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vandaliatraveler · 2 days
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Morning sun filters through the overcast above Morgantown. Taken from my cell phone.
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vandaliatraveler · 20 days
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Well after surviving incessant deer raids and a few frigid nights this past winter, lo and behold, my sharp-lobed hepaticas (Hepatica acutiloba) are having a moment. Hepatica is one of the earliest-blooming wildflowers in Central Appalachia, but it's by no means an ephemeral. The plant's leathery, three-lobed leaves persist all year, even through the toughest winters. Hepaticas are an absolute must-have for a shady spot in a native wildflower garden, especially when planted around rocks and along edges - just too gorgeous for words.
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Incidentally, I buy my live native plants from Rare Roots, a small, women-owned business within reasonable shipping distance of Morgantown. The plants are always immaculately packed and in good shape when they arrive. So far, so good - the plants I bought last year have survived the winter and are putting out new shoots. And I've ordered more for the spring, including Meehan's Mint and lyreleaf sage, two positively stunning native mints I'm eager to establish in my garden beds.
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vandaliatraveler · 24 days
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Early March on the Mon River Trail.
Sunday was a gorgeous day for a bike ride, balmy and softly lit by the late Winter sun. The smooth alder (Alnus serrulata) is in bloom along the river - the catkins are incredibly beautiful to me. More whimsical are the pointy-capped flowers of the eastern skunk cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus), which emerge from the muddy margins of local swamps in mid-February. At mile marker 17 (last photo from the bottom), I spotted my first bald eagle of the season - a mature, solitary bird who got away before I could get my camera positioned. I'll try again next weekend.
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vandaliatraveler · 24 days
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Even as forces natural or otherwise consume every last trace of our ancestors' time on earth, and we barely notice, the daffodils remember, relentlessly and passionately, and commemorate in massed reflection the ground where human claims fell to dust and ashes.
A derelict homestead on the Mon River Trail, honored lately by daffodils and moss.
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vandaliatraveler · 2 months
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Light is a teasing spirit conjured by the shallow sun of a short winter's day, in one instant pushing long shadows across freshly fallen snow, before it wavers and vanishes, only to appear in the next instant at a far place on the road, a playful if elusive companion at each step to journey's end.
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vandaliatraveler · 2 months
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N-C West Virginia received its first real dose of winter this past week. The temperature barely rose above 15 degrees Fahrenheit today, and with a strong westerly breeze, it felt much colder than that. But the aftermath of a winter storm is one of the most gorgeous events imaginable and worth a couple frozen body parts.
Photos taken at Mason-Dixon Historical Park and along the ever-beautiful Dunkard Creek.
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vandaliatraveler · 2 months
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"Where, twisted round the barren oak, The summer vine in beauty clung, And summer winds the stillness broke, The crystal icicle is hung."
Winter in the Woods, by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
Earlier today along Scott Run Trail in Coopers Rock State Forest.
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vandaliatraveler · 4 months
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Studies in frost.
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vandaliatraveler · 4 months
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Apologize in advance for this very long post, but my seasonal affective disorder was out of control on Saturday and the only effective cure (I know of) is an impromptu road trip. In this case, the road trip went straight down memory lane to a place full of boyhood memories and joy for me - Cool Springs Park. An epic amalgam of outdoor mechanical contraption museum, domestic animal park, and touristy dive restaurant cum gift shop featuring foot-long hotdogs and Native American moccasins, Cool Springs was a mandatory pit stop during my family's regular trips to the mountains. I must admit the puffed-up Turkey tom lifted my spirits; he seemed particularly proud that he made it through Thanksgiving with his neck intact. And I walked away with my usual stash of holiday goodies, including local honey, jam, and butters.
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vandaliatraveler · 4 months
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November at Fairfax Pond-Rehe Wildlife Management Area in Preston County. The sunlight is soft and lustrous in late fall; it infuses its radiant energy into everything, be it cold earth, withered stems or crumpled leaves. I find no desolation or bleakness in November's minimalist canvas, just nature catching her breath before the extended light of spring brings the next wave of renewal.
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vandaliatraveler · 4 months
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"There is no end. There is no beginning. There is only the passion of life."
Federico Fellini
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vandaliatraveler · 5 months
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The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was established as part of the New Deal in 1933 to help lift the United States out of the Great Depression. Single men between the ages of 18 and 25 were eligible to join the Corps, which undertook a variety of programs to improve the nation's parks and forests, many of which were newly formed. Coopers Rock State Forest was one of the earliest benefactors of the program, with many of the Corps' signature log and stone structures still standing nearly a century later.
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vandaliatraveler · 5 months
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The historic Easton Roller Mill outside Morgantown went into operation in the mid-1800s to mill and grind a variety of grains, including wheat, rye, oats and buckwheat, as well as corn. The grist mill was originally equipped for stone grinding, which used heavy burr stones (bottom photo) driven by a coal-powered steam engine to mill and grind the grains into highly-refined flour and the corn into cornmeal. The roller mill prospered well into the 1930s. Today, the mill is owned by the Monongalia Historical Society, which conducts regular tours, and is on the National Register of Historic Places.
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vandaliatraveler · 5 months
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Late October morning at Toms Run Preserve.
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vandaliatraveler · 5 months
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I'm forever drawn to places where the Earth's geologic past has been thrust up from the mantle and opened like a crusty, craggy history book for all to read. The act of simply touching a rock formation that is hundreds of millions of years in the making and simultaneously connecting with the continent's primeval origins is both sacred and profound. Every layer of rock tells a story of its own. Against these accumulated histories, our mayfly existences barely register. Rock City at Coopers Rock State Forest is one of those very special places where the Earth has revealed her deepest secrets. The Pottsville Formation that underlies this part of Central Appalachia is estimated to be 300 hundred million years old. The massive slabs in the photos above are Connoquenessing sandstone, an erosion-resistant sedimentary rock that evokes the incredible drama of Earth's formation wherever it breaks through the crust.
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vandaliatraveler · 5 months
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Damp, cool, and overcast are the prevailing themes of this year's fall season. But even on the darkest of days, nature's inner light cannot be denied. On days like this, as a photographer, I get the benefit of longer exposure shots, which make the colors of the fall forest all the more vivid, expressive, and moody. My early morning hike in Cheat River Canyon reminded me how mist, carotenoids, sandstone, and moss can cast a magical spell that brings joy even on the darkest days.
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vandaliatraveler · 6 months
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A few more mementos from a rainy, overcast fall afternoon on Deckers Creek Trail, including a few artifacts from the heyday of the railroads.
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