Cicadas

My attention for the last six weeks has been occupied by the Field Ecology Governor's School. Now it's time to resume this blog.

It's been 17 years since the cicadas last invaded this part of North America. This is the year for Brood V of the the 17-year-cicada to emerge in this part of Virginia. The range extends from here up to Lake Erie covering most of West Virginia and parts of Ohio and Pennsylvania. www.magicicada.org has all the details. I remember 1999 as having many more cicadas -- covering roads, trees, and walls. This year seemed more subdued.

The cicadas emerge after 17 years underground. These are holes made by emerging cicada larvae.

After emerging, the cicada larvae molt into the adult stage. [1999 photo]

A larva exoskeleton remains on a leaf.

Adult cicada and larvae exoskeletons. [1999 photo]

Adult cicada. [1999 photo]

Adult cicada

This short clip shows a cicada flitting about and has a short clip of sound. It doesn't do justice to the aural experience!

The adults mate, the females lay eggs in the trees, and after hatching, the larvae then make their way down the trees to live in the soil for 17 years. We won't see them again until 2033! The tender tips of tree limbs are damaged by the newly hatched larvae, but will recover without much damage to the trees.

Another look at "flagging" damage to trees by cicadas. The trees have 17 years to recover!

GPS - For Better and Worse

Before the days of GPS units and Google maps, "Airport Road", more formally known as Sulphur Springs Road or Rt 606, was known to locals as a good short-cut between Clifton Forge and Hot Springs. And we knew when we should not take this road. It is paved, but narrow and has several tight switchbacks as it winds its way up and over Warm Springs Mountain. It's frequently very foggy, and since it's high and shady, snow and ice persist much longer than they do in Clifton Forge. The road mostly goes through National Forest lands, and it's easy to believe that you've left civilization a long way behind -- even though if you stay on the paved road, you can't get lost.

As GPS units became more popular, this sign appeared (circa 2009):

That wasn't quite explicit enough. It doesn't begin to tell the whole story. The online maps in this area were made from old USGS maps, and show roads that no longer exist. No one seemed to be interested in "ground truthing" in a rural area. There is one road that GPS units tried to make a major route, but even on foot with maps and a hand-held GPS unit, Lon and I could not find the old road bed -- it's all grown up into forest now. Even so, every once in a while someone would show up at our house (0.6 mile up a well-marked private road), usually asking "Where the hell am I?" In the last few years, this has been less of a problem, and the road names on the maps now (mostly) agree with the signs on the road.

About two years and many wrecks later, the warning became more explicit:

Soon, a second identical sign, about a mile farther down the road was planted.

And finally, it's no longer "not advised":

The wrecks are not as frequent as they once were, but please use common sense when trying to follow GPS instructions in remote areas!

Around the "Holler"

This-and-that from the last two weeks.

A number of street signs are sprouting honeysuckle hats.

Yesterday we finally gave our grapevine a proper support structure. It's made from our old crib that no longer meets child safety standards.

Our water tank that collects water from the shed roof, also collects lots of algae. Lon got it mostly clean now. The slimy sludge looks like it would make a good "biofuel" -- when it's sun-dried, it's resembles a black plastic. Ugh!

A Broad-headed skink had taken up residence in the tank. This is a lizard I had never seen before.

Spring/Summer Weather

Spring and summer bring lots of dramatic weather.

One of the brighter rainbows this year -- and the complete arc was visible.

The "anvil" top of a distant thunderstorm. I knew this was far away, since the anvil develops when the top of the cloud reaches the lower edge of the stratosphere. The bulk of the cloud is over the horizon.

Just to prove the point, here's the radar for the storm above. It's about 100 miles (150 km) from Clifton Forge.

Greenbrier River Trail - Part 5 - Cass

Last Wednesday we finished the final leg of the trail -- parking up at Cass and riding down to milepost 69.5 then back to Cass.

A couple of miles before our turnaround point is the restored Clover Lick depot.

Both Cass (above) and Marlinton have their sewage treatment aeration ponds along the trail. No smell -- just the hum of the aerators.

Cass' reason for existence (and, in fact, the whole Greenbrier Railroad) was to access timber supplies for the paper mill in Covington, Virginia. The logging railroad is now a steam-driven tourist train.

Coal-fired steam engines give an idea of how dirty this technology was. Diesel locomotives really cleaned up transportation.

A wider view of the smoke plume. Imagine a dozen or more trains each day along this track!

Beartown State Park

On our way home on Wednesday, we made a stop at Beartown State Park, just off US 219 in West Virginia. As state parks go, it's quite small (107 acres).

We were intrigued -- the park features a boardwalk loop trail on top of a mountain. Usually boardwalk trails go through wetlands. But here the terrain is so full of holes and crevices, that the boardwalk makes for a solid footing.

The park preserves some unique sandstone formations.

Colorful sandstone bluff.

The boardwalk planners had quite a job to lay out a path through the rocks.

The walk was much like a totally natural version of the Nek Chand Rock Garden in Chandigarh. (Although it lacked the whimsical statues!)

Watoga State Park

On our bike ride, we camped for two nights at Watoga State Park.

While we didn't cook over the campfire, you gotta have one!

Tuesday, after bicycling for 26 miles, we took a short 1-mile (1.6 km) hike up to the Ann Bailey Lookout Tower. The trail may have been short, but it was strenuous -- an 800 ft (250 m) climb.

The view was worth the work! The Greenbrier River is at the bottom of the canyon at left.

Coming back from the bathhouse, we startled by large glowing circles. Turns out that out bicycles have reflective tires!

Mounted on the back of our truck.