SATURDAY

Joe (on the left) is a new Ranger working  at the Old Rag Contact Station this year.

Starting to see a little  bit of green up at Bartenders Spring.

SUNDAY

On Sunday I volunteered to play the role of a victim for a Wilderness First Aid class to practice on.

March 17&18, 2012 Contact Stations Open

The Old Rag Contact Station opens for Spring 2012

The next two pictures are of Old Rag signage which explain some of the rules.

A shot of Old Rag from near Sharp Rock Vineyards.

A very prolific Foresythia bush.

Warning when you are driving up Route 601 to the Old Rag parking lot there are domestic Guinea Fowl, Chickens, other farm animals, children playing and of cours lots of wildlife that may be crosing the road.

Early Spring Flowers.

THE FOLLOWING ARE NOT
PART OF OLD RAG THEY ARE

LOWER WHITE OAK CANYON FALLS

03/11&12/2012 SPRING HAS SPRUNG

Sunday & Monday, March 11&12, 2012

SPRING HAS SPRUNG



The view of Old Rag from just outside of Etlan.

The parking lot at what I affectionately call Old Rag International Parking was three quarters full for the second week in a row.

Double click on picture to zoom to a larger size.

A cluster of blue flowers blooming around a ground cover growing around one of the NPS signs just outside the entrance to the parking lot.   Silver Spring Wanderer left me a comment as to the fact that  the following flower is:

Persian Speedwell or Veronica persica

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veronica_persica

I have a link to Silver Spring Wanderer's blog over on the right side of my blog.   It is a wonderful resource for wild flower pictures, identification, and information about wild flowers among other good stuff. 

A happy day with sunny warm spring like weather on the first false summit.

Flowering Quince:

http://pnwplants.wsu.edu/PlantDisplay.aspx?PlantID=109

blooming along Weakley Hollow Road down in Berryhollow.

Hepatica Nobilis blooming in large numbers in the lower parts of Cedar Run Canyon.

Blood Root  Sanguinaria canadensis  also blooming in great numbers on the banks of lower Cedar Run Canyon.

A giant old hemlock most likely killed by the Woolly Adelgid

http://na.fs.fed.us/spfo/pubs/pest_al/hemlock/hwa05.htm

One of hundreds of deer that hang along Skyline Drive.

Sorry about the following video I have not figured out how to rotate my videos yet.   Until I remember to not shoot videos in the long format you will just have to turn your head or computer on its side.

One of the lower falls in Cedar Run Canyon.  

Sunday March 4, 2012



Sunday March 4, 2012

PATC Trail Patrol

One-On-One Training

Partially cloudy, high 30's to low 40's, virtually no ice or snow on the trail.   Heard tree frogs(not peepers) croaking up in the trees along Weakley Hollow Fire Road.

OLD RAG NEWS/CONCERNS FOR VISITORS

• There is new local dog which likes to go walk-about.   It is a young border collie please do not try to take it home or bring it down off the mountain unless it is clearly hurt(not just sleeping).   It will make its way back home before sunset.    While SNP(Shenandoah National Park) has a leash law and  dogs are not allowed at all on Old Rag,....Madison County does not have a leash law.
• There are no longer portable bathrooms located in the old Old Rag upper lot.  There are still portable bathrooms located in the Old Rag parking lot and there is a mouldering privy located near Old Rag Shelter.  If you use the woods please make sure you know how to make appropriate cat-holes.
• How to poop in the woods  http://amountaintophigh.blogspot.com/2009/04/how-to-poop-in-woods.html
• I am seeing a lot more jury-rigged fire rings.   These and the fires in them are not allowed in SNP!    Backcountry fires are not allowed in SNP unless they are in fireplaces constructed by SNP!
• Daylight saving time happens this next weekend.



Mark H. the day's One-On-One trainee.

Looking down the Saddle Trail very late in the day.

Sunset cliffs in the late day sun.

Sunset from the last view point just above CCC Stairs