Greenbrier River Trail - Part 3 - Renick to Beard

Today we did our next trip on the Greenbrier River Trail -- a 14-mile section from Anthony to Beard. We've now done almost half the trail: we turned around at milepost 39; halfway is about milepost 42.

Only a few relics of the railroad remain (other than the rail bed). This old crossing marker is at Beard. (Yes, that's the name of the small community -- hardly even a town -- along this section of the trail.

The highlight of this section is the Droop Mountain Tunnel -- 402 feet long. Even though this is a relatively short tunnel, it is curved, so you can't see from one end to the other. The temperature inside the tunnel was very cool!

Looking out the north end of the tunnel. (Obviously, it's at milepost 31.)

The magic of Photoshop Elements' "Auto Smart Fix" filter brings out the detail in this shot looking back at the south entrance. The original photo was almost entirely black.

A panorama of the river about 2 miles south of Beard.

Today's Wildflower

Large-flowered trillium (Trillium grandiflora). The bloom starts out pure white, then slowly turns pink, then deep pink as it ages.

We also saw bloodroot and Dutchman's breeches (photos in previous post).

Greenbrier River Trail - Part 2 - Anthony to Renick

Yesterday we traveled the next section of the Greenbrier River Trail.

Near Pittsburgh, the GAP trail had industrial tubes along the side. In rural West Virginia, it's tubes of rolled hay bales.

We had one longish bridge today. Here Lon is crossing the Spring Creek bridge.

A crew was doing trail maintenance. I wish we had this "Tiger Mower" to help keep the sides of our road free of trees and shrubs.

The end of the day -- ready to head home.

Today's Wildflowers

There were many spring wildflowers along the trail today. Here's a sampling.

One of the earliest wildflowers to bloom in the spring is bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis). It's deeply lobed leaf curls around the stem. After the bloom is gone, the leaf remains and becomes quite large.

Dutchman's breeches (Dicentra cucullaria) were probably the most commonly seen wildflower along the trail. They resemble tiny upside-down pantaloons. 

Another early spring favorite: Spring beauty (Claytonia virginica).

A beautiful red trillium (Trillium erectum). Also called "wake-robin".

Greenbrier River Trail - Part 1 - North Caldwell to Anthony

Just over the state line in West Virginia is the Greenbrier River Trail -- another "rail trail" along an old rail bed. The full trail is about 80 miles long (one way) -- we're not up to that! But yesterday we did manage a 24-mile round trip.

This is pretty typical of what the trail looks like as it parallels the Greenbrier River.

We take a break. Right now we're using our road bikes, but the trail isn't really designed for "skinny tires".

At our turn-around point. (The parking lot is at mile 3.)

Can you tell we're new at this "selfie" thing?

Great Allegheny Passage

We're trying to get back on on bicycles -- as much as we can given that March and April can still be quite cold and windy and (sometimes) wet.

Friday we took a 20 mile ride on the Great Allegheny Passage Bike Trail -- a "Rails To Trails" route that ultimately connects Pittsburgh with Washington, DC after meeting up with the C&O Canal Trail in Cumberland, Maryland. We started on Pittsburgh's South Side and rode to Dusquene and back.

The trail follows an abandoned rail bed along the Monongahela River. This stretch of the "Mon" is known as "Steel Valley" -- at one time it was the U.S.'s major steel manufacturing region. The river is still very industrial in atmosphere. Here a barge carrying coal is heading downriver.

Pittsburgh's industrial past is reflected in these tall smoke stacks -- all that remains of the once immense Homestead steel mill that is now a large shopping mall. A classic example of the consumer-driven economy replacing the manufacturing economy with much economic dislocation.

But not all industry has disappeared. This pipe manufacturer lines the trail for about a half mile.

The trail passes over railroad tracks twice in this section. Long ramps, seen at the right of the photo, allow bicyclists to ride up to the overpasses.

The trail bridge over the railroad tracks.

A panoramic view of the Monongahela River.

Pittsburgh is a city of bridges. This is the Homestead Grays Bridge (aka High-Level Bridge).

The trail gives a behind-the-scenes view of Kennywood -- Pittsburgh's beloved amusement park.

At the end of the ride we had to carry our bikes up the stairs to David & Maria's house. The stairs are much steeper and longer than they look in this photo. Pittsburgh has more streets that are stairs than any other city.

Moonrise

Last night's full moon rose through the haze in the east.

Four Legs and Two Legs

First the four legs.

It's spring -- and Dakota is losing his thermal undercoat of hair. Lon is covered with dog hair.

Just a bit of Dakota's hair. No wonder our house needs to be swept two or three times a day!

Now for two legs.

I noticed this tree of heron nests in January. At first I thought that vultures had chosen to settle in this tree near the one I photographed earlier this week.

But a closer examination made it clear that these were great blue herons, not vultures.

Note the long beak and tufts on the head -- it's a heron.

Since we go by here everyday on our way to the Y, I brought my better camera. Here's a heron on a nest.

It looks like this pair is adding a new nest to the tree.

Herons aren't the only birds looking for nest sites. A pair of bluebirds have been trying to come in our bedroom window, but just end up hanging onto the screen. I have four bluebird boxes available for them, but they seem to prefer other places.

Contrails

One of the many differences between India and the U.S. is the volume of air traffic. Outside of major cities (Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai), you rarely see an airplane in India. Here it's difficult to not see a plane in the sky. They are particularly noticeable at night -- those blinking stars that keeps moving.

Yesterday at sunrise the weather conditions were good for contrails. Most of the planes are going north-south along the eastern seaboard, but there's one that was going east-west.