A September Walk on the Little Gunpowder Falls

10 Wednesday Oct 2018

Posted by Ronald Parks in Hiking, nature, Photography

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Gunpowder Falls, Hiking, nature, photography

A nice little hike we took last month. A little over a mile and a half. The green highlight is our path; from Belair Rd. to Harford Rd. and back. Use caution once you get to Harford Rd. to cross over the bridge. People are flying down that road and approach a curve. It is hard to be seen.

map2

From the parking lot on Belair Rd. we head under the bridge. 003

Additional graffiti is added every year. And yes we do – 005

A nice pattern for the walkway under the bridge. 006

Looking towards Harford Rd. 008

The trail. I have nothing against Mountain Bikers, as long as they are on a trail that I am not on, but quite a few act like they have the right of way on these narrow spots – you don’t! Common courtesy is the rule of the day. 014

Across the Falls. 018

A sandbar up ahead. 019

Time to look for some river glass. 023

Not much glass but Kathy found this. Possible arrowhead? 028

Lots of debris in the Falls – lots of rain all summer. Molly looking for a way around it. 045

A pond off to the side of the Falls, before Harford Rd. 052

A foot bridge over the stream that feeds the pond. 054

After crossing over the bridge at Harford Rd. we head back. This path is pretty narrow. In all the years I have hiked the Gunpowder Falls, I have never taken this path for some reason? Kathy practicing her dance moves. 064

Rot inducing pathogens or fungus, whichever you prefer. 074

Looking thru a leaf to see what I can see… 081

Heading to Belair Rd. the path swerves north along the road a few hundred yards before you can climb up and over. Belair Rd. is a 4 lane highway at this point. Speed limit, well doesn’t matter, people again are flying by… 082

Blue Bird vs Tree Swallow

15 Sunday Apr 2018

Posted by Ronald Parks in Eastern Shore, Farm, nature

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Barn, Blue Bird, Farm, nature, photography, Turtle

While down at Kathy’s parents, I saw a bunch of birds dive bombing each other over the field. Then one landed on a bird box. I thought it was an Eastern Blue Bird. Turns out it was a Tree Swallow. Not having a tripod, I used the next best thing, which still was not stable enough.

A makeshift steady support – deer fencing around a tree.

What I thought was a Blue Bird.

The actual Blue Birds have always been hard for me to get a good shot. They are finicky and don’t sit long in the same spot. This guy was preening himself.

Heading over to the barn, this goose was on the lookout for his mate…

Who is on the nest, keeping the eggs warm.

Just a random hole.

The barn – ready to come down soon.

Random sliding door hardware.

Back at the pond.

And that quick, he is gone. Another nice weekend!

Terrapin Park

14 Wednesday Mar 2018

Posted by Ronald Parks in Hiking, National Parks, nature

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Beach, bridges, Chesapeake Bay, Hiking, photography, Terrapin

The last couple of times we visited this park, last summer, we were unable to hike the trails – too many people and too many cars in the parking lot. It was packed. I like that people and families go to the parks to enjoy themselves, I just don’t like it when large groups of people set up camp and stay all day – not allowing others to enjoy the park. It was so bad last summer, that the park service had to install Spot-o-Pots along the beach path. Here is our path:

It was a short hike. We just wanted to see and enjoy the Bay.

Along the Cross Island Trail, we stopped long enough to enjoy some of the beauty that is all around us.

Hitting the beach, our first view is of a ship going under the Bay Bridge. I don’t know how many times we travelled over that bridge and saw anywhere from 4 to 12 ships just parked on the other side. This is the first time we saw one actually heading to points north.

We always did want a home on the Eastern Shore!

The recent storms that we had, left a lot of debris up on the dunes. And some along the beach.

I have my doubts that this was washed up on shore, along with a cantaloupe a few yards away.

Constantly shifting, in and out of the pond.

Along with all the debris and driftwood, were some casualties from the storms – like this poor little fellow.

And this guy.

And another.

