Spring into Summer

The calendar says it's May, but it feels like August here with the temperature hovering around 90º (32º C). And across the country, in Colorado, it's snowing! We have the Multiflora Roses and Blackberries blooming, and while there's no snow, the Black Locust blossoms have been falling like it and covering the ground beneath the trees like a Summer version of a snow blanket. Mama Gaia is very green and lush, with lots of floral highlights. Come walk through the Dykeman Spring Nature Park and see.

Multiflora Roses along the Dykeman Walking Trail in the wetland area

Blackberry blossoms along the trail

Fallen Black Locust blossoms cover the trail like a quick snow squall

Yellow Wood Sorrel along the nature trail

Reflections on the north duck pond

© 2017 by A. Roy Hilbinger 

Sunday Constitutional

It rained the last two days, at  least 2" (5 cm), so the green and color has gotten even more lush for my Sunday walk in the Dykeman Spring Nature Park. There have also been some other Spring events: I saw my first-of-the-season Green Heron in the wetland; the insect nymphs are all over the ponds, which has attracted even more Swallows to come and skim them up; and the first goslings have hatched. Come see what I saw today!

Dame's Rocket along the Dykeman Walking Trail

The forest floor along the trail

Daisy Fleabane in the wetland

A Green Heron in the wetland

A Bank Swallow in the wetland

A family outing on the north duck pond

Black Locust blossoms along the trail

© 2017 by A. Roy Hilbinger 

Earth Day in the Park

As long as I live, I'll hear waterfalls and birds and winds sing. I'll interpret the rocks, learn the language of flood, storm, and the avalanche. I'll acquaint myself with the glaciers and wild gardens, and get as near the heart of the world as I can. – John Muir

Today is Earth Day, and yesterday was the original environmentalist and founder of the US National Parks system John Muir's birthday. What a happy pairing! To celebrate, I headed down to the Dykeman Spring Nature Park to get my feet on dirt and mud and humus, no pavement interfering with the contact between human and Earth. It's a cloudy, damp, and cool day, with occasional showers, which in a way is good for my photography because it brings out the lush greens and vibrant colors of the flowers and blossoms adorning Mama Gaia. There were also groups of school-age kids with garbage bags wandering the park, picking up tossed litter as part of Shippensburg's Earth Day festivities. Since some of them were walking out in the cattail swamp and down along some of the streamlets in the wetland to collect trash, I thought it a good idea to warn them to watch their toes; that's where three or four good-sized Snapping Turtles live!

I wandered through the whole park - the wetland area, the woods along the Upland Trail, and the meadow. And then I came back down the hill and headed home when the rain started coming down harder. And now I have some photos from the walk for you to enjoy. Happy Earth Day!

The sun shines not on us but in us. The rivers flow not past, but through us. Thrilling, tingling, vibrating every fiber and cell of the substance of our bodies, making them glide and sing. The trees wave and the flowers bloom in our bodies as well as our souls, and every bird song, wind song, and tremendous storm song of the rocks in the heart of the mountains is our song, our very own, and sings our love. – John Muir

The Dogwoods over the creek at McLean House are blooming!

Entering the park along the Dykeman Walking Trail

Mama Redwing Blackbird was less than pleased at my presence

Meanwhile, Papa Redwing yelled at me from out in the cattails

The Redbuds in the park, like these along the creek, are in full bloom

White Campion along the Meadow Trail

The forest floor along the Upland Trail 

On the way home I passed by the north duck pond again

© 2017 by A. Roy Hilbinger 

Mourning Doves

This pair of Mourning Doves decided to give me some poses along the Dykeman Walking Trail while I was on a morning walk.

© 2017 by A. Roy Hilbinger 

A Sunday Morning Walk in the Wetland

I'm on vacation for nine days, from this weekend through next weekend. It had been raining since late Thursday, and yesterday was just too wet, cold, and windy, so my first day of vacation was spent lounging around the apartment and going on a Netflix marathon. Today is still a bit chilly and overcast, but the rain has moved off and the wind has died down. So this morning I did my Sunday "church" visit to the Dykeman Spring Nature Park. It was a soggy walk, but that added all the more contrast between lights and darks in the landscape. And more Fall color is appearing in the leaves. This is shaping up to be a spectacular Fall this year. There will be more hikes in the next week, so keep coming back to see what I've been up to. But in the meantime, tie on your boots and come with me on a walk through the Dykeman wetland.

Each of my walks starts with a pause at Branch Creek to see if there are any Great Blue Herons fishing. Not today!

Entering the Dykeman Spring Nature park along the Dykeman Walking Trail

The view south from the railroad tunnel on the Dykeman Walking Trail

A scene on the trail through the Dykeman Spring wetland

Another view along the trail

The view of Branch Creek from the red bridge on the Dykeman Walking Trail

My "church" of a Sunday morning - the north duck pond with red pew

The red bridge over Branch Creek on the Dykeman Walking Trail

The view north from the railroad tunnel, on the way home

This study in contrast caught my eye as I was heading home on the Dykeman Walking Trail

© 2015 by A. Roy Hilbinger 

Hot

It's hot out there today, has been all week and will be for a couple of more days. Plus despite the high humidity it's also very dry. We haven't had any significant rain for over a month now; the grass is browning and crispy, and even the leaves on shrubs and some trees are starting to brown around the edges. So on my walk through the Dykeman Spring Nature Park on the way to the grocery store this morning I kept to the shade as much as possible, and dabbled my feet in the creek for a little while. Here are some shots from that walk.

