Oct. 17&18, 2015 Training and Patrol

 

SATURDAY AND SUNDAY OCTOBER  17&18, 2015

 

Steve Paul was one  of two Rangers that helped hikers  on the summit on Saturday.

Ray B. was my student.   He was finishing up his PATC TP new member training.

 

It was a pretty sunset on the summit of Old Rag on Saturday night.

 

If you watch the sunset from the summit you are going to be hiking part of the way back to your car under headlamps.

The line waiting to pay their entrance fee at the Old Rag Contact Station.

A cluster of the approximately 2,000 hikers who went up Old Rag on Sunday.

Thank goodness for the portable commodes and the company that services them when needed.   These resources mean that hikers are able to practice good outdoor ethics and Leave No Trace LNT.

The  fire road before the crowds are coming down it to get back to their cars.

 The summit blueberry pushes add nice red highlights to the Fall color.

The sun gets low in Sunday afternoons skies  as sunset approaches.

Sunday September 13, 2015

Wonderful cool clear Fall-like late summer Sunday.

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Ranger Grant W.

A couple examining the map that includes the R and S markers after returning from their hike.

Some of the ground cover is beginning to color up.

A blow down across the Weakley Fire Rd not far from PO Junction.   I sent a note out about it from around 3PM and if you look at the  picture below I found it taken care of when I passed it on the way to my car around 8:30 PM

Blowdown from above is already all taken care of just four or five hours after I encountered it.

Fall Aster's

Sunset from the summit.

Dusk from the Saddle Trail slab that looks down on Byrds Nest Shelter

Twilight from the last view point just above the CCC Stairs on the Saddle Trail about half mile up from Old Rag Shelter.

Restoration and Sunset Sat. Aug. 22, 2015

 

 

Saturday August 22, 2015

Restoration and Sunset

Opferkessel Teams With Life

 

The local who has been selling home made ginger ale has expanded his menu to include delicious peach smoothies

The NPS and partners (hopefully including you) have been trying to protect the fragile and unique micro-ecosystem found on Old Rag's summit these next two pictures document some areas behind the ropes that are showing remarkable progress from five years ago!

You need to be careful when skywalking.  ;-)

Late August and the sunflowers tell us Fall can not be far away.

 

This Opferkessel is teaming with life.      For more information on Old Rag erosion features check out this blog:    

 

http://blogs.agu.org/mountainbeltway/2014/06/17/weathering-old-rag-mountain-2-opferkessel/

 

LONG TIME SINCE LAST POST

Crazy me with a mountain cabin that I sometimes enjoy renting in the background.

A group of Trail Patrol trainees.

Robert Kim fresh back from Everest helping on National Trails day.

 

 

Louise, my better half, plant biologist, naturalist, lab manager, adjunct professor, .......



 

Mr. Copperhead.   I seldom see these during the day but see them quite often in the early evening as they begin to move about to hunt.

This is the same Copperhead a few seconds after the first shot.   Notice the tip of my hiking pole in the bottom right.   It is holding a leafy plant out of the way so as to expose a better picture of the well camouflaged Copperhead.

Mrs, Bear  just off Old Rag Saddle Trail had a cub with her but they  wandered out of sight before I could get a picture.

A hollow road leading to the cabin I like to rent.

Mountain Laurel in bloom.

Sunset and rain clouds.

Downpours over Nicholson hollow seen from Old Rag summit.

Rain falling into Weakley Hollow from Old Rag summit.

Enjoy the following pictures from Old Rag summit.   A kaleidoscope of changing views.    Over the changing seasons and changing moments I have been continually profoundly nourished,