It is early in the season and we were there on week days. The wet weather probably kept some people away as well. It didn't rain on us while we were out but there were plenty of muddy areas. It was good that the big panoramic views from the overlooks were not our primary objective for the trip because it was way too misty along Skyline Drive. The wildflowers actually are probably better in not-to-bright weather.

Just to give you a small sampling of what we saw - I've included azaleas and trillium photos in this post.

The cool weather is also great for roses and there were some at our hotel that looked so wonderful with their water droplets that I couldn't resist photographing them.

National Arboretum on 4/21/2012 (continued)

After walking through the azalea garden, we walked toward the entrance and wandered through the bonsai display

And an exhibition of ikebana

Along the way we saw some poppies, children feeding the swam of fish in the pools, some cactus that appeared to be growing rapidly, and camellias that were about done for the year.

Next time I go I’ll to focus on the wildflower garden area.

Previous National Arboretum post: Azaleas