Robert Frost & Wooded Paths

So, along 125 in Vermont, a road that passes over and through the mountains and was a 2 minute walk from our place, there is a Robert Frost Interpretive Trail. Apparently he lived & worked near there for about five minutes at one point. The parking area and trail head are just off the road, and the trail is definitely more of a walk in the woods than an actual "hike." I did this one alone, and aside from the family that passed me a few times here and there, it was quiet, solitary, and very peaceful. 

This was near the end of the trail, as I was heading back to the parking area. It struck me in a thinky-thought spiritual way.

My absolute fave of his poems (and one of my fave poems ever thanks to The Outsiders)

cool little squiggles of green & purple moss

what does this even mean?

I was gonna climb a bit of this tree...

Until I got close enough to see all the pine sap dripping from it.

Some of the area just looked out over fields of wildflowers and the mountains in the distance, while other parts of the trail wound through the woods (and diverged a few times - I always went to the left when presented with a fork. The other people there were going to the right both times. We passed each other in different areas of the trail.)

lovely bridge going over the river

and some of the pretty wildflowers up close

It was a lovely walk, and though I didn't remember some of the poems posted, it was kinda cool to read them, and to see some of the other info posted as well. One display described the process of empty fields and bare hills & mountains slowly turning into the forests we see today. The things we don't usually think of...

James River & Fallingwater Cascades Trail

Well, we've been busy, and we've been not-busy... A week ago, I fell and was out of commission for a few days. Heather wouldn't let me do much of anything until the worst of the swelling went down and I quit making pain noises with every step. She's a good wife that way.

Just off the Blue Ridge Parkway - I do love waterfalls

When we decided my ankle was in good enough shape to try a little walking, we went out to see Fallingwater Cascades. The book we looked at said this was a mile out and back, and called the trail "easy." We disagree. It's more of a moderate trail, and possibly more than I would have attempted had I known what it looked like, but we did it. (It's also more than a mile total, but I skipped the last section of it and turned back early.)

Proof we were outside!

The views, however, were beautiful. We ran into a few other people here and there, got one person to take a photo for us, but mostly we were alone, just walking through the woods, listening to the waterfall and the wind in the trees and the birds and, well, you know, nature. :)

We saw several butterflies and a couple dragonflies while we were out there, but those guys are really hard to pin down for photos. Plus we actually only took our phones out to snap pics a couple different times. The pics we got, though - well here...

Google "auto-awesomed" this one for us

Heather went along part of the path while I rested and started back slowly. She got some gorgeous shots of the falls, and the old river crossing. On the way back, she stopped for a few photos of these bizarre trees that she's deemed "Seussian" - I can't say I disagree.

Anybody know what kind of trees these are?

The remnants of a long-ago bridge

At the top of the falls, there was a bridge that crossed over, and some rocks near the water that were perfect for resting on for a bit. We even took off our boots and put our feet in the (really COLD) running water! Here's a view from the rocks, and a one minute video of the "babbling brook" part before it hits the big fall seen above.

On the way there, we stopped at the James River Visitor Center to look around and use the restrooms. We walked partway across the foot bridge over the river and got some more beautiful views.

up-river

Ansel Adams stylings by Google

It was a lovely day. Oh, and our trail kisses pic - so goofy looking, but that's okay.

Apparently this is what you get when you're actually kissing, and not just pecking for the camera.

All About that View

We explored today! We actually started our fun with a picnic at Explore Park in Roanoke.

Trailhead Selfies - should they be a tradition? Discuss.

That Forestry Education Trail was going to be our first hike here, but just a few minutes into it I realized I really didn't have the spoons for it, especially with today being the hottest of the week (still cooler than Murfreesboro, but not by much). My amazingly supportive beloved helped me get back to the car safely, made sure I had water, and turned on the AC as quickly as possible. Then we adjusted our plans to come back and check this out more later, and to take a nice relaxing drive along the Blue Ridge Parkway today instead.

As you can see, the views totally sucked up there.

