Cutting Across the Meadow Again

Another single day off, and it's a cool, clear, dry day, so while running my usual single day off errands I cut across the upland meadow in the Dykeman Spring Nature Park because I knew there'd be an unusually clear view of Blue Mountain up there in this weather. I wasn't wrong. And the meadow itself was looking good, too. Enjoy!

The hay road in the meadow winding its way up the hill

A view of Blue Mountain from the meadow

A view of Blue Mountain from the meadow

Rolling hills - a view of the meadow and beyond

© 2014 by A. Roy Hilbinger 

A Colorful Sunday Morning Walk

A Sunday off, just a single, and lots of things to do on it, so only a few pictures caught going to and from the grocery store. It's been so wet this summer, and especially during this last week, that when the sun finally comes out - as it did today - everything is so lush and colorful. Enjoy!

Still haying on the upland meadow. It was so wet this week that today was the first day he's been able to continue.

A view of the meadow and the tractor path from the east end of the meadow

A sunflower on Orange St.

© 2014 by A. Roy Hilbinger 

A Damp Sunday Morning Stroll

As I was sipping my morning mug of chai masala while reading through the overnight entries on the blogs I follow and Facebook and doing some morning email, I heard the rain start to fall. Bummer! As this is my second day off of two, and usually dedicated to hikes with the camera, this was not good news. Well, it was a gentle rain and not steady but intermittent and I decided to hoist the umbrella and take a brief stroll through the wetlands area of the Dykeman Spring Nature Park. Here are the best shots from that stroll.

Orange Jewelweed dotted with raindrops

One of the swamp boardwalks in the wetlands

My pew in church, the bench along the north duck pond where I often sit in silence and meditation

A Monarch butterfly in a pause between showers

© 2014 by A. Roy Hilbinger 

Sights Along the Way

Some things that caught my eye walking through the Dykeman Spring Nature Park on the way to the grocery store.

Blackberries ripening along the Dykeman Walking Trail. These are way behind; up on the meadow they've already ripened and been eaten (by me and the birds)

Tree fungus along the Upland Trail in the Dykeman Spring Nature Trail

They're haying on the upland meadow again

© 2014 by A. Roy Hilbinger 

Butterfly Season

It's the height of butterfly season around here; a walk through the Dykeman Spring Nature Park this morning emphasized that. I spotted at least ten different species, but the little buggers don't like to sit still for very long and really don't like to let humans near enough to use a macro lens, so I only got these four using the zoom and a lot of patience. Enjoy!

Silver-spotted Skipper

Cabbage White butterfly

Clouded Sulphur butterfly

Black Swallowtail butterfly

© 2014 by A. Roy Hilbinger 

Overlook

Today is gorgeous - dry, temps in the 70s with a nice breeze out of the northwest. Very comfortable and perfect for walking around town. I walked out the door in search of photos and ended up on Spring Hill in the cemetery, but this time I didn't end up shooting interesting tombstones. Instead I noticed that breaks in the trees surrounding the cemetery offered some great framed views of parts of South Mountain and Shippensburg below. The three following shots are the best of the lot. Enjoy!

© 2014 by A. Roy Hilbinger 

Serenity

Today and tomorrow off this week. I did my usual leisurely stroll through the Dykeman Spring Nature Park on the way to the grocery store. The weather today is cloudy and uncharacteristically mild for this time of year (at 3 pm the a/c is still off and the windows open, and the temperature in this room is still only 77º F [25º C]), with occasional brief, light showers, so it was a pleasant walk. I didn't take a lot of photos because I was enjoying the pleasantness so much. Still, I did click the shutter from time to time; these are the cream of the crop. Enjoy!

Reflections in the north duck pond

Looking across the upland meadow toward Blue Mountain

An American Painted Lady butterfly on the upland meadow

© 2014 by A. Roy Hilbinger 

Random Shots

A day off, but a single, so it's errands day. While running said errands I just shot anything that caught my eye. These are the ones that worked.

A house on North Prince St. whose color scheme and front garden catch my eye every time I walk by it

A window in the old Hoffman Mills complex on Burd St.

Antique fire engine at the Cumberland Valley Hose Co. #2 on West King St.

Peekaboo! A cat on a porch on Ridge Ave.

© 2014 by A. Roy Hilbinger 

A Nice, Relaxing Sunday

Another single day off, and another slow, leisurely walk through the Dykeman Spring Nature Park on the way to the grocery store. I need my weekly dose of immersion in Nature!

A walk in the woods on a Sunday morning

A river runs through it (okay, so it's a creek and not a river!)

The water outlet pier on the north duck pond

A view of the upland meadow and surroundings

A view of Blue Mountain from the upland meadow

© 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 

Random Shots

Tomorrow I go up on the mountain and hike a short stretch of the Appalachian Trail. Today I went out and gathered up the rest of the stuff I needed - chewy granola bars and Snickers, a 5-foot wooden mop handle which will serve very well as a walking stick, and mosquito repellent. I took the back alleys and got some pictures while out and about. The first shot that looks like a farm way out in the country is actually planted smack in the middle of town, surrounded by housing and busy streets; it's off the end of a back alley called Hockersmith Ave. The flower garden is on Neff Ave. in the same backyard as the overgrown patio chair I shot last week. The last two shots are of South Mountain from the RR overpass on Baltimore Rd. That's where I'll be tomorrow and Thursday (and maybe Friday morning, too). Today is wet and very, very humid, as you can probably tell from those South Mountain shots; but there's a front moving through and the next few days will be much drier and cooler. Perfect weather for hiking! Whoopee!

Farm off Hockersmith Ave.

A flower garden on Neff Ave.

A view of South Mountain from Baltimore Rd.

A view of South Mountain from Baltimore Rd.

© 2014 by A. Roy Hilbinger 

Getting Up Close

Day one of my eight-day vacation. I ambled lazily through it, grocery shopping and watching the World Cup finals. And of course on the way to the grocery store I went through the Dykeman Spring Nature Park. I discovered that there were small things that wanted to be photographed, so I obliged them. The flowers were all shot in macro mode, but I had to use the zoom to get the butterflies; there were lots of winged critters around but none of them would let me get close enough to use the macro. Oh well... 

A Little Wood Satyr butterfly along the Dykeman Walking Trail

A Pearl Crescent butterfly along the Dykeman Walking Trail

Butter-and-Eggs, a wild variety of Snapdragon, in the upland meadow

Spotted Knapweed in the upland meadow

Red Trumpet Vine in the upland meadow

© 2014 by A. Roy Hilbinger 

This 'n' That Around Town

I didn't feel like getting up to much today (don't be alarmed, it's just laziness, not illness!), so I just wandered around town for a little and collected the following scenes. The birds are at the flat sunflower seed feeder in my backyard. And I liked that shot of the old, rusty patio chair overgrown by a runaway garden in both color and b&w. The last shot, of the layered mountain ridges, is something I see all the time; it's just that today I finally figured out how I wanted to shoot it. Enjoy!

The chow line at my flat feeder - a male Cardinal and a male House Sparrow

Found art in the back alleys of Shippensburg, the color version

Found art in the back alleys of Shippensburg, the b&w version

Three ridges converge - South Mountain from the RR overpass on Baltimore Rd.

© 2014 by A. Roy Hilbinger