21 May 2012 Corvair

I was hoping to arrive in Lockport early enough to visit the car show. Things didn't work out. I was able to spot this very clean Corvair in downtown Lockport

20 May 2012 Finding Orchids

Gwne has been down with a partial tear of her ACL. So far, we've avoided surgery, and her treatments appear to be helping. For the most part her walks have been quiet and short. The early morning was a great time to get her and Eva out on our short trail to let Gwen walk a little longer while not taking a chance of stressing her on a tough trail. We made this trail years ago for Murray and Becky. It's always been a nice path for us to spot wildflowers, but we had never spotted orchid leaves before today. The two round leaves we spotted won't bloom this year, but they are in a great position. Hopefully, we'll get to see a spike in future years.

The maple leaf viburnum never grows tall on our property, but this one was getting ready to blossom.

In the afternoon we took a walk along the Allegheny River in the ANF to retire some of our older caches and place new ones. The river was pleasant, but most of the spring wildflowers had surrendered to the early heat.

I was on my way to Sanborn on Monday and Ali needed to return with the dogs to Ohio for work on Monday. Our wireless works perfectly on the patio, and I had some work for the office so I enjoyed a quiet evening with dinner and working outdoors.

19 May 2012 ASP Geobash

We missed the 2011 Allegany State Park gathering so we were really happy the schedules worked and we could be here. It seems the best we can do is about alternating years. ASP is our favorite Mega Event (for me the only one I like) so it was great to be here.

The crowd seemed to be down a bit this year. GeoWoodstock was only a few weeks away in southern Indiana and probably diverted some attendees. We were really happy to be able to say hi to a number of friends some of whom we hadn't seen since GeoWoodstock in Warren last July.

After visiting with friends for a couple hours, we headed off with our friend Chris to spend the rest of the afternoon caching. It was a great afternoon and a super event.

Chris and Ali work with another cacher to solve a puzzle cache.

Yes, we were going to climb the fire tower. I am unable to resist any fire towers which are available for climbing.

There are some old structures at Allegany State Park. This afternoon we spent time near the scary looking old ski jump and this old building. I don't know its original purpose, but it is quite popular to climb and offers a nice view.

When we were at the event site, there was a new cache posted which had been published that morning. Since we are reviewers, Ali and I try to avoid FTF's and give plenty of time for others to seek a new cache and be first to find. We waited until late afternoon before setting off on a trail at a remote section of the park to hunt the cache. We had a great time along the trail and were really surprised to see none of the other event attendees had made the hike back for the cache. we had fun on the trail

15 May 2012 Hawthorn Blossoms

13 May 2012 Busy Day

We had chores to do at the house so I dragged the camera along for a few images of the wild (and not so wild) spring blossoms around the house.

When we first purchased this house, Ali's mom brought us a few wild forget-me-nots to plant. Besides being a great, old song, the simple, long-lasting blooms have long be among my favorites. They've spread and create a blanket in some areas. There are also more white blossoms every year.

Twelve years ago, I was bored from too much traveling and stopped at a local nursury while waiting for Ali to arrive. I left with twenty-four rhododendrens. I planted the around the house and in the near woods and hoped for the best. A few of them get browsed by the deer every year, but most have survived and thrived to blossom every spring. Seeing these isn't quite as exciting as spotting wild plants in the ANF or a State Game Lands, but they were a great addition to the yard.

Most of our columbines are cultivated varieties, but the yellow ones are true wild columbines. They were additions to our yard from a Holden Arboretum plant sale.

Wild Geraniums

We used plants from Holden's Wildflower sale to start establishing wood poppy on the property. For the first few years, our efforts were all the return of prior years plus any new plants. For the last two years, the wood poppy has started to spread naturally.

The remainder of the flower after the petals have dropped made an interesting image.

Our afternoon activities included a planned hike along the Tanbark Trail. We were hoping we had timed our hike right to see painted trilliums in bloom. The warm spring had made most flowers early. This was our best chance of a weekend where we would be able to walk the trail and the trilliums might be in bloom.

We made one last stop back in Ohio to have a short walk at a park in Rock Creek. We found the cache in the park and were treated to a heron fishing by the pool and falls.

12 May 2012 Orchids and Clintonia

There was still enough rain to leave our stream flowing. We enjoyed a walk around the property mostly to see if we could spot any of our orchids and hoping to see them getting ready to bloom. We were excited to find an orchid on a trail where we have never seen them before. There was no spike, but still it was great to spot yet another orchid in our woods.

With no luck finding orchids in bloom in our woods, we made our way to Anders Run for a quiet walk through the woods there. We were rewarded with some nice blossoms and multiple orchids. They were where we have come to expect them each year.

After leaving Anders Run, we made a journey over to Morrison Run for a hike and a little caching. On the way out Ali spotted clintonia in two places. There was a large stand in blossom on top of a rock structure, but too little light for good pictures. At the second location Ali spotted, I was able to climb up and use the flash to get a nice image. It has been a couple of years since we have seen clintonia in bloom so this was a special treat. It was a spirited walk through the rocks with a couple bonus finds in the wildflowers.

Morrison Run was flowing quickly and looked great as the day closed out.

8 May 2012 Fort Wayne

7 May 2012 You Can't Pick the Weather...

We had planned a short one-day vacation on our return back from Williamsport. We were hoping to add a few more Legacy of Conservation caches. The trail ends next year and the hides are in locations detailing the history of conservation in Pennsylvania. This is a geotrail made for us so we are hoping to complete it.

My hopes for a bright, sunny spring day never happened. You can't pick the weather, but you can still visit super locations. I had hoped for a longer visit to Pine Creek and a trip to Wellsboro, but the caches were in great locations, and there's always time for another visit to Wellsboro.

This little bit of board is a parasail launch. Parasailers start at the top of a small hill, race down the hill, and jump off this board. The ride is probably amazing, but I can envision myself slipping on the boards or tripping on a board and flying off the end. I'll never be a daredevil.

We spotted our first loon a couple weeks before, but who would have guessed we would follow-up with no less than seven loons a-swimmin.