Thanksgiving Fog

26 Sunday Nov 2017

Posted by Ronald Parks in Hiking, nature, Photography

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

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.

A Walk In The Woods

14 Tuesday Nov 2017

Posted by Ronald Parks in Hiking, Photography

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

bridges, engineering, Gunpowder Falls, Hiking, meditation, nature, photography

That was actually a pretty good movie, with Robert Redford and Nick Nolte. But for us, it wasn’t the misadventures while walking the Appalachian Trail. It was just a peaceful, late afternoon stroll along the Big Gunpowder Falls.

I always like checking out the bridges. Quite a few bandaids on it and should be rebuilt. This is where Harford Rd. crosses the Falls.

Here we have Molly not wanting to get her feet wet. This is crossing over Jenifer’s Branch. We did that hike once before so we stuck with the Gunpowder on this trip.

Can’t blame Molly for not wanting to get wet – the water was cold.

Ice in early November.

Even though it was cold, this little guy was reaching for the sun, trying to stay alive.

I don’t think this stuff ever dies.

Daily black and white. Some b/w make the day dreary looking. Our days hiking are always fun. We stay positive. And Kathy has shown me how to be aware of the goodness of the hike (as opposed to my just trudging through, seeing how many cool photos I can take, to post on FaceBook!!)

I now take the time to reflect on what I am seeing – to look across and up in the trees.

Sitting pretty.

Just need to focus on what is around me, on that which is in front of me, on what is important. To be in the moment. Mindful Walking.

Kathy’s gift to the tree. Art in the park.

Our map of the trip. The one thing about AllTrails is, it shows how long you are out there while recording (over 2 hours) but when you save it, it only shows how long you were actually moving. Guess I better check the settings or will probably have to upgrade.

N.Y. Trip

30 Monday Oct 2017

Posted by Ronald Parks in Hiking, New York, Photography

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

art, engineering, Hiking, HISTORY, nature, photography, Public Works

Another day trip to New York. Always a lot of fun and a lot of walking. You cannot beat the Groupon $33 round trip price. Our driver just flies up the highway. Went thru the Holland Tunnel and got off at 8th and 45th. Went to the City Kitchen then headed over to the subway.

It was a lot cleaner than I thought it would be. Lots of people in N.Y. for some reason.

Looking down at one of the trains.

Our first stop was at the 9/11 memorial. This is some sort of mall?

Inside view.

Bright sunny day with lots of reflections.

More reflections.

Reflecting pool. Hard to believe there once was a building here – full of people.

Kathy left her cellphone at work, so I’m not sure who she is talking to – on a cloaked phone.

The Survivor Tree. Discovered amidst the wreckage of 9/11 – transplanted and cared for, then brought back to be planted here.

An art sculpture from the wreckage at WTC Plaza. 1971 “The Sphere”

Back on the subway and headed to Staten Island Ferry. The subway card did not work after Kathy went thru – a woman held the gate open for me! Niceness in NY!

From outside the ferry terminal you can see the Brooklyn Bridge.

Leaving the terminal and watching a million people standing in line for the ferry, we walked over to Battery Park. Besides being able to see Lady Liberty from there, they have many statues around.

My B&W post of the day.

This was a strange one – called The Immigrants.

Castle Clinton. Had some nice dioramas inside.

Another statue. This was blocked off and we couldn’t read what it was about.

Korean War Memorial – Got his camos on.

The Seaglass Carousel.

Leaves are slow to turn up here.

After Battery Park we caught another subway to Chelsea Market. Building on the way.

This place was packed. Halloween stuff going on.

Halloween stuff!Left the market and headed to the High Line.

Another view. This is at 14th Street.

And here is an old time view. Interesting history about this. Plenty of articles on Google.

The High Line was old train tracks above the City, turned into a garden.

Finally some fall colors.

From 14th street we headed south to the end. Kathy got a kick out of me wanting to keep walking. This is at Gansevoort St. From here on, the rails were destroyed.

Besides being a nice hike, you get to see so much on the High Line.

I saw an old time photo of this. Didn’t think one still existed!

Lots of art work around and to be seen from an eye level view.

On the way heading north.

We are almost at the end and we come across this, just before 34th St.

Lots of new construction going on. This is Hudson Yard.

