Fall Blend

 

A couple of scenes from the Virginia Capital Trail near Greensprings. No vibrant fall colors here for the most part, but still quite lovely with its blend of bronze, yellow, and green.

Riding the Hedge

Virginia Capital Trail

Layers

 

Virginia Capital Trail

Footbridge

 

I stopped to talk with the contractor responsible for replacing this footbridge. Simple, right? 

Uhm, no. Few things in life are truly as simple as they seem. Part of what made this job more difficult was because it had to be built in an area certified as wetlands. But this area also serves as part of the plan to mitigate the effects of storm water runoff from a nearby housing development. AND, on top of all that, the drainage pipes running underneath the bridge had been crushed. So, of course, they had to be dug up and replaced. 

Fortunately, the contractor had experience in all these areas and was able--amazingly enough!--to get the job done in just a matter of days. He also thought it might have been a nice touch to install solar-powered lights. But, alas, no one wanted to foot the bill for those. So it is what it is, and a very nice change from the rotting footbridge it replaced.

Signs & Wonders

 

Downed Trees

 

 

 

 

Ghosts

 

 

Taskinas Creek Trail, York River State Park

Old Knobby

 

Taskinas Trail, York River State Park

Lost World

 

Taskinas Creek Trail, York River State Park

Slippery When Wet

 

The Taskinas Creek Trail, following as it does the edge of a vast tidal marsh, can become very slippery. I suppose that's why park officials have wrapped the boardwalks in this chicken wire (above).

I arrived as the tide was still out.

Taskinas Creek Trail

 

Details

I think the real beauty of the Beaver Trail in York River State Park, as is true of most trails, is in the details, as in the case of the spider web shown above and the seedling below.

Beaver Trail

 

Beaver Trail, York River State Park

Smallanthus uvedalia (aka Bear's Foot)

Beaver Trail

Mattaponi Trail

 

The Mattaponi leads to yet another stretch of the York River shoreline where fossils often can be found.

Fossils

 

Trail Nuts

Virginia Capital Trail

Regeneration

 

Clearly it has been a while since people hiked the White Pine Trail, since much of what is left of the trail has been obscured by tall ferns. Also, what trail markers might have once been in place are now long gone. At times, in fact, I had to resort to my compass to figure out where I was. No cell service here! 

Still, as often is the case, I made a new discovery traipsing through this part of the Mount Toby Forest. I discovered what a "regeneration system" is. According to one source I consulted, "Forest regeneration is the process by which new tree seedlings become established after forest trees have been harvested or have died from fire, insects, or disease. Regeneration is key to sustainable forestry and can be accomplished through two basic approaches:

1) natural regeneration, which occurs when new seedlings or sprouts are produced by trees left on or near the site (as with aspen) 

2) artificial regeneration, more commonly known as tree planting

White Pine

 

I have this strange penchant for taking the road or, in this case, the trail less traveled. Sometimes this results in my seeing some pretty interesting things. At other times, it gets me into trouble. This was one of those that nearly got me into trouble.

It started after I left the Cranberry Pond Trail, hung a right onto a fire road, then decided to take the so-called White Pine Trail, which appears on some maps but not on others. As it turns out, the White Pine Trail is very poorly marked. Heck! The last honest-to-goodness marker I saw was the one shown above . . .

South End

 

 

 

Here's the view from the southern end of Cranberry Pond looking north. According to the Secret Reel, this is "a small, 27-acre, cold water pond . . . characterized by clear watercolor and has a transparency of 15 feet. The mean and maximum depths are four feet and 26 feet respectively. The 1.1 miles of shoreline are undeveloped and emergent aquatic vegetation covers about ten percent of the surface area." 

 

Warning!

 

 

This was an unusually hot and humid day in western Massachusetts.And the warning about bringing plenty of bug spray, for once, was NOT an exaggeration. My sometimes perversely contrarian spirit, however, insisted that I could do without. Fortunately, I did wear a wide brim hat, which helped at least keep the bugs out of my hair and face. A bottle of water might have been a great help, too, considering the amount of perspiration involved. 

Sounds like a nightmare, huh? Well, it wasn't. Coming from Tidewater, Virginia . . . I'm used to hot, humid, and buggy conditions. Nothing new here! Also, there were these cooling views of Cranberry Pond all along the way.