Waterfall Chasing

I have been remiss in posting lately.  Lots of projects have kept me occupied lately.  And of course there is general laziness as well.  No excuses for that one.  While I've got an open moment, I thought I would post briefly about our recent excursions.

In the last month, we've done a great deal of traveling to the Blue Ridge Parkway.  It's not far from home and it's glorious right now with the last of the wildflowers and the leaves beginning to change.  Since our primary target for nature walking is about to take a long winter break, our focus has been on waterfalls lately.  In the past month we have visited three within close proximity of each other: Linville Falls, Crabtree Falls, and Glassy Creek Falls.

Linville Falls is, as one would expect, gorgeous.  Located nearly mile marker 316 on the Parkway, it's a hot spot for tourists.  There are three trails to follow with varying difficulty, but all three give you very different views of the falls.  Here's a shot from trail #2, known as the Plunge Basin Overlook Trail.

 

Linville Falls actually has two drops.  The lower drop pictured above is known as Linville Falls.  The upper drop is made of two smaller falls collectively known as Double Falls.  The right falls, we discovered upon returning home, was featured in a scene from The Last of the Mohicans.

Crabtree Falls is located off mile marker 339.  It's a short trail estimated to be completed in 2.5 hours if you take the entire loop around.  For us, the trail ended up being 4 hours as we just had to stop and examine the wildflowers.  Because of forecasted heavy rains and thunderstorms, we visited the falls a day later than planned but that turned out for the better in terms of lighting and the falls itself.

Glassy Creek Falls is just outside Little Switzerland off mile marker 334.  Located on private property, the falls are small but still beautiful to see.  Just be prepared to do a bit of climbing to get the best view.  The trail that leads to the falls veers off in the opposite direction past the falls; if you want to get to the foot, you have to climb down some rather steep embankments.

This coming weekend we'll be visiting another waterfall, Hickory Nut Falls in Chimney Rock State Park.  It's been over a decade since we visited Chimney Rock.  We thought it was time we visited it again since both mom and I have changed a great deal since then.  

Stone Mountain State Park

There has been recent talk of us visiting other state parks in our area.  Typically we hike the trails of Lake Norman State Park, but we wanted to see what wonders the other parks held.  In particular we wanted to begin visiting parks with waterfalls.  Most other state parks and waterfalls are a good 1.5-2 hours away, which means all day away from home.  This would be fine but we are a pair of worrisome cat parents and were concerned the Sweet Boy and Chubby Lady would constantly fight, eat all the food, and proceed to starve.  The decision, then, was to start as locally as possible.

Using Kevin Adams' "North Carolina Waterfalls: A Hiking and Photography Guide", we decided upon Stone Mountain State Park.  Located nearing Roaring Gap, it is only a little over an hour's drive away and has three waterfalls to visit in addition to its impressive mountain face.  Packing a light lunch and all our typical gear, we hopped into the Wrangler and off we went.

After a little bit of debate on where to park, we eventually made our way onto a trail but was stopped immediately by the sight of bull thistle.

If the appearance of bull thistle - a flower we never thought we'd see - was any indication, this park would be full of surprises.  And it was.

We saw all sorts of species of wildflowers and fungi, some we had seen before but others were new.  Our next surprise was meadow beauty.

Just like its name, there were many meadow beauties in the meadow/field like areas dotting the trails.  What delights me the most about meadow beauty is its vase-like seed.

As you walk the trails of Stone Mountain, there are various views of the mountain itself.  The summit, naturally, has the best view but the side views are spectacular as well.

Just before we reached the summit, another surprise: nodding lady's tresses!

Beautiful flowers but incredibly difficult to photograph.  After some research we realized that they had just started their blooming season.  They typically grow in colonies but we only saw three flowers.  As their blooming season progresses, we hope to see more.

From the summit, you can see the beginning of the Appalachian mountains.  Stone Mountain sits close to the Blue Ridge Parkway and thus the mountains can be easily seen.  The weather was a bit overcast but the low clouds just adds to the scenery.

To get down from the summit, you can either backtrack or continue down the other side.  Since our main objective was to see waterfalls and we hadn't seen any yet we continued down the other side.  Unbeknownst to us, the side of the mountain we were heading down had numerous wooden stairs surrounded by mountain laurel trees.  Its quite a climb going down.  Two days later my calves still ache from the climb; I can't imagine what state we would find our bodies in if we climbed those stairs going up.  If you ever decide to walk the entire Stone Mountain loop, bring some trekking poles.

Once we did make it down the stairs and on level path again, we realized we had gone in the complete opposite direction that Kevin Adams had indicated.  Rather than starting at the Lower Parking Lot, we began at the Upper Parking Lot and got our directions mixed.  In short: we took the long way around.  But we got some great views and a good workout.

Unfortunately not long after I took the above photo it started to rain.  And rain.  And continued to rain all the way to the waterfalls.  Having no protection for my camera I didn't get any shots of the actually falls.  But we plan another trip soon (with trekking poles, more gear protection, and correct hiking directions) so expect them soon.

And the cats didn't starve either.

Virgin's Bower

Virgin's Bower is in crazy bloom right now.  Mom found tons of them around the local library; before that we would see them in spots along our walking trails.

Also known as Old Man's Beard and Devil's Darning Needles, Clematis virginiana is part of the Buttercup family.  It's a perennial vine and is often seen growing in clusters.  A native species, its peak blooming times are from July to September (so there's still plenty of time to see more).  When the flowers change to fruit, they resemble white fibrous strings hence the alternative common names.  I will have to remember to post images of the fringe like fruit when we find them.

Virgin's bower is poisonous, but Native Americans have used extractions and infusions of its parts in the past.  Iroquois would use extract from the stems to induce strange dreams, while the Cherokee used infusions with milkweed for backaches.  Both tribes would use root infusions for stomachache and kidney troubles.  It is also said the Iroquois would use infusions to treat veneral disease sores.

The flowers of the virgin's bower attract butterflies and hummingbirds.  I've mostly seen little skippers around the flowers.

Information source: Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center at the University of Texas at Austin

Introduction

I had planned for my first posting to be dramatic, but truth is I am not a dramatic person.  I suppose a brief introduction will suffice.  But where to start?

Based on schooling, I am a scientist.  I have both an undergraduate and a graduate degree in the biological sciences.  My current occupation is a full-time instructor of said sciences.  Most of my work week is spent keeping myself one step ahead of my students. 

My home life contains no more drama than my work life.  I share a small-ish condo with my mother in a small city on the western side of North Carolina.  We also have two domestic short-haired cats who are as different as they get.  One is lazy, one is frenzied; one thin, one fat; one black, one mostly white.  And of course one male and one female. 

On weekends, mom and I will seek out nature.  Our preferred place is the local state park but we also visit the local Greenway as well.  It is quite fascinating and astonishing what kinds of things you can find in the most unexpected places.  Our current interest is wildflowers and we try to find new varieties, but the ones we have identified continue to delight us when they spring up in new locations.  My other interests are craft related; I am a knitter, sewer, costumer, jewelry maker, and occasional sketch artist.  I keep the results of those endeavors at various other websites such as deviantArt, Ravelry, or Cosplay.com.

This blog, however, is a place for me to house my photographs.  I am currently enrolled as a student with the New York Institute of Photography in their distance education Professional Photography course.  My main objective is to improve my photography skills but I am hoping to make photography a freelance profession.  I'm hoping to share these photos with everyone else via this blog. 

Feel free to leave comments and constructive criticism.  Any advice to improve my photography skills or corrections to information are most appreciated.  As I tell my students, intolerance, bigotry, or just plain rudeness will not be acceptable.