Leave the High Line and head back to the Theater District. Sights on the way.

Ha! Ralph Kramden!

Times Square is always a treat. Guy flipping over tourist.

Nice day and lots of people. We ate at Shake Shack, went to Muji and just hung out until it was time to head home.

Turkey Point at Elk Neck

06 Friday Oct 2017

Posted by Ronald Parks in Hiking, nature, Photography

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

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

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

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…

This was Saturday and it is all growing back. Sad.

New benches around the park.

And a new foot bridge.

A new pond.

Jay and Molly chillin in the shade. It was rather warm.

A path we had never taken.

After a couple miles, Jay wanted to cool off. Molly not so much.

Mine Bank Run was really dried up.

So when we found a puddle, Jay took the opportunity to cool off.

Always a Favorite

25 Monday Sep 2017

Posted by Ronald Parks in kayaking, Photography

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

kayaking, nature, photography, water

With a lot that needs taking care of this week, we were still able to find the time to go kayaking. We decided on somewhere close. It was a beautiful day to be out on the water. We have been to Dundee creek many times and each time we take a different path.

Today’s trip kept us mostly along the shoreline, checking out the hidden coves. A little over 3 miles and two hours on the water. Beautiful.

The water was really calm and smooth – like butter. This is the first small cove heading north from the launch area.

Moving on, Kathy stops to look at a couple Isis. The one on the post, all the way near shore, did not move for quite a while. We could not get close enough to them for a good photo shot.

Moving on to the next little cove. I don’t believe a lot of people venture into here. Lots of spider webs.

Not only spiders but tree obstacles as well. But worth the silence and seclusion once inside.

A whatchamacallit hanging from an abandoned dock.

The one cove, upper left had these invasive guys growing. Kathy said her goldfish love eating these things.

My sun-goddess oblivious to the paddle boarders. We went early and it was getting really hot out by 11am.

Decided to go over to the osprey nest. I guess these guys moved on to Argentina? I did wave to the Marshy Point Osprey Cam.

The Marshy Point Nature Center, which is a very nice place, is just beyond the woods.

Another great day to be kayaking.

Random Labor Day 2017

18 Monday Sep 2017

Posted by Ronald Parks in nature, ocean city, Photography

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Farm, Museum, nature, ocean city, photography

Trip to Salisbury and Ocean City

Looking thru the screen.

Losing a feather.

Brave Molly chasing the heron away from the pond. The heron likes to eat all the fish in the pond.

The old barn and the shed.

He decided to land on top of the barn for a while.

Kathy’s photo of a knot hole in the barn.

And her photo of a morning glory.

My view of the mg.

A walk through the cornfield.

Rows of corn on the sandy soil.

Kathy looking at something…

How the corn holds on for dear life.

Corn on the cob.

Picture of Kathy taking a picture of me.

Turkey feather.

Spider.

Milkweed.

To the ocean Hon.

Rides not being…Hmm…grammar question. Would it be ‘Not being ridden’ or ‘not being rode’?

If you get a chance, go in the Life Saving Museum and look at the collection of sand from around the world.

Across the inlet. No ponies today.

Need more light.

It.

Two sisters shopping.

Favorite art store.

Vacations in B/W

14 Thursday Sep 2017

Posted by Ronald Parks in National Parks, Photography

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

glass plate negatives, Hiking, Lantern Slides, National Parks, nature, photography

I could not imagine going on vacation and seeing everything in black and white, although I do sometimes convert my photographs to b/w. On occasion, while sorting and documenting the museum archives I come across photographs that are in unmarked files, no explanation as to why they are there. The only thing I can figure is that they were someone’s personal photos and left within objects donated to the museum or gathered up and packed away by mistake before they were archived.

I found the below photographs with their negatives in an old lantern slide envelope. They are 2-1/2″ x 3-1/2″ prints. There are no dates but they have a short description on the reverse side.

Grand canyon of the Yellowstone from Inspiration Point, Yellowstone Park (Note falls in distance)

Old Faithful (car gives an idea to the date of this photograph – early 1900s?)

Angel Terrace, Mammoth Hot Springs, Yellowstone Park. Back then people needed to be told to stay off the natural wonders, so as not to ruin them for others to enjoy.

Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone from Inspiration Point. Two of the photos I found had a glare to them, like they were taken through the windshield of a car?

