Shindagin Hollow SF — bike trails in the northern and western areas
As soon as you leave the parking lot, the rest of the hike is in deep shade, with two exceptions. The first is a beautiful pine woods that we reach pretty quickly — it was backlit with a beautiful glowing light this time — though I had to stop up and pose the hikers to catch the light properly.The other spot on the hike with a bit of open light is on Braley Hill Road, which we cross at the midpoint of the walk. But as you can see, even though there’s a break in the tree canopy, the lightig’s not great for taking photos. I had to stop the group up again and pose them to get some usable illumination.Not everyone made it into the group shot ….
Official head count: 21H, four D
PS — For the last year, I’ve been wearing a bike helmet and upper body armor every time I go into the woods. I started wearing the protective equipment after I took a nasty fall right onto my head that I suspect was precipitated by a balance disorder I developed a few years back. In any case, I plan to keep wearing the armor whenever I head onto the trail. You’ve no doubt seen me in Tiger’s photos. Probably some people have only seen me in the helmet and they otherwise have no idea what I look like. So here’s me without the headgear — Tiger got this shot Wednesday while testing out the light in the parking lot.
**********
Sat June 15
Willseyville Creek area, Caroline
Here’s who hiked today:
Nancy H, Virginia, Tommie, Mary, Dennis R, Tamara, Jim, Dennis F, Robin, Tiger, & Dick …..….. Katharine and Brenda, Moc, Elizabeth, June & Nancy L. Not shown: Our nature photographers Jack V and Annie, me, and Leigh Ann and Eckhart, who arrived a little late.There was a sign posted at the start of the trail announcing the first segment was closed because of flooding. So we had to follow a detour down Ridgeway Road and along the old RR right-of-way — not nearly as picturesque as the regular FLT routeSnapping turtle! We encountered a much bigger one years back, and I’ve been hoping for another ever since. This one was much smaller, but interesting anyway.A good part of this hike now involves crossing some huge fields. I thought this added a great late-spring feeling — really lovelyVery lively ditch crossing at White Church RoadWe’ve now extended the walk to take us up into the edge of Shindagin Hollow SF — steep climb, good exerciseWe decided to try returning on the flooded section of the trail. It turned out to be very easy to avoid the flooded spot.It had clouded up a bit by this time, which reduced the heaviness of the shade under the trees, and Tiger was able to get some very expressive shots in the woodsVery nice way to wrap up the walk
As predicted, it rained pretty much steadily for the entire hike, but it never rained all that hard and we stayed under the shelter of the trees, so the walk ended up being quite funThe atmospherics were beautiful — fog and mist, very dark glowing light, super-rich colors. There was a brief lull in the rain just as we stepped off, so we were able to get these shots. I had to keep my camera in the raincoat pocket the rest of the time until we were just about back to the cars, and Tiger got this shot.
Official head count: EightH, three D
**********************
You can see more photos from Jack V’s recent trip to Montenegro here
