Sunday April 10, 2016 ICE FORMATIONS

 

Weekend of April 9-10, 2016

 

ICE FORMATIONS

I got asked about an ice formation.   The person asking the question showed me a picture of ice needles.   During the shoulder seasons when we have temperatures swinging from above to freezing to below freezing Old Rag can host the formation of some interesting types of ice.   Many of these forms of ice relate to the diurnal (daily) cycle of warming and cooling.    Hoar frost, rime ice, needle ice, ribbon ice, hair ice, pebble ice and ice flowers come to mind.   There is an excellent post on these beautiful formations that can be found at:    http://my.ilstu.edu/~jrcarter/ice/

there are great pictures and great information about how some of the more rarely seen of these formations come into existence.

Old  Rag often gets needle ice and here is a picture from the section of Dr. James R Carter's posts about ice formations which can be gotten to via the above link. 

Needle Ice  

Dr. James R. Carter, Professor Emeritus

Geography-Geology Department

Illinois State University, Normal IL 61790-4400

Much more rare are ice flower and ice ribbon formations: 

All the above pictures are from

Dr. James R. Carter, Professor Emeritus Geography-Geology Department

Illinois State University's blog postings reached via the following link:

http://my.ilstu.edu/~jrcarter/ice/

 

 Sunset over Skyline Drive from Old Rag.

 

 

 

 Summit of Old Rag

 

 

The Sapsuckers  went to work on this tree.

My first 2016 sighting of Bluets on the Old Rag Saddle Trail.

Please be aware that the Old Rag summit areas are unique micro-biomes.  Some of the species residing here have been greatly impacted and the NPS is trying to protect/mange the summit areas so as to contain and perhaps reverse some of the damage.   The lesser summit which I have very seldom seen anyone visit has been closed to all public use.   The main summit area continues to be open for public use with some areas roped off to protect plants from being trampled.   The good news is that the main summit has a lot of hard durable granite and can absorb large numbers of visitors pretty well.

As I was leaving late Sunday night I saw that someone left their trash out for morning pick up.   Sorry folks but Old Rag is not serviced by a trash collection service.   I figured I would go ahead and carry it out but when I checked on it I found that it only had a 35-50 lb back of playground sand inside the trash back so I left it there.   If you are looking for ways to add extra weight to your pack by carrying gravel, sand, pea stone, bricks, nails, cement, than please carry it out.   If for some reason you really only want to carry it up the mountain and not back out than please consider using water.    A couple of gallon jugs should add about fifteen pounds of water.    If you use clean tap water and it is a hot  day I am sure you will have lots of folks willing to fill up on water.   If no one wants your water than it will not hurt anything if you just dump it out.

 

Looking at sunset over Skyline Drive.  Hawksbill on the left of the sun.

Looking in the same direction from the last view point just above CCC stairs on the Saddle Trail.

Shoulder Season

 

Various Trips Mid Feb 2013 till March 31, 2013 

 

There is lots of history to be found in the hollows just outside the SNP.   The next four shots feature the Post Office of Graves Mill Virginia which was open from 1800's until just a few years ago.      It must have been one of the smallest Post Offices in the United States.

 

Note: Click on pictures to read text or see a  higher resolution.

 

Around two weeks ago I had the opportunity to help a young hiker with a sprained ankle.

The next picture is of a dog being reunited with its owners after going missing on Mt  Robinson and being found by two good Samaritans on Old Rag.

The good Samaritans.

 

 

At the end of March 2013 we had 3 inches of snow on a Monday morning.

Dusk on the lower Old Rag Ridge Trail.

The Old Rag Contact Station was opened for 2013.

My friend Louise and I had rented a cabin in early March.

During the Winter and Early Spring Old Rag trails can often look like this when there is no snow to be seen at lower elevations.    Have fun but be safe.

February 10, 2013 THS MOUNTAIN IS ONE OF MY FAVORITE GROP HOMES

 

 

THS MOUNTAIN IS ONE OF MY FAVORITE GROUP HOMES 

 

Winter conditions with ice and snow.

 

That lucky old man had nothing to do but stroll  around heaven all day.

It was cold and windy with darkening gray skies.  Hikers had long since headed for home.   The Mountain Ravens had huddled away for the evening.  Wind whispered and whistled through the trees.  The Wind will often sing to my Soul with lyrics for which I  have no words.   Lights begin to glow and twinkle in the valley.   There is the sound of a far off train whistle.   Quiet creeps across the mountain yet sounds prevade.   A dog barks in the valley.  

This mountain is one of my favorite group homes.

Precious relative solitude on the mountain and I am reminded of a passage from Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching:

This is called the Form of the Formless,
and the Semblance of the Invisible,
this is called the Fleeting and Indeterminable.

Sunday 1/22/2012 Old Rag Conditions

Snow's Back Saturday January 8, 2011

SNOW IS BACK

Parking lot was fairly busy for a winter day.
PATC Trail maintenance had been out early and treated the trails with sand. (kidding but it did look that way)

Looking up the Scramble from first false summit.

Oopsy daisy I caught Anita in a picture.

The view from Skyline AKA PATC Wall.

You could see sheets of snow falling from the summit.

First Snow

SUNDAY DECEMBER 12, 2010
My first snow on Old Rag. Of course I had to do a little first snow jig. Having my studio headphones and some awesome music along helped.

Rain in the lower elevations that changed to snow, wind, and temps in the high 20's as you got higher on the mountain. While I had my microspikes with me the ice was not quite bad enough to warrant putting them on but I did have to be careful about foot placements.

Zero avalanche danger. Unlike places as close as the DAKS or Whites or many of the mountains just a quick plane ride away you will probably not need any knowledge about avalanche safety on Old Rag until the approach of the next ice age.

Not a very busy day on the mountain.

I made sure this leftover fire would be safe at Byrds Nest.

It looks like the footers have been put in place for some upcoming remodeling at Byrds Nest.

Looking down towards Weakley Hollow from the first slab above Byrds Nest.

A fairly rare picture of me.

A picture of Rick L.

A video of the winter like conditions on the summit.

Sarah Skating & Short Day

Saturday December 4, 2010

Managed to get a couple hours of intense skating training in Friday night. Even though I was able to push it to the limit my limit at the moment is probably at 30% of peak capacity so I have my work cut out for me to get back at least into good shape for my age.

My oldest is an Olympic hopefull speed skater, is damn good on hockey skates and competed as a figure and ice dancer until she was ten when soccer(one year George Mason), distance running (medaled as a Junior Olympian) and american football(high school varsity boys starter all four years of high school) took over her sports focus. Her ability to oxygenate (VO2max) has been scientifically measured by numerous of her various sports trainers (rowing, running, swimming, cycling) and it is up there near record levels. Her resting heart rate is around 40.

In any case, her old man at least likes to be able to keep up with her for a few laps as we laughingly dance and weave dangerously close through each others skate lanes and maybe even jostle each other a little before I have to collapse from lack of oxygen and she sails on for another forty or sixty laps. I will be elated if instead of three laps I can get it up to ten or twelve before I have to collapse. (Of course this will mean I will have to be in better cardio shape than probably 98% of twenty year olds and may be beyond my reach at 56.)

Since I had put in such a hard workout and got home about 11:30 the night before I decided to sleep in late and just do a slow amble up to the first false summit and back.

The next picture is of a major blowdown and is posted for trail maintainers. The notebook on blowdown is shirt pocket size.



It was a little chilly and overcast.

Here is the classic picture looking up the rock scramble from the first false summit.

This picture was taken so as to show the beginnings of some of the mountain's ice flows for those interested in that type of thing.