View of the Lower Falls of the Yellowstone.

At foot of Uncle Tom’s Trail. Lower Falls of Yellowstone. Enlarging this photo doesn’t do it justice. Although I scanned it at 1200, it looks fuzzy. The actual photo is crisper. I never was one to like the effects some photographers do to moving water, making it all fuzzy looking. I like seeing what is being seen and not special effects.

Minerva Terrace. Mammoth Hot Springs, Yellowstone Park.

Kilgore Falls and Kayaking (Doggie Style)

12 Tuesday Sep 2017

Posted by Ronald Parks in Hiking, kayaking, Photography

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Dams, dogs, eden mill, Hiking, kayaking, Kilgore, mills, nature, photography

It was a nice day to head up to Eden Mill for some kayaking, but first we stopped at Kilgore Falls, on Falling Branch, to do a little hiking. Early enough and cool enough out that there wasn’t a big summer crowd there.

Nice, well worn trails to the falls.

Two paths across the water. I took the easier one since I was carrying Molly in one hand and the camera in the other.

Molly, a poop bag and an alien t-shirt. Life is sweet!

An unobstructed view.

Speaking of aliens, did you ever see the Star Trek episode with Frank Gorshin – Let That Be Your Last Battlefield?

We finished our hike and then headed to the mill for Molly’s first kayak adventure. She was well behaved and only got jumpy once. (When I say jumpy, I mean, we thought she was going to jump ship)

Heading up stream, waiting for me. Another kayaker suggested I move my truck. Shouldn’t park in front of the mill. I thought the mill was closed.

Right after she peeked over the side and realized she was on the water, she panicked some. But calmed down.

The barn and shed upstream a ways. The water was higher than normal. We were hoping to go further up, but…

…just past the farm the water was only a couple inches deep. I got out and walked up some to see if it was deeper upstream. To the curve, it was not.

We brought the kayaks together to drift downstream at an easy pace. Molly decided to jump in my kayak.

Only turtles we saw.

And this guy. We did see a couple deer driving the back road to the dam, but that was it for wildlife.

Speaking of wild life, when I went to get the truck, this guy, in his mastiff taxi, was pulling up! Another weekend of wonderful adventures!!

Tuckahoe

28 Monday Aug 2017

Posted by Ronald Parks in kayaking, Photography

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

bridges, Hiking, kayaking, nature, photography

I’d like to thank https://kayakingdelmarva.com/ and Bill Gross from Facebook for telling me about this place. It was really, really nice. Kathy says it is second only to Assateague Island kayaking. I believe she is right! The map below shows our route. I would say it was more like 5 miles total (we did zigzag around a bit on the way up but took a straight shot back) We were there for about four hours.

According to Google Maps, we were in 3 different counties. The ramp is in Caroline. Once we crossed to the other side of the creek we were in Talbot. Then heading north, zig-zagging back and forth in Queen Anne’s. Not sure exactly how far we went because Kathy’s phone lost the location signal. I do know that a plane doing somersaults over our heads was somewhere heading towards Ridgely Airfield. I know we weren’t that far up.

The boat ramp. Nice little secluded area. A man and his son were fishing there and two girls were swimming.

I found this painted rock in Baltimore and brought him for the ride. Left him on the bench to be found and enjoyed by another. When we came back 4 hours later he was gone – tossed in the water! I rescued him! And found 2 others that I just left on the ramp.

Heading under Main St. Don’t forget to duck.

I see you. A lot of times Kathy and I will drift off in different directions. I went into this little cove to check things out.

Next is the first railroad bridge.

Those are some old trees.

There were a lot of trees down in this creek. It was a giant obstacle course. Lots of underwater limbs you have to look out for. But it was fun!

Route 404. It sure is taking the state a long time to finish this road.

The next RR Bridge.

Baxter.

Tarzan swing.

Underneath the power lines is this diesel tank and pump?

The changing of the leaves. Fall is coming early to Tuckahoe Creek. It will be so nice to come back here in the fall!

Kathy getting a close up of a flower. Her phone takes better pics than my camera.

Inside the flower.

This thing jumped up on her kayak and she started beating it with her paddle! Actually, she retrieved it out of the water and wanted to keep it. I broke it when I dropped it in the grass – sorry…