A shady stretch of the Dykeman Walking Trail

A Common Whitetail dragonfly among the cattails in the wetland

The creek in the park was a great place to be on a hot day!

An empty hay wagon on the eastern end of the upland meadow

© 2015 by A. Roy Hilbinger 

August Weather Arrives

We've been spoiled lately; it's been cooler and dryer than usual for August around here. But that came to an end today; even though I woke up to pleasant, cool lower 60s this morning, by the time I was done with laundry and was heading out the door to take my meandering walk to the grocery store both the temperature and the dew point were rising rapidly. It was a hot walk through the Dykeman Spring Nature Park at 10:00 am, especially up on the meadow. Come along on the walk with me.

One of the swamp boardwalks on the Dykeman Walking Trail

I never get tired of shooting this stretch of the creek in the park

The north duck pond was a mirror today with no breeze disturbing the surface

The upland meadow from the east end. We need some rain; the grass is getting kinda crispy up there!

© 2015 by A. Roy Hilbinger 

Paths Taken

"He [Bilbo Baggins] used often to say there was only one Road; that it was like a great river: its springs were at every doorstep, and every path was its tributary. 'It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out of your door,' he used to say. 'You step into the Road, and if you don't keep your feet, there is no knowing where you might be swept off to.'" - Frodo Baggins in The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then too the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I –

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

– The Road Not Taken, Robert Frost

Photos © 2015 by A. Roy Hilbinger 

An Election Day Stroll

After voting this morning I decided to take a stroll through the Dykeman Spring Nature Park to monitor the state of the Fall foliage. It was a gorgeous day, with a slight overcast and temps in the low 60s. Along with the autumnal colors, I saw and heard a good few birds, all of whom managed to avoid my camera - some newly-arrived Dark-eyed Juncos (who people around here call "snow birds"), several White-throated Sparrows singing to each other, a couple of Carolina Wrens fussing at me, a female Downy Woodpecker, and a male Red-bellied Woodpecker. It was a nice walk and I bring you these shots to prove it.

Along the Dykeman Walking Trail

Dykeman Spring wetland

Along the north duck pond

The south duck pond and the Hatch House

The north duck pond again

Branch Creek by the ball fields along the Dykeman Walking Trail

© 2014 by A. Roy Hilbinger 

A Hike on the Appalachian Trail

South Mountain, the goal on Wednesday morning

I took this week as a vacation week from work and decided to go up on South Mountain to hike a stretch of the Appalachian Trail as it runs through Michaux State Forest. The week had started out hot, humid, and rainy, but I was betting on the forecast being right that a cold front moving through on Tuesday would produce excellent hiking weather - cooler, drier, and with a nice northwest breeze - for a few days starting Wednesday. Well, they were right, and the weather was gorgeous right on schedule!

I set out from my house at 6:30 Wednesday morning, going out to Means Hollow Rd., which goes up the mountain and crosses the Appalachian Trail at the top of the ridge. That was quite a climb! The plan was to hike all day Wednesday and stay overnight at the Tom's Run Shelter, and then to go on to Pine Grove Furnace State Park on Thursday morning and then head back to Shippensburg Rd. and head for home. That plan changed a little, and I skipped Pine Grove Furnace, just visiting some things that looked intriguing on Michaux Rd. just on the other side of Tom's Run and then heading back to Shippensburg Rd. You see, I neglected to get an air mattress to sleep on, and those shelters only have a hard, wooden surface to sleep on. I got very little sleep Wednesday night and I swore I wouldn't spend another night like that. As going to Pine Grove Furnace would probably necessitate a stay at the Birch Run Shelter on Thursday night, I decided to skip the state park and get home at a reasonable hour Thursday. Maybe next time!

Some things to note... The Appalachian Trail Conservancy has shelters built all along the Trail at reasonable intervals to accommodate overnight hikers. Each shelter is built near a potable water source, and each also has a privy (outhouse, outdoor toilet, whatever you call it where you live) a decent distance from the shelter. Unfortunately those privies are not chemical toilets but the old-fashioned one-holer, and this time of year the smell inside them is really something else! 

Also of note, the place I visited Thursday morning on Michaux Rd. is called Camp Michaux. It was originally a CCC camp (Civilian Conservation Corps, an institution created by the Roosevelt administration during the Great Depression in the 1930s to employ the rising numbers of the unemployed and improve the infrastructure in the US at the same time) and was converted to a prisoner of war camp during WWII. Nothing remains now but the shell of an old barn, but I like ruins and I had to go see.

Up in the mountains in most of the southern areas of the US the people who originally settled in those areas had some interesting names for landmarks and geological sites. One of those places lies across the trail; it's called Dead Woman's Hollow, and Dead Woman's Hollow Rd. crosses the trail and I just had to see it. I was really expecting to hear banjos and a mournful voice singing "The Long Black Veil", but I guess the ghost of that dead woman departed a long time ago. Still, I had to go see just for the novelty of it.

In any case, it was beautiful up there on the mountain and I brought you some pictures to look at. There are a lot, and 37 passed quality control. I'm just posting a few favorites here, but I'll leave you this link to go visit my Picasa web album where you can see all of them and click on the "slideshow" link to watch it that way.

Meanwhile, here are some pictures I liked the best. Enjoy!

There was a pair of Great Crested Flycatchers nesting under the eaves of the Birch Run Shelter

The trail runs through a fern break up on Big Flat Ridge

A mushroom growing along the trail

Walking through the woods on the Appalachian Trail

A Red-spotted Purple butterfly on Milkweed just off the trail on Ridge Rd.

© 2014 by A. Roy Hilbinger