Saturday, April 10, 2010 Trilliums

Saturday, April 10, 2020
High 60's and Clear
Swallow Tails, Lilacs, Trillium

The trees are quickly developing their leaves.



Parking lot was full to capacity again so I paid the $10 to park in the neighbors lot. Parking in Shenandoah National Park's parking lot is free. What you pay the SNP for is entry into the park. If you already have a one week pass that is still active or if you have an annual pass to the park than you have already paid for entrance to the park. For more information on SNP Fees see:

http://www.nps.gov/shen/planyourvisit/feesandreservations.htm

When the SNP lot is full the neighbors will sometimes open their pasture for parking at the cost of $10 per car. With Old Rag's popularity it is good to bring enough cash to cover you in case you need to pay for both the boundary entry fee as well as parking in the neighbor's pasture.

There was some Civil War reenactment going on this weekend.

The Swallowtail were out and the Lilac's were blooming. Note the bilateral symmetry of the wing markings.

The Trillium were starting to bloom. The one below was a very pretty shade of creamy pink.

If you double click on the above picture you might be able to see the hiker.

Another Old Rag summit sunset.

The spring melt created some washout on the Weakley Hollow Fire Road so it is being repaired.

FALCON PROTECTION

CLIMBERS PLEASE TAKE NOTE:

THE SUNSET WALL CLIFFS WILL BE TEMPORARILY CLOSED IN ORDER TO PROTECT FALCONS

This is a rapidly evolving situation so I will post more information as I get it.

A lot of effort is going into helping this species reestablish itself in the park. This may be the only active nesting site for this species within the park this year so everyones' help with these efforts will be greatly appreciated.

There are many other rock climbing and bouldering areas on the Mountain that are still open. Refer to your guide books and online Beta sites. My blog has links to some of the online climbing resources for Old Rag. It would be good if you would pass the word along to your fellow climbers. If anyone has any questions please contact the park. Two of the SNP contact points that are closest to this situation are: Steve Bair, Backcountry, Wilderness and Trails Manager at steve_bair@nps.gov or or Rolf Gubler, Park Biologist at rolf_gubler@nps.gov.

SATURDAY, APRIL 3, 2010
Overcast mid 70's
Early Spring


The lower elevation trees are showing some green.



Another busy Saturday.

A new sign mounted in anticipation of closing the Upper Lot.

Lots of Bloodroot was blossoming

Spicebush was blooming.

I need help identifying this? I believe it is some type of stonecrop but I am not sure? Thaks to one of my friends, Emily from ORMS I learned that this is Epigaea repens or Trailing Arbutus. There was quite a bit of it blooming in the gravelly/sandy banks along one of the Ridge Trails switchbacks.

Overcast view from the rock scramble.

Looking towards Etlan and Woodville.

Ravens playing around the summit just before sunset.

Just after sunset.

Twilight approaches.

If you are seeing this than you should have headlamps. Headlamps leave your hands free and you are not at risk of dropping it out of reach or having it break. I like to use my light as little as possible. On some nights the moonlight is bright enough to walk out without a light. That said, once the venemous snakes are out, make sure you can see well enough so as to not accidentally step near or on one.

TICK WARNING
ARGUABLY THE MOST DANGEROUS
THING IN THE PARK

SHENANDOAH NATIONAL PARK TICKS CAN POTENTIALLY TRANSMIT

• LYME DISEASE
• STARI
• BABESIOSIS
• ROCKY MOUNTAIN SPOTTED FEVER
• EHRLCHIOSIS
• ANAPLASMOSIS
• OTHER DISEASES SOME THAT MAY NOT BE SCIENTIFICALLY RECOGNIZED YET

NOTE: There was a time when the above diseases where not recognized by the scientific or medical communities. Lymes was first recognized in 1975 and STARI was first recognized in the early 1990s.

I recommend that you use both Deet based insect repellent on your skin and permethrin treatments on your cloths and footware.

With the beginning of the spring season you need to start being extra cautious about ticks. If you have not gotten up to speed on ticks you should. There is lots of good information online including these sites:

http://www.tickencounter.org/


http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/idepc/diseases/lyme/basics.html


http://www.cdc.gov/ticks/diseases/

http://www.vdh.virginia.gov/epidemiology/DEE/vectorborne/documents/Tick%20Brochure.pdf

http://www.nps.gov/shen/naturescience/ticks.htm


Adult ticks which can carry disease are active during all months of the year. Of course it would be very rare to see one during winter but they can still be active.

It is the nymphs which will be emerging soon that are the most dangerous. They can be infectious and they are tiny and you may miss seeing one on your body during your tick check.

The larva are non-infectious because they have not had a chance to have a blood meal from an animal that is a carrier of the disease.

For obvious reasons the more blood meals a tick has had the higher the chance that it fed on an animal disease carrier.    While the adults are more likely to be infectious than the nymphs because they had to have at least two blood meals on their way to becoming adults.    The good news is that being much bigger than nymphs they are much easier to find during a tick check and if removed within 24 hours after attachment will not have transmitted any disease.

