Winsor Dam

 

Nothing quite prepares you for the size of Winsor Dam. 2640 ft (805 m) long, 35 feet wide (10.7 m), with a maximum bottom width of 1100 ft (335 m), it's breathtaking. 

 

 

Built to help create one of the largest unfiltered water supplies in the United States, the 412 billion gallon reservoir covers 39 square miles with 181 miles of shoreline.

 

Nothing I did with my iPhone camera could adequately capture it's vast dimensions. But in this last photo, if you expand it, you might just be able to make out the form of someone hiking in the shadow of the trees along the trail in the center right.

  

Cross Path Road

I know that visually this probably is not the most interesting photo. I was just curious about the street's name as it--ahem--crosses the Norwottuck Rail Trail in Hadley, Massachusetts. I mean, it's pretty straightforward as street names go. Sort of like Main Street or High Street. There's a street near me called Center Street, which I suppose got it's name from the fact that it runs smack dab down the "center" of a subdivision, even though it is--if I might say so--rather tangential to everything else around it, now that I think about it. 

What about the street names near you? Got any zingers? :-)

Bridge

I've photographed this bridge many times over the past few years. The last time was last year on the Fourth of July. It's become something of a go-to destination every time I visit this region.

According to Wikipedia, the "Norwottuck Rail Trail Bridge is an eight-span steel lattice truss bridge. It crosses Elwell Island in the middle of the river, providing no access to the island in an attempt to keep the island otherwise untouched. Riding over the bridge shows eight spans, with two of them over Elwell Island. It was built by the R. F. Hawkins Ironworks Company. The bridge was redesigned by Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, Inc. of Watertown, rebuilt by MassHighway, and opened in 1992 to bicycle and foot traffic as part of the Norwottuck Rail Trail."

View of the Connecticut River and Elwell Island

Fly or Drive

Honestly, I debated long and hard about whether to fly or drive to Massachusetts this year. I drove last year after several years of flying. What finally convinced me to fly again this year was the convenience. I REALLY like to hike every day, up to five miles or more a day. But driving to Massachusetts almost certainly meant spending more time in the car rather than on the trail. The cost, I figured, was about the same. What's more, by flying, I was able to fly AND hike in the same day, even with the unexpected delay this time in getting out of Richmond. On this particular trip, I was able to hike again one of my very favorite sections of the Norwottuck Rail Trail (above).

Close Call!

It was a really close call. My plane landed in Philly shortly after 11:30am. I thought the gate where my next plane was waiting was right next door. Nope! Turned out it was on the far side of the adjacent terminal. Oh jeez! 

So I basically power walked to the next gate and arrived just in time to find that all the other passengers already boarded and the plane on the tarmac primed for flight. Sheesh! 

Still, I made it. Moments later, as soon as I was safely settled into my seat, we were barreling down the runway on our way to Hartford, Connecticut.

Flying over Freehold, New Jersey. That's the Atlantic in the background.

Hydroelectricity or Recreation?

Bill, yesterday, asked why the hydroelectric plant on Belle Isle was abandoned. Here's Wikipedia's scoop on the matter as well as another excellent question to ponder:

"Silt in river water wore down turbine blades, bearings and bushings. Logs and debris damaged the entrance gates of the mill race and mud had to be cleaned up after floods. Power production varied with river flow and was always low in summer.

In the mid 1950’s the price of oil was so low that petroleum products became the fuel of choice (local gasoline was .25 a gallon). Had anyone foreseen the great increase in costs after the Arab Oil Embargo in 1967, this plant might have remained competitive. Question: would power production have been as valuable as the recreational benefits we now have from a free flowing river?"

Hydroelectric Plant

The remains of a now abandoned hydroelectric plant in Belle Isle.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year, friends! Hope you had a restful night :-) and aren't too tired to make a new beginning. I'm starting this new year of photographs with this one taken last Friday along the James River's famed "fall line."  According to Wikipedia:

"The fall line marks the geologic boundary of hard metamorphosed terrain—the product of the Taconic orogeny—and the sandy, relatively flat alluvial plain of the upper continental shelf, formed of unconsolidated Cretaceous and Cenozoic sediments. Examples of Fall Zone features include the Potomac River's Little Falls and the rapids in Richmond, Virginia, where the James River falls across a series of rapids down to its own tidal estuary."

Suspension Bridge

Looking back here to my hike last Friday from Richmond to Belle Isle, Virginia. This is the ramp leading to the suspension bridge that takes pedestrians across to Belle Isle.

Feast of Saint Stephen

I'll be celebrating this Saint Stephen's Day (according to some traditions), appropriately, by gathering with family and friends for a hike and lunch/feast at a Richmond restaurant. How about you? What are you doing on this third day of Christmas?

Linking again today with Skywatch Friday. Merry Christmas to all my fellow skywatchers! :-)

The Pond

Greensprings

Linking on this Friday the 13th (!) to Skywatch Friday.

Cook's Garden

 

 

One of the outbuildings (cook's house?) associated with the Governor's Palace in Colonial Williamsburg located just above a multi-tiered vegetable garden.

Thanksgiving Day

Funny how yesterday, Thanksgiving Day, started--cold, wet and windy. It was the kind of day that drove me to climb the stairs in my house for a mile rather than to do my more normal morning walk. But by the afternoon . . . well, as you can see, it was mostly sunny with temperatures in the low 60s. Very comfortable.

Linking again today with Skywatch Friday.

Field of Leaves

Linking again today with Skywatch Friday.

Plumegrass

Greensprings Interpretive Trail

Capitol Trail

The Virginia Capitol Trail, as its name suggests, is a multi-use trail connecting the former capitol of Virginia, Williamsburg, with the current capitol, Richmond, a distance of some 50 miles one-way.

Falling Leaves

Seems like there's always a difference between what we call meteorological fall and, well, let's just say when it actually begins to look and feel like fall. This week . . . it's definitely beginning to look and feel like fall. 

Linking again today with Skywatch Friday.

The Swamp

As I recall, it was DJT who promised to "drain the swamp" some eight years ago when he ran for president the first time. Now, as the Washington Post put it this past October, "he swims in it." According to the article, the Duck said, “I had no idea the swamp was that dirty, that disgusting and that deep.” 

Well, Donald, now you know. 

Sic Semper Tyrannis!

All may appear calm in Williamsburg on the outside, but on the inside, believe me, this town where the American Revolution was born is nothing less than a seething cauldron of anger and resentment over the results of this past presidential election. Everywhere, people are discussing it, even on their seemingly leisurely walks through town.

Yes, there is shock and grief. But, unless I am greatly mistaken, there also is a rising tide of anger that will soon enough be turned against Trump and his administration. A movement of resistance is gathering. I can hear the sounds. SIC SEMPER TYRANNIS, indeed!

Calm

Greensprings Interpretive Trail

Linking again today with Skywatch Friday