Sandstone Falls. 52/63.

West Virginia Travelog #3
New River Gorge National Park - Sat, 16 Sep 2023. 3:30pm

Well, we did it. We got to the the US's newest national park only... *checks watch*... 33 months after it was designated. One of our bucket lists is to visit every one of the (now) 63 national parks. As of today at New River Gorge National Park in West Virginia we are at 51 [loud tock sound] 52.

We didn't come here just to tick the box (or tock the clock), of course. We came here to enjoy doing the things we enjoy doing at parks. In beauty we walk!



Our first visit in the park this afternoon was to Sandstone Falls. It's at the south end of the sprawling park, near the surprisingly well kept little town of Hinton. This area is up-river from the rest of the park. Here the New River hasn't carved as deep a gorge through the Allegheny Mountains. "New River" is a horrible misnomer, BTW. This river is literally older than the mountains around it... and these mountains are old!



The trail here is easy; there's a boardwalk guiding visitors out partway across the river. But, as is often the case, we found the best views by stepping off the boardwalk and picking our way across the rocks.

In beauty we walk.

UPDATE: More ahead in part 2!

Sandstone Falls, part 2. Great Blue Heron

West Virginia Travelog #4
New River Gorge National Park - Sat, 16 Sep 2023. 3:30pm

As I remarked in my previous blog about Sandstone Falls, we had fun getting off the boardwalk trail to scramble over rocks and between trees to see things from a different perspective. All but one of my best pictures from this hike came from things I experienced off-trail.



Among those off-trail experiences were seeing the waterfalls from different, and closer, perspectives. But there were also birds. While composing some of my earlier photos I noticed a pair of large birds stalking the rushes. They were great blue herons— a pair of them. They flew to the top of the falls, but from my vantage point at the time that was too far away to capture a compelling pic even with my "bird shooter" telephoto lens. As I stalked through the reeds myself a better opportunity arrived.



This great blue heron seemed a bit perturbed that he (she?) was not the only creature stepping carefully through the rushes on long legs. I wasn't going to challenge the bird for its fish meal, though, and the only thing I was "hunting" was a closeup photo.



In beauty we both walk.

Where Did Summer Go?

Where did summer go? As I wrote recently in the blog of a friend, who was also complaining about the summer going by too fast, "That it's not June anymore, I accept. But isn't it still early July?"

April and May were busy months. We had a few trips in April, then a few more in May. Those were good times. But a bunch of other places we hoped to travel this year just never happened. Partly that's because of the weather. Record precipitation this winter dumped record snows in the mountains. The long, cool spring we then had meant high mountain roads and trails didn't get clear of snow until late July.

“That it's not June anymore, I accept. But isn't it still early July?”

By then we felt like we had missed the window for planning things. A lot of high mountain trips we intended, even just overnight/weekend trips, never materialized. Once summer weather finally arrived, the time just seemed to slip through our fingers.

It's not just that time this summer has been slipping away. Now even the summer weather is slipping away. We're traveling on the east coast this weekend, in the lower mountains (1,000 ~ 3,000 ft. elevation), and here the daily highs are only in the 70s. Even back home the highs in the low- to mid 70s. Isn't there something between the 90s, which we had for several weeks, and the 70s? Didn't we name something "the 80s" just for that?

Isn't there something between the 90s, which we had for several weeks, and the 70s? Didn't we name something "the 80s" just for that?

While weather with highs in the 70s is pleasant weather it's no longer summer (or summer-y) weather. Summer's not even over yet! It's supposed to be warmer than this.

I grew up out on the east coast, and September always used to be my favorite month of the year. It was still warm but not hot like summer. The same goes for California, my home of the past many years. California gets loooong summers. I've never seen the weather switch cool like this so early before.

Of course, this all might just be cold snap, a temporary fluke of the weather. We'll see in another week if summer just took a late-summer vacation or if fall fell early.