We stopped at several of the scenic overlooks, sometimes just to pause and take in the view from the car, sometimes to get out and take pictures, stretch our legs, or walk a couple minutes of the Appalachian Trail when we ran across it once. :)  We've now hit parts of it in Georgia, Tennessee, and Virginia.

And among the beautiful mountain views...

              ... there were also beautiful smaller and closer views...

There's a couple mountains here called the Peaks of Otter (more about them later after we visit them for real) but we drove past them today, and checked out the welcome center and hiking info. The hikes to the top of either one are "strenuous" and therefore not something I'm prepared for, but one has a shuttle bus that goes almost to the top. The area also has a winery and fruit farm, a lodge, a restaurant (where the head chef came to speak to me personally when I asked about gluten free options for future reference), and of course, gorgeous views.

On the way back, we also stopped at Thunder Ridge parking area, which is a small lot, maybe a dozen cars long. Each end of the lot is one end of a 10 minute loop. Why stop for a 10 minute loop, you ask?

Here's why.

Yes, this was the perfect time to break out the panorama mode. :)

Sitting on the wall at the edge of the observation platform

Heather did a lot of smiling at the view. (Not that I didn't.)

 I think one of the most interesting things is that even today, on the way back to our temporary home (which I will post more about in the next few days, but it's pretty awesome) we were still saying to each other "we're really doing this. We're on the road, doing our thing, seeing new places. It's really happening." Like that moment a week or a month or so after you get married when you make a reference to your spouse or something, and suddenly it hits you, "holy crap, I'm really married." Why does it take our brains so long to adjust to these kinds of changes? (Hell for that matter, we're still trying to wrap our brains fully around Heather's book release and that was in March.)

Okay, here's a sneak peak of the airbnb - the view from the back deck where I've spent many hours already just listening to the sounds of nature and a quiet country road.

I think we'll be making use of this grill sometime during the month.

It was a fairly low-key kind of day, but still an excursion and lots of fun. I will say I'm learning things with every trip we've taken recently and every activity I want to do - and how to adjust to them with my health limitations. I have a list of health issues that all cause low energy and chronic problems, but I've decided they won't take over my life and keep me from the things I want to do. Hence, this walkabout. So far, so good.

Marshall Knobs Trail, Barfield Cresent Park, June 5, 2015

We decided to go for a semi-early hike Friday morning, and actually made it onto the trail by 9am (hey, I said "semi-early"). It was quiet and peaceful, a few people here and there, some with kids or dogs, but not overly crowded. This particular trail is paved for about .75 miles, then goes down some dirt stairs to the river, and becomes more of a "hike" and less of a "walk" for the rest of the 2.65 miles of the loop. We took a quick break for water and our #trailkisses photo along the paved area.

 

We stopped by the river for a break to enjoy the scenery and listen to the water burble. While there, we got to watch this guy for a while. He barely moved at all, until suddenly he swooped down, dipped his feet in the water, then swooped back up and looped around to land on the branch again. We're told he hangs out there a lot.

I didn't spend as much time taking photos this time, but there was one other image that caught our attention and I had to capture it. Rock Stacking! I did a tiny little bit on that last hike, but this was detailed and awesome. The reflection of the pointy rock behind it just adds to the whole thing.

This trail is a little steep for me in parts, wearing me out pretty quickly and requiring short breaks to catch my breath, but I'm sure the more we go, the easier it will get. There are two 1 mile loops off Marshall Knobs Trail that would make it into a 4.5 mile hike, and one day, I'd like to do the whole thing.

Flat Rock Hiking Trail, Murfreesboro TN, June 1, 2015

"Let's go for a hike tomorrow."

And we did. We both started the day off feeling less than great (by a good bit) and I mentioned a couple times that I felt like curling up with TV shows and fanfic for the day despite how much I would like to do the things we had planned for the day. But somehow, that little switch that's flipped in us both made it just easy enough to break our routine. We got dressed, pulled out the hiking boots, packed a picnic lunch and extra water bottles, and took off!


