For the Birds!

With this post, I've caught up my four fairly recent hikes.  And actually, this hike is only a few days old, as I went back to Dutch Gap Conservation Area last Thursday for a mellow five miles and some birding.  Dutch Gap is one of my go to areas when I need a nature fix but can't spend all day getting there and back.  It's only about a 35 minute drive.  It's an old oxbow that used to be part of the main channel of the James River but is now cut off from the river itself.  It is a haven for various wildlife, as well as being next to a huge industrial site that pollutes the river.  There is a new plan underway to clean it up by removing an almost unimaginable amount of coal ash.

Here is the track of my hike, a kind of lollipop starting and ending at the upper right and hiking counter clockwise around the oxbow.

The focus of this hike was to go slowly and look for birds, and record them on eBird when I encountered them.  I accounted for 26 species and got photos of some of them.

Ring-billed gull:

Ring-necked duck:

Great blue heron:

Red-bellied woodpecker:

Red-headed woodpecker:

Canada goose:

Double-crested cormorants:

Northern mockingbird:

I also saw a rookery of great blue herons getting underway out on a small island.

And while I didn't see the masked bandit himself, these raccoon tracks show that they are here for sure:

I had not been here in a while, but plan to return soon, and often.  It's a great place to explore and observe nature.

Lake Anna Circuit Hike

My friend Doug suggested a hike together recently.  Tragically, Doug's wife died the beginning of the month, and I think it will be good for him to get out in nature, so I was happy to join him.  He suggested Lake Anna State Park, and we went on February 13.  We did a circuit hike of about five miles, following a number of trails (Sawtooth, Glenora, Big Woods, Cedar Run, Turkey Run) and getting some nice views of the lake.  Here is a track of our route, starting and ending at the star.  The purple and blue arrow shows our direction (counter-clockwise).  I'll refer to the other arrows later.

I thought that this tree would make a great seat for a little child.

No doubt that we are still in winter, although I saw a lot of trees beginning to bud.

We've had lots of rain, so the streams were running nicely,

and there was plenty of mud on the trails to slog through.

There used to be a plantation here, Pigeon Plantation.  This was the smokehouse.  It took 40 days for the ham to cure, then about a week to smoke the hams.  Finally, they were left to age for about six months - a long process before eating that ham dinner.  No super markets to fall back on!

We ate our lunch here by the lake (refer to the red/pink arrow on the map).  It was a nice spot.

But an even nicer spot was found later in the hike (see the yellow/orange arrow).  There was even a picnic table here!

I enjoyed hiking with Doug on this day.  We had pleasant weather, especially for February, and it was nice to get out and about with him, enjoy the outdoors, and talk about things.

Walnut Creek Park

If you want a taste of the mountains without the steeper and longer climbs, and with a shorter drive from Richmond, Walnut Creek Park is a good bet.  I went there on January 26 with the Old Dominion Appalachian Trail Club.  It's about a 20 minute drive south of Charlottesville, still in the Piedmont, but getting quite close to the mountain hiking experience.  Our group of about 15 took two hikes together for a total of nine miles, one of about 6.8 miles and the other of 2.4 miles.  In between the hikes, we hunkered down in a covered picnic shelter by the lake for lunch.

Here are some photos from the hikes in Walnut Creek Park, starting with the reservoir:

Some of the group moves down the trail.

 This once was part of someone's home.  Now, it is an easy drive to a big town with a huge university, but at the time of this cabin, it would have been near wilderness and very remote.  No grocery stores for these folks!

This is the dam that creates the reservoir, and the spillway into the creek.  During this hike, we reached several creeks that were too high to cross without getting soaked, so the hike leader altered the route - which included hiking along a road for a bit (but it beat getting soaked boots!)

A few of the lake from near the end of the first hike.

The second hike was short but very scenic - it really gave me the feeling of being in the mountains.  The streams were beautiful!  There was also another old cabin site.  I wonder what these mountain peoples' lives were like?  What happened to them?

Doesn't this look like a mountain stream?

Some of the group left after the first hike.  I think we had about 10 for the afternoon hike, and here, some of them move along the trail.

This was a lovely stream to walk along.

I enjoyed my not-in-the-mountains hike that felt like it was in the mountains.  I highly recommend walking here.

Great Dismal Swamp - Southern Section

Once again, I've let my hiking blog get badly out of date.  I have taken three hikes since my last post.  I am trying to decide whether to post them or not, but at the least, I will start by posting my January 23rd hike in the southern part of the Great Dismal Swamp.

Here is the track.  We drove past the headquarters, then drove along gravel roads in the wildlife refuge.  After driving to Lake Drummond (top right corner of the image) for a quick look, we returned to the trail head for the Western Ditch (purple star) and parked the car.  The hike was about 3.3 miles each way.  We could have gone further but were getting a late start and it was a long drive home, and we hiked at a slow pace looking for birds and other wildlife.  Once we reached the end of the Western Ditch, it was a hard left on the Southern Ditch.

Dead trees might seem unsightly, but they are critically important to many animals, such as woodpeckers and other cavity nesting birds.  This one has really been worked over by woodpeckers.

Who knows what lurks in the dark swamp waters?

 The ditch trails are seemingly as straight as arrows.

Look at all the fresh stumps of small trees cut down by the industrious beaver!

Speaking of the world's second largest rodent, here is his dam.

And here is his lodge - you can see his stockpile of food in front of it.  A beaver has a pretty comfortable life until he cuts down all of his food supply.  Then, it is not so good.

We saw some birds, and recorded them on eBird as we went.  I saw an otter flash across the path, and we found the sad remains of this yellow-bellied slider.

I liked the starkness of this stump and the brightness of these berries.

We were nearly back to the car when my friend Carlton said "Stop!" So, I did, thinking that he must have seen a cool bird.  I looked up.  I looked ahead.  I saw nothing.  "Look down, by your left leg," he said.  And when I did, there was this beautiful plain-bellied water snake, which until recently was named the red-bellied water snake.  I was shocked to see a snake out and about on a January day that, while not frigid, was not exactly warm either.  We got some photos for identification later, then left this little harmless snake alone.

I always enjoy exploring in the Great Dismal Swamp, and hope to return in the next month or two.