Winter is now over - even spring is almost at its end - so here's a few winter pictures to remind me why I shouldn't complain about temperatures now hitting the high 80s (°F).
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| Snow in March. |
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| While it wasn't much snow, it stuck to the tree branches and made for a nice contrast with the background pines. |
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| One of my favorite phenomena: ice needles. Wet ground meets very cold air. (Previous posts here and here. |
I've been accumulating wildlife photos, so it's time for yet another wildlife post.
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| Cardinal in a red maple |
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| Robin in a red maple |
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| Red-tailed hawk (no questioning that ID!) |
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| I got a chance to follow the red-tailed hawk for several minutes as it soared above the woods. |
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| Our trail cam caught a white-tailed deer running. |
Callie Furnace is a late 19th Century iron furnace in northern Botetourt County, Virginia. It is accessible via an unmaintained road that connects Glen Wilton and Iron Gate. The road may be open during deer season (October-November), but is deeply rutted and pot-holed, and is best traveled on foot. Today, we approached from the Glen Wilton side. Maps (USGS topo maps, Google maps, and Apple maps) are highly inaccurate - so be warned!
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| This sign along the road tells you that the area is mostly used by hunters. |
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| People will dump old tires any where in the National Forest. Since this road is behind at least two locked gates, it's mystifying how anyone could get the tires this far. |
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| The site contains several structures. That's Lon at the left side of the furnace, which gives you some idea of the scale. |
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| A closer view of the furnace. |
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| At some point, two picnic tables had been added to the site, but as you can see, they aren't in very good shape! |
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| The metal "deck" at the top of the photo covers a deep, brick-lined pit. |
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| Slag from the furnace can be seen nearby. |
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| It was a beautiful day, with redbuds at their peak. |
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| An emerging buckeye leaf at the Callie Furnace site. |
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| The colorful Birdfoot Violet (Viola pedanta) was a common sight along the road. |
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| During World War II, Glen Wilton had an ammunition plant. It fell victim to a spectacular explosion in July 1942 - heard and felt for miles. Eventually, the remains of the ammunition plant were deeded to the US Forest Service, and a few remnants of the plant still exist. |
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| These concrete "tombstones" at one time held tanks or pipes. Now they are being reclaimed by the forest. |
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| The footbridge was completed in 2000. It rests on piers for an old railroad bridge that were extended upwards to make the bridge more flood tolerant. |
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| At 623 ft long, it is the longest foot bridge on the AT. A short Roanoke Times article on the opening can be found here. |
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| The not-so-new replacement railroad bridge runs alongside the foot bridge. The river was so still that it gave a perfect reflection. |
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| For the next two miles south on the AT, the trail is relatively level as it follows the James for about a mile, then turns up Matts Creek. |
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| A view up Matts Creek. |
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| Ice-encased rocks at the bottom of a rock face. |
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| Lon thought these ice-coated rocks in the creek looked like potatoes. |
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| Ice built up on tree limbs hanging over Matts Creek. |
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| Ice made fantastical shapes as water flowed over ferns, sticks, leaves, and rocks. |
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| Ice needles (see previous post) were very common along the Matts Creek portion of the trail. |
I still continue to find ice needles compelling. (Kinda like fungi - they're here every year, but somehow they're always different.) Here's what I wrote last year:
Warm-ish days (slightly above freezing), cold nights, and plenty of ground moisture are the recipe for "ice needles" - thin needles or ribbons of ice rising up from the ground. (For a full discussion of ice physics and many astounding photos of this phenomenon, see an article by James Carter in the September-October 2013 issue of American Scientist, pages 360-369.)
Same idea, just some new photos.
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| Dirty needles emerging from a dusting of snow. |
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| These needles have a curled ribbon appearance. |
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| More needles |
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| A nice set of curly needles from yesterday's hike on the Appalachian Trail along Matts Creek near the James River footbridge. (See following post for more about that hike.) |
We spend a lot of time on the Jackson River Scenic Trail - mostly biking, but in winter it's time for walking/hiking. Last week we had two good snows, so we covered the whole trail in four out-and-back hikes of about 7 miles each.
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| Since it was still snowing when we left home, where we had about 3 inches, we over-dressed expecting a lot of snow on the trail. However, Covington had less snow, and it had been warm for the last few days, so there was no snow on the trail itself. |
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| The small creeks feeding the Jackson River had a reasonable amount of water in them - a nice change since it had been a very dry November and December. |
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| Along the trail. |
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| It's a black-and-white environment on an overcast snowy day. |
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| This is our favorite section of the trail, far less used than the southern part, and more likely to see wildlife. (But all we saw were six turkeys crossing the trail.) Our elderly dog, Dakota, also enjoys the walks. |
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| Sunlight adds sparkle to the trees. |
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| More sparkling trees. |
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| Along the trail. |
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| A classic example of "bridge freezes before road". Even though the trail has no snow on it, the bridges decks are still covered in snow and ice. This is the bridge over Board Tree Run. |
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| Board Tree Run |
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| Along the trail. |
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| This is our least favorite part of the trail, so we left it for last. This section has quite a few houses near it, and several dogs who like to give a good "guard dog" show. Additional snow overnight somewhat made up for this! This time snow covered the trail in most spots. I also found out that my old hiking boots - the ones I wear when snow gets over an inch - are showing their age, and the sole is separating from the upper, allowing my feet to get soaking wet. Time for a new pair of boots! |
The Clifton Forge School of the Arts has illuminated the garden behind/between their buildings. Finally remembered to visit after dark tonight.
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| Looking into the garden from the entrance. |
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| Looking back towards the entrance from the far end. |
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| Looking back at the entrance. |
