Falling into Autumn...

 This is just going to be a few shots and not much else. Fall is starting to show up and I am spending time just admiring the sun angle and the deep woods around our farm and on local trails.

Charlie sitting on a bluff.

Hiking...at the Reserve...

The forest that surrounds us... I got stuck on stuck leaves!

Much of the canopy is still green but slowly turning and in places the leaves are brightly colored on damaged limbs.

Many leaves were slowly drifting down from above in the forest making a noise almost like a rainfall.

....

And then I was stopped by this.

Light, dark, shadows, yellows and colorful.
Everything we look for in Fall Colors. 

Blasts of Colors

Fall.

[Designed with a photo of flowers and some 
artistic help from AI.]

I can never keep up when the colors start changing. I want to drop housework, chores, and everything just to spend the time outside looking for that amazing light and those colors of the trees and shrubs.

I get cranky and anxious, afraid that I will miss one beautiful red leaf dropping from the trees, or an afternoon golden glow in an old forest with little undergrowth.

I fear missing all those beautiful little fungi that seem to sprout up after a little rain. Or the incredible patterns of brightly colored leaves on the forest floor.

 

That first hard frost brings excitement and sadness. I want to see the frost on the petals of flowers and then I am sad when the flowers wilt by the end of the day. 

They talk about the Rite of Spring.

What should we call the Rite of Fall?

I found a quote that said "Autumn shows us how beautiful it is to let things go."

True. But... I want Autumn to last more days. Is is too much to ask of the trees and the brush to turn more slowly and to hang on to their leaves longer? 

Is it too much to ask of Mother Nature to extend those golden days just a bit?

Come on Mom Nature! Give us more beautiful days of awesome-ness to stand in your fall beauty and stare in wonder!

Just give me some more time to explore your colors and your trails....

Please?

The above photos were all taken just walking around the forest near my house.

Enjoy.

Autumn

The photo above was taken at my mailbox. My neighbor lives on this ridge and we share the upper part of the driveway. It drops steeply down into a hollow.

There is something magical about the late afternoon light on all those maples and oaks. I could pull up a chair and sit there all afternoon to watch the leaves and trees. 

This week we've had some amazing sunrises. I mean brilliant and startling in colors. 

Sunrise at PeeWee's: Harvest time.
Sunday morning

The Sumac Tree I have been watching since August:

We had a killing frost two nights in a row so the garden flowers are all done it and turned into slimy gobs of gooey green. But at least I could appreciate them just before they turned.

Cosmos

Other jobs for the Autumnal weekend were replacing the stock tank heaters and pulling burrs from my an-ni-mule tails. The redheads always get into parts of the forest where stick tights and burdock are, no matter how diligent I am about pulling or cutting them down.

That is Sunshine staring at me. 

I'm happy to report that their winter coats are soft and fluffy. 

After this last blast of color, November ushers in the Brown Season or the colorless season.

I find it hard to be motivated to take photos of anything in our forest during November. 

But I generally use that time to tidy up the house and do indoor projects anyway.

I have a new 'old' Christmas Chair for this year that I found in one of the sheds. A old bent Hickory.

But since we are all thinking about the end of October.....let's enjoy these days were the temps are still above zero!

Do you like winter? Yes, I do. 

Sunday Stills #20

 Autumn

It happens when the morning sun shines through the old oak tree to the east like this...
cooler mornings
with beautiful morning mists

and heavy dew even in the forest

the fern leaves are kissed with dew drops in the valley just above the creek...

Sunday Stills #20

Little get away

Last week it was Duck Egg for a quick get away.  Tuesday afternoon I used Rich's nap time to do some errands and ended up at Jersey Valley.

I had spent Monday after appointments mowing the 'hill' with the push mower. The grass hadn't been cut since I'd injured my ribs. Tuesday morning I'd mowed the bulk of the yard.
I ran the errands.
And then for whatever the reason, the Subaru drove to Jersey Valley. I got out and walked over to look at the lake and see if any of the trees had started to turn.

Here is a shot of the man made lake. You can see that the water level is at least 10 feet or so below what it used to be.

Here is the pavilion for picnics and what not...next to the playground and above what used to be the beach area.
Sorry...in Infrared!

If one turns around from facing the picnic area, you can see where the wing dam was breached by the flood waters last year.

I cannot even begin to imagine the volume of water that caused this, however there was a farmer that had a drone that did take footage of the water just after it happened. 

If you would like to watch it ... it is here:
Jersey Dam Failure

There is drone footage from before and after the storm.

Looking down from the picnic area towards the wing dam area.

...and from mid way down the rock slope...

This part of Jersey Valley is worth exploring now. The bedrock is exposed, there is a new tiny stream that flows from the lake ... and the rocks are a rockhound's dream come true.

I found a cool root to add to my collection of stick and roots.

I found gobs of neat and unusual rocks too.

I followed the new little stream which seems to be the new main attraction at JV.

This is where I found the tiny waterfalls. There actually are several along the way, but this one is about 3 feet tall and empties into a rock pool.

At this angle the pavillion doesn't look as high up as it really is and things are pretty deceptive looking. Only those with good balance and goat like skills should climb up and down the hill. Lots of loose stuff to trip you up.
Walking in the boulder field would be a challenge to those with weak ankles.