A Google search for nearby hiking led me to info on the Flat Rock Cedar Glades and Barrens Hiking Trail  just over ten minutes from our house. Early in the trail, we came across a field of echinacea that had several butterflies and dragonflies fluttering about. I swear I saw at least 5-6 of each at one time! It felt like a scene from A Secret Garden or something - magical. See that dragonfly to the right there? I had much better views throughout the day, but this is the only one I caught with the camera.

And then as I was taking photos, this big ole' bumble bee buzzed around the flower I was zoomed in on. I watched as he walked all the way around the cone of the flower and managed to capture this just as he came around the side and before he flew off (right in my direction - eek!). I just love it when I get cool photos like this. :)



As we followed the trail I stopped for a nearly ridiculous amount of photos - so many beautiful views, gorgeous wildflowers, and unexpected finds. If you'd like to view all the photos (and haven't already) you can see the full Google album here. I'm posting my favorites here, though. Consider this the top highlights. :)

Starting with the best company I could have asked for - my lovely wife, Heather.

I had a serious bit of deja vu once we got to the spot where the loop meats up with the first bit of the trail - it opens up from a tree-lined path to a clearing with a circle of trees around the edge along both forks of the path. Heather chose to start to the right, and in my overlapping memory daze, I stumbled after her. At one point, I decided to leave the trail to try and get a better view of the beautiful orange flowers that just popped all throughout the field. It made me smile to learn later that Heather was watching me and taking a photo of me we I wandered in my own little world.

By the time I was finished here, it was starting to rain but we figured we could keep walking in the rain - so we did. I'd guess it was maybe 20 or so minutes of rain, some of which was partly sheltered when we got to another heavily treed area, but we were still quite wet by the time it stopped. And you know what, I didn't even care. I told Heather a few times on this hike that it was the best I'd felt in a couple weeks and I wanted to enjoy every minute of it that I could.

Just toward the end of the rain, we paused for another selfie. I'd had to take my glasses off by this point because the weren't working out well in the rain. Heather gloated about the brim of her hat blocking the rain and keeping her glasses dry, but after seeing at least three little gnats or other flying bugs on her forehead and glasses, using her hat brim as their own person weather protection, I figure either option has its downsides.





And here's also something we've decided to make a tradition with every hike - trail kisses. :)






Other random bits of beauty along the trail...

 The striking red color of this wood was even more obvious because of the rain. I wonder why it was cut down, if it was a damaged tree or something, and why the tree is still there, instead of being taken out so the wood can be used for something.

The artist in me wants to get slices of that trunk, dry them, and do wood burned pictures on them.

This little vine caught my attention, and I got all zen thinking about how it's so pretty, and looks so strong and healthy and it's just sprung up out of the hard, rocky path. It's not a typically ideal place for a plant, but this one doesn't care; it's gonna thrive with the options it's been given. Yeah, I see the metaphor.

Heather pointed out the way the raindrops were beaded on these leaves, shimmering in the light. I tried several times to take the photo but it didn't take until about the 8th time - just after the sun peeked out a bit to glint of the water beads even more. :) Serendipity.





Some of the views were striking, at least to me, though I'm not sure I could explain why if you asked.



And then there was this - what we're pretty sure is a vulture carcass that's been eaten by other vultures. I knew it reminded me of another image I'd seen, but it wasn't until I got home and was editing the photos that it clicked for me - Eris, Goddess of Discordia.

Somewhere along the way we got off the main trail and ended up off the State Natural Area land by a bit (not that we were really aware of that until we saw the markers on our way back to the trail). We could have done the longer loop, and fully plan to sometime soon, probably without me stopping for as many photos and ideally with more water on us.

On the way back to the car for our late-lunch picnic (and man were we hungry by this point), I stopped one more time at the echinacea field, said hello to the Dragonflies again, and took a moment to stack a few rocks and just thank the Universe and Mother Earth for this experience. It was energizing and touching and fun and entertaining and educational and just a really great afternoon! The tasty picnic lunch after finishing the trail was the perfect cap to that trip.