The breakwater walls seem to have broken.

Gnarly.

Waiting for its tenants.

A few areas have eroded away along the beach. Nature just does her thing…

History Hike Part 1

22 Monday Jan 2018

Posted by Ronald Parks in Hiking, nature

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bridges, Dams, Gunpowder Falls, Hiking, mills, nature, photography

Between the work on our houses and going to Salisbury, yesterday was our first opportunity to take a hike. A little over-cast but a very nice day. The map shows we walked about 3-1/2 miles on the Little Gunpowder Trail, starting at Jerusalem Mill.

We headed thru the field to first look at the progress of the old stone structure. Not much done.

From there onto the Jericho Covered Bridge.

Interior of bridge.

Since this was a short walk, we decided to follow the road for a bit instead of taking the other trail back. Here is a roadside attraction.

Overlooking the stream.

A nice ice floe with some blue ice.

Beavers getting their fill. First time I have seen a double gnawing on a tree?

Another view of the ice floe.

A small stream feeding into the Falls.

And what do we have here?

An old mill race. Kathy could see that I was excited to see this, so she prodded me on for us to go down there and take a look.

So we did. Molly wasn’t too enthused about this. Ice hanging off the rocks.

The mill race valve structure (More later on the mill)

Molly was pretty much done with walking on the ice, so I picked her up and still managed to get some photos while Kathy was taking my pic.

Out of the mill and headed farther south. Sign about the town of Franklinville.

Nice place to be.

Passing thru Franklinville and onto the old iron bridge.

From the bridge. Looking north.

Then looking south. Kathy took a great photo of this. Hoping she shares soon!

Time to head back. Saw this guy on the way.

A leaf left its mark in the asphalt, with the help of a lot of salt.

This is a long narrow road. Most drivers were very cautious approaching us. Nice fence.

The covered bridge from the west side.

Molly back on the ice, floating around.

If you are still long enough, you can hear the ice crack.

How much longer can this tree hold on?

Jerusalem Mill road. Bridge over stream.

Later I will write about the history portion of our hike. Some interesting stuff!!

Ice

07 Sunday Jan 2018

Posted by Ronald Parks in National Parks, nature, Photography

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boats, Chesapeake Bay, fishing, nature, photography

Trip this weekend to Salisbury. Nice ice.

Crossed the Bay Bridge heading east and Kathy says that we should stop on the shore and take a photo of the bridge. Go to Hemingway’s parking lot, I get out and say “Aren’t you coming?” No, too cold! And it was very cold with the breeze coming off of the icy bay.

Looking towards the container ships.

Most roads were pretty clear. A couple drifts on 50 between Easton and Cambridge. Then we made it. The Chokey or the woodshed?

The footbridge over the frozen pond.

A favorite meditation bench.

Molly only lasted out here, in her new coat, for just a couple minutes.

Unknown footprints into the pond.

On the way home we drove towards Blackwater Refuge. I say drove towards because we got kind of lost. We did end up at a part of the refuge we had never been to. The roads here were pretty clear also.

Black water – black sand…

We saw a few eagles and a couple herons.

And instead of turning towards the park, where the visitor center is, we ended up at Hearns Cove and Wingate Creek.

Boats frozen in place.

Dock in B/W

Nice little post office and name.

Willow Grove at Cromwell Valley

09 Saturday Dec 2017

Posted by Ronald Parks in Hiking, nature, Photography

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Cromwell Park, Gunpowder Falls, Hiking, Loch Raven, nature, photography

Nice day for a walk in the park. Let it snow!

The nature center is decorated, so why not the Little House?

Bells, bows and garland, from us to you.

While Kathy is decorating the door, I enjoy the cold view through the window.

The barn in B/W. Thanks God for the snow! It lets us be grateful for the sunny days.

Thanksgiving Fog

26 Sunday Nov 2017

Posted by Ronald Parks in Hiking, nature, Photography

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Barn, bridges, dogs, GOD, Hiking, nature, photography

Wonderful weekend with Kathy’s family down the Eastern Shore.