Infected persons will not always develop the classic bulls eye rash.  Sometimes it will be a more non-descript rash or no rash at all.  Be alert to the possibility that you contracted a tick borne illness anytime you become sick a few days after being out in the woods.

I repeat that I recommend that you use both Deet based insect repellent on your skin and permethrin treatments on your cloths and footware.

SATURDAY, MARCH 27, 2010
Another Busy Spring Saturday
Clear and Cool



PLAN AHEAD BE PREPARED SO YOUR TRIP GOES WELL
Before you come to the park please visit the Park's web-site and view some of the very informative pages about how to plan and prepare your visit to the Park. I have a link to the Park's website over on the right side of my blog. If you have pets look for the Park's page all about bringing pets to the Park. If you are going to be backcountry camping look at the Park's pages on camping. Weather forecasts for the Park can be very different than even for towns just a few short miles away because of the elevation. The Park posts weather forecasts for above 2,000 feet on one of its pages. The Park offers all kinds of wonderful interpretation programs. The details of these programs can be found on the Park's website. If you are going up Old Rag you should check out the great podcast the park has about hiking Old Rag on its web site. HikingUpward.com has a great website reviewing many of the local hiking trails. There is a link to its Old Rag Mountain Hike over in the links section of my blog.




Once again another very busy parking lot.


Forsythia still blooming.



Next two pictures are looking back on the first false summit from below the cave.

If you know where to look you can see a hiker and a pack at the top of the Chute

Looking down towards Etlan.

One of the last snow patches.

Pictures of blowdowns for the trail maintainers.

Another Old Rag summit sunset.

Spring Fever Mid 70s

SPRING FEVER MID 70s
Saturday, March 20, 2010
VERNAL EQUINOX
PARKING LOTS FILLED TO CAPACITY
PEEPERS HEARD IN WEAKLEY HOLLOW
Pictures offer higher resolution if clicked on.

Lower lot filled to capacity.



UPPER LOT CLOSED IN APRIL

UNLIKE NOW
PLAN ON TOWING BEING ENFORCED
I would not want to run the risk that my car could be towed and not where I left it when I finished my hike. Keep in mind cell phones do not generally work in the parking lots. I have no idea what the details are concerning the impound lot but it would not surprise me that it might be miles away, closed at night and accept only cash payments (not many nearby ATMS) to get your car out.

They have recently changed the sign about towing. Check out the picture of the same white sign pictured below on my July 3, 2009 blog entry. It used to say you could not park on pavement or you would be towed and now it just says that you can not park or you will be towed.

Park officials would rather use their time providing hikers friendly outreach and interpretation not dealing with parking infractions.

Of course I understand that you have that special need(s) which requires that you ignore the rules but you will only have yourself to blame if you are towed.

Daffodils were coming up along the road to the trail head.

Skunk cabbage is sprouting up at Bartender's Spring.

Looking up the Ridge Trail from the first false summit.

Some hikers returning down the Ridge Trail rock scramble.

Hikers in the chute.

Looking towards Etlan from just above the chute.

Looking down the Ridge Trail from the summit.

Sunset on Old Rag (Better have headlamps with backups if your watching this.)

Tuesday, March 16, 2010 Old Rag Dogs

Tuesday, March 16, 2010
MISSING OLD RAG DOG

The dog below is named T-Bone. He lives close to Old Rag Mountain and he went missing two weekends ago. His owner's name is Darrell Clark and he can be reached on 540-987-3103 or 540-987-9110. If you see T-Bone or if you were a hiker who happened to pick him up thinking he was lost or abandoned please call his owner. His owner was planning on getting him ID chipped and or tatooed but because T-Bone was so young he had not quite gotten around to doing it yet.

OLD RAG DOGS ADVICE

There are quite a few local dogs that one may see when hiking on Old Rag Mountain. They are not strays and they are not abandoned. They have owners that care a lot about them.

The area around Old Rag has no leash laws and dogs are allowed to roam free as long as they are not getting into any trouble. Many of the local dogs spend most if not all of their time outside and are very comfortable doing so. Like any dog, they might decide to roll in the mud or perfume themselves by rolling on some old rotting carcus. Just because they; look dirty, smell like an old dead animal, are sleeping under some boulder way up on Old Rag or sleeping next too your car at the Old Rag Contact Station (even late at night) it does not mean they are lost or abandoned.

Often their local owners will have put special tags on their collars had them tatooed or ID chipped for easier identification. In some circumstances they may be a hunting dog and have a radio tracking device attached to their collar. Often times they will have special tags with long messages embossed on them about the fact that they are local and know how to find their way home. That said, keep in mind that tags and collars can fall off and the lack of any of these does not mean that they are lost or abandoned.

In the past many of these local dogs have been taken to shelters or turned into the Shenandoah National Park by well meaning hikers thinking they were lost or abandoned when they were neither lost or abandoned. Unless they are clearly badly injured or dead please allow them to find their own way home. If you do take them make sure you put in a report with the Shenandoah National Park so that if they have owners trying to find them they will have a way of contacting you and getting their dogs back.