However, it is worth the hike to see some of the sights.

Like I said, the place is interesting!

If you take the time to look around, you find odd things, neat rocks, and unexpected things.

Jersey Valley, September 27th 2015.

I quickly wrapped up my quick little get away and headed back home.

After all, I had some more work to be done.
I'm finding that if I break my work up into two hour increments with a 'choice time' each day, I am a lot more efficient at getting things done.

My choice time can involve a nap, reading, walking, hiking, or visiting a close by county park.

I call them my little mental get aways.

This along with my return to CrossFit has been a good thing.

Now for my next project.
Cleaning the...shed...

Duck Egg

Color shots from Duck Egg County Park. This park is open to Equine and Hikers and in the winter time it is a great snow shoeing destination for those hikers that want to challenge themselves with the hills and the Bad Axe River.
We rode here more than once with our mules and I used a GPS device and we clocked out 9 miles of trails

This was just part of the main trail of lower Duck Egg. The Springville Branch of the Bad Axe River runs through it.

Charlie made friends with some trout fisherman. I doubt Charlie could ever 'not' make friends.

I took a few Infrared shots too. But I'll look at them later.

I had a busy weekend. College girls dropped in...not even kids from my own family...
more about that later!

The Return to Hemlock Trail

Sometimes I find a particular trail that I enjoy and decide that I have to go back in as many different seasons as possible to hike it and see it.

Saturday I had a few hours to myself so I headed to Wildcat Mountain State Park with the intention of hiking the Hemlock Trail and then stopping at the Prairie Trail outlook.

I parked near the canoe launch site and hoisted my camera backpack onto my shoulders and started off.

We'd had a killing frost and the temperatures were in in the 40's.  

I'd worn my insulated camo pants and jacket with a nice warm vest.  

I encountered quite a few 'tourists' wearing some really nice name brand outdoor gear with cameras slung around their necks.
I'm sure I got the odd look, but my gear was just as comfortable as their high priced stuff and was a bit more practical in my opinion.  
When not used for cold weather hiking, my camo clothes were used for cold weather coyote hunting.  

I secretly wished it had been a tad bit colder and I could have worn my skunk hat.  

I ran into a family.  Mom had a baby in a front carrier, they had a four year old, Dad, and Grandma.  I caught up to them and asked how they were doing.
This was their first visit to the trail.  I cautioned them about the backside being pretty steep and having some tough trail sections.

They didn't seem concerned.  Meanwhile, Grandma was sitting on the side of the trail and needed help up.
I shrugged and passed them headed out to a rock out cropping that I wanted to visit.

This finger of rock juts out over ... nothing.  I had seen it in June but decided it was too narrow to take walk out on with another person.

And...it was.
I decided to sit down and just enjoy the view for a while. If a person had balance issues or vertigo, this would not be the place to come and enjoy the view.  

And the view was worth it.

Of course the sun was in the wrong spot for a really great shot, and the Autumn Haze was difficult to deal with, but I took several shots anyway.

Even the rocks I stood on were exceptionally beautiful. Golden lichen covered those below me.

I made my way back to the trail and spoke with a young couple who were sitting in the sun on a rock outcropping. I told them the view from the finger was exceptional if they were very careful.  
But I wouldn't recommend it to most casual hikers.

We talked a while about the area and I found myself telling them about some other neat places to visit.

I moved on and headed to the Scenic outlook that had a bench and wooden guard rails.

I had to wait my turn as the family with Grandma was there and they were trying to take family shots and 'selfies'.

The colors were washed out and many of the trees had lost their leaves due to the high winds we'd had all week, but I still felt the view was worth it.

I packed my gear up and headed towards the backside of Mt. Pisgah.  As I started the steep downward climb, I recalled reading in a review, that this trail was rated as Moderately Difficult to Difficult.

I wondered if the family was coming this way.  I got to another rock outcropping and carefully tried to find a good position to shoot it.  I realized that this too should have morning light on it and not afternoon light.

I wouldn't have a chance to 'shoot' it in the winter as this trail was closed.

The footing on this portion of the trail was very difficult. I walked down and around to where there is a rock ledge that looks like a bench and waited.  I could hear the Family and Grandma coming down the trail.

When they got to the steep log steps I could hear them wondering how safe it was.  In my opinion, if 'Grandma' had trouble on the other parts of the trail, this was going to be the worst for her.

I walked back and offered to help the family out. Grandma leaned on me and I helped her negotiate the sharp turn and steep section.  The footing was dry and powdery which made it as slippery as if it were mud.

The Family thanked me and then asked if I were a Forest Ranger or something.  I laughed and said "No, just someone who enjoys this trail quite a bit!"

I hiked down the rest of the trail and had to step aside for quite a few hikers now.  I decided that weekends were not the prime time to have this trail to myself.

I did't mind the people and had enjoyed meeting them.
But I felt self conscious setting up and taking photos of the trail and the surrounding area.

By the time I reached the parking area, the lot was nearly full.  
I decided that I'd make my return trip even if the fall colors were gone, during the week.


However I did enjoy my experience and need to put Old Settler's Trail back on my fall list.
The rock outcroppings on that trail are fantastic.