Sunset on the farm.

Gail and John 4-wheeling.

Back again looking for fish.

Time for a hike before deer season starts. Molly trying to flush out some birds.

A hawk surrounded by crows.

Grey barn roof on blue sky.

Reflections on the pond.

Kathy’s reflection.

Reflecting, contemplating…

Winter Robins.

And then the fog rolled in.

Like a loose blanket.

The barn. Soft coating of ice on everything.

The lone tree fighting off the shroud.

Dirt road to the heart of the fog.

It started to retreat from the pines.

Sniper house. New addition to the farm.

Walking through here, the trees’ upper branches, bathed in sunlight, let go a rain storm of melted frost.

Under the tree, a real bird dog.

Fog and steam mixing together.

Thanks given to God for all this.

Turkey Point at Elk Neck

06 Friday Oct 2017

Posted by Ronald Parks in Hiking, nature, Photography

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Chesapeake Bay, Hiking, Lighthouse, meditation, nature, photography, susquehanna, Trails

With Kathy at her sister’s for a week, I figured I’d see if my daughter wanted to go kayaking or hiking. She chose hiking so we went up to North East, Md. to Elk Neck State Park. Nice day for a hike. A little warm then started cooling off with the clouds moving in. I haven’t done this hike for about 5 years. Always nice to revisit places. This was a two part hike:

First we stopped at the lighthouse lot and walked the paths. Round trip here was about 2-1/2 miles.

A few of these signs scattered about.

With good reason. My daughter, Jules, has an app on her phone that measures distance. She said this cliff was 72′ up. This view is looking N.W. towards Havre De Grace. The head of the Chesapeake Bay.

Nice path. The fields on both sides have grown over some since the last time.

Not sure what this was.

Jules staying away from the hawk viewing sign. Multiple wasp nest on this thing. We did see a couple eagles while roaming around.

Finally made it to the lighthouse. Five years ago I was able to go inside. Not today.

We followed the light house trail down to the bottom. Another area seriously grown over. Use to be able to follow this trail south to an area just under the light house and look up the cliff.

So we headed the other way. So nice and peaceful listening to the water lap against the rocks. I could sit here for hours.

A little beach up ahead.

Driftwood and seashells.

Back up top.

No pee-call here! This spot-o-pot had a lot of stink bugs in it. Most fell off the roof, onto the toilet, when I opened the door.

Onto the next leg of our hike – Rogues Harbor and the Beaver Pond. This was a short hike. When we got to the upper left there was a detour around a ravine. I’ve done this hike before and it takes quite a while. We could see enough from our vantage point on this side. The trail does go all the way around the pond.

First stop though was at the marina bathrooms. Looking east across the Elk River.

Buttonwood Beach RV Resort. From this view it looks like sardine villa. From Google Earth, they are well spaced and looks like a nice place to set up an RV (or trailer home)

Unknown ruins.

Swim? I don’t think I would put my kayak in here!

If I did, it would take a while to rinse it off! Beaver Pond.

Lots of trail markers and maps at each entrance.

Beaver House.

It won’t be long before these invasive phragmites take over the whole pond.

Little cutie. There were a group of these right here. Good eyesight for as small as they are. And they could jump about 3 feet.

No bridges to burn on this trip…

Cromwell Park

27 Wednesday Sep 2017

Posted by Ronald Parks in Hiking, nature

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Cromwell Park, Hiking, Loch Raven, nature, photography

Saturday it was a nice day for a walk in the park, followed by a visit to the Greek Festival. Kathy’s friend’s dog Jay joined us.

First stop was to check on the renovated lime kilns. Amazing job these guys have done.

This is what it looked like in 2006.

And then in 2011 when they were just starting to work on them.

Now and…

Then.

Another shot from back then.

Our favorite little house has gone thru some changes over the years. This is 2015.

This was last year. I asked what happened to the windows and they said they took them out to restore. I like that they removed the weeds from around the house but…