Jones Gap State Park

 An early September walk in the woods in Jones Gap State Park with my 60mm macro lens:

Banded net-winged beetle (Calopteron reticulatum)

Jack-in-the-pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum) fruit. 

Red maple (Acer rubrum), a harbinger of autumn, senescing already! 

I spotted this beautiful sweat bee among some mountain goldenrod (Solidago curtisii). This solitary bee was tough, but fun, to photograph with the macro lens.

Umbrella magnolia (Magnolia tripetala)

Northern watersnake (Nerodia sipedon)

I spotted this northern watersnake below some understory shrubs. From this range in the photographs it's quite deceiving, because but it was actually camouflaged very well against the leaves and in the shadows, and I almost walked right past it while I was bushwhacking to a creek. 

New River Gorge National Park & Babcock State Park

New River Gorge Bridge

In June I took road trip up to New England. I had a work trip in Massachusetts, but on either side of that I took leave and used the time to explore some areas and visit family and friends. While on the drive north I had several spots picked out to stop, the first being New River Gorge National Park. 

This was one of the few national parks in eastern U.S. that I had not been to. All of these photos were taken with my cellphone, and the extensive smogginess you see in the landscape shots is from the wildfires in Canada that were still quite severe at the time. 

green tunnel along the endless wall trail

One of the trails I hiked was the Endless Wall Trail, which leads through some beautiful hemlock groves to the cliffs overlooking the river valley for stunning views. 

Just like everywhere else in the southern Appalachians, hemlocks here have been hit hard with hemlock woolly adelgid. The NPS has chosen to combat it in select groves (tree-by-tree direct injected treatment is the only method). These hemlocks are stunning, and it's nice to see some groves relatively intact in the south. The only hemlocks I see in SC and NC are dead or dying saplings, with most or all of the canopy trees dead. 

a beautiful view of the New River

The historic mill at Babcock State Park, adjacent to the National Park

Dry Tortugas National Park

 In April I was in Key West for a work trip. Thankfully my beautiful wife was able to accompany me down a few days early so we could get to one of the hardest to reach national parks- Dry Tortugas National Park. 

Dry Tortugas National Park is composed of several islands and about 68 miles west of Key West. There are two main ways of getting to the park. One is via the designated ferry company and the other a seaplane company that is licensed to fly folks out there. We chose the seaplane, and it was amazing. The flight over stays low, about 500 feet above the water, which means you have amazing views of the ocean. We saw a great deal of marine life including hundreds of sea turtles, sharks, jellies, and shipwrecks. It's not cheap, but the flight over is absolutely worth it. We were on the first flight in the morning, so we were there for a few hours before the ferry arrived, which meant Fort Jefferson and the surrounding area was fairly empty, which was quite nice. 

Fort Jefferson was built in the 19th century and was later used as a prison. In 1935, during a visit, FDR officially designated it a national monument, and in 1992 it became a national park. 

Unfortunately the day after visiting the the national park I lost my campark camera (a great knock-off GoPro) while snorkeling off Key West. Which means I lost most of the photos I took while at Dry Tortugas, including all of the underwater photos. Everything shown here was taken with my cell phone. 

The view from atop Fort Jefferson.

USACE marker

walking along the western moat edge

one of the shipwrecks we flew over

a view of Key West, coming in from the southwest on the flight back

It's a beautiful spot, certainly worth going to, especially if you're already in Key West. If you're able to, the flight over is incredible and absolutely worth it. 

 

Jones Gap State Park in the Spring

 

Last week we hiked a loop via the Rim of The Gap Trail to the 6 & 20 Connector Trail to the Pinnacle Pass Trail, and back to the Rim of The Gap Trail. It's a beautiful hike through several different forest community types with a nice view of the valley at a cliff overlook along the route. The distance in total was about 6 miles, with 1,500ft elevation gain. 

a snail on an umbrella magnolia 

beautiful wife!

red eft phase of the eastern newt

the main overlook on the hike

The mountain laurel throughout the park was stunning!

a giant millipede

Chimaphila maculata, spotted wintergreen

The Narrows at Eastatoe Creek Heritage Preserve

  We recently hiked down to the beautiful Eastatoe Gorge, to The Narrows Falls. The parking area is off Horse Pasture Road, which cuts through the stunning Jocassee Gorges Natural Area. From the trailhead, it's a mostly downhill hike (2.7 one way) to the overlook platform. The hike down is beautiful, starting in a chestnut oak forest, going through oak-hickory and cove forests, down to what was previously a hemlock-dominant forest by the falls. Tragically, the invasive hemlock woolly adelgid has decimated hemlock populations in the south, permanently altering forest community composition, structure, and function. Some researchers speculate that the rapid decline in hemlock and subsequent large inputs of detritus into the soil may lead to the shrub Rhododendron maximum to takeover in some areas (Nuckolls, April E., et al. "Hemlock declines rapidly with hemlock woolly adelgid infestation: impacts on the carbon cycle of southern Appalachian forests." Ecosystems 12 (2009): 179-190.).

Sam spotted this beautiful black rat snake along the exposed bedrock of hillslope

Galax urceolata

Hydrangea radiata or snowy hydrangea, is common in this area

Hydrangea radiata

Rhododendron maximum or great laurel

Lysimachia quadrifolia or Whorled Loosestrife

 Rhododendron catawbiense or purple rhododendron

The trail branches, to the right it leads The Narrows and the viewing platform. The left leads to some designated primitive camping spots. Kermit and I camped there about 7 or 8 years ago. 

Tradescantia virginiana or spiderwort

The view of The Narrows from the platform above