29 May 2022 Beaver Meadows

 We started our day with a walk on our property.  Our stream can be quite scenic as it was today.

When we headed out to load the dogs for the day's adventure, we had a hitchhiker on a door.

Beaver Meadows is a favorite fishing spot and a great place for a moderate hike.

Beaver Meadows is a place we known we can always spot bunchberry in bloom at this time of year.

These bushes seemed to attract every yellow swallowtail in the area.

The floating walkway was partially submerged and offered a wet, bouncy walk on our outing.

The walk across the water gave a chance to spot red-wing blackbirds along the edge of the water.

We know the location is home to round-leaf orchids and were happy to spot a few.  We spotted one that had thrown a spike, but was not yet in bloom.  It was a perfect day for a walk.

28 May 2022 Anders Run Visit

 Anders Run has been a regular visit for us for two decades.  Whether its to look for migrating birds, enjoy the wildflowers, or just get away for a walk in the woods it is a wonderful place. We always make a visit or two during times we expect to spot ladyslipper orchids in bloom.  We were a little late for the large variety of spring wildflowers, but just in time to enjoy the orchids.

Tiarella still in bloom.

30 May 2021 Spring Outing

We started the day with a visit to an ANF trail alongside Brown Run.

The trail is a dirt forest road, but the stream is scenic.  We were hoping for more wildflowers, but happy to see starflower in bloom.

We also spotted a smooth carillon flower.  We have one that always returns at our home, but they are an interesting find in the wild.  They are also difficult to capture in an image.  This one was near to blooming.

Our first venture over to Brown Run yielded a nice salamander sighting stream side.

Our next stop was along th boat launch area.  Birding here can be good.  Today we both saw an eagle, but I missed the image.  A few ducks also passed our way.  I finally captured a cedar waxwing within a small group.

While Ali was chatting with new cachers who happened to be at the same cache, I spotted a few megansers on the far shore.

I always enjoy the very short walk through the woods trail at the Kinzua Dam area.  Despite all the dam visitors, this rarely has more than a few visitors.

Our last stop was at Anders Run.  We've made this an annual stop to look for orchids.  We found them, but unlike most years, there were very few.  We were happy for the sighting.

18 May 2021 Waterfalls and Orchids

 There's always time to stop for a view at an overlook.

We spent the day before enjoying showy orchids.  We were treated to more before we reached the first falls.

We were leaving the waterfall to continue our hike when Ali spotted a rattlesnake ahead on the trail.

Fortunately, it was intent on crossing the trail and moving on.  Nine rattles and a button is about halfway to a large rattler.  This one is on the way to becoming a large snake.

The hike was filled with falls and sluices, but the water wasn't the entire story of the day's journey.  The trails were filled with nice rock formations.

We spotted this very large jack-in-the-pulpit just off the trail.

We had finished much of our day's hiking and were back on the AT when we were totally surprised by the sight of many lady slippers along the trail.  It was odd that we were so excited over seeing dozens of these wonderful orchids while many people walked past us oblivious to the beauty.

The week's sunsets were putting on quite a show.

17 May 2021 Starting With a Climb

We had a busy day planned to start off our week.  Our first stop was one of our favorite hikes at Bearfence Mountain.  It is a relatively short hike, but is mostly climbing through the uplifted rocks that make the 'bearfence." 

The awesome views make the climbing worth all the work.  This is one of the few 360 views in the park.

This was a week to spot towhees.  This one was popping around in the vegetation as we started back down.

Spring wildflowers were plentiful.

The trail flattens quickly after leaving the rock formation.  There were so many wildflowers.

On to the Flowers...

We had made the Bearfence hike in the fall and later made a down and back hike to the edge of the park.  We saw many orchids long past blooming on that walk, but were back for a hope that our timing was right to see them in bloom.  We were rewarded for our effort.

We started with violets...

We soon started walking by the showy orchids.  They were amazing.  It was easily the most orchids either of us had ever seen in a day.

Perfoliate Bellwort in bloom.

We usually don't move around so much, but actually being fully vaccinated and being on vacation seemed like a release.  We made a drive to Elkton to visit the local park and hike the trails to find a number of caches in the park.  Elk Run was a pleasant stream.  I missed a picture on the kingfisher working the water's edge, but it was still nice to see.

I missed an image of the duck in the nest near the top of the tree.  The nest was in a postion where people walking the trail walked directly below it.

Solomon's Seal in bloom.

With the longer days of spring we still had time to return to the park and enjoy sunset together at an overlook.