The dreaded "sand-burr". Check out the shadow!

York River State Park fishing pier

Waller Mill Resevoir

Anticipation of adventure and interesting gear review this winter

Waiting for the snow

Shenandoah backpacking

Old (meant figuratively) hiking buddy Steve and his dog Jesse, me and my 2 dogs, went to the South section for Saturday, Sunday, Monday. Sorry, no pics this time - weather included a little rain, and I had recently washed my cell phone - so I didn't want to mix electronics and water again. It was a bit of a shame because the colors were coming along nicely, orange, yellow, and green with a little red and brown. Temps in high 30's at night. We ate hardily for energy and warmth. I took the tarp shelter and Steve set up a tent a few feet away. The site is difficult to get to, but worth it. Saturday night, a healthy 10 pointer ( I guess, I wasn't focused on the rack, just trying to take the whole animal in) was bound and determined to come past camp for some reason, and he created quite a bit of excitement for a couple of minutes. Sunday we day hiked down the Portal and explored, Steve showed me some cool places I hadn't seen before. We turned in at 10 Sunday night, and departed camp at 10 Monday morning. Coffee and snacks at Loft Mountain Wayside (closing next week). Then we drove our separate ways home.

Pictures from the past couple months

Me, at the james river

flying squirrel, hard to get a focused picture, right now they're more interested in the bountiful acorn crop than the food I put out for them

off of the parkway

box turtle, biological seed dispersal unit (eats berries and kindly spreads the seeds around, with a little fertilizer as a bonus)

A place in the park, couple miles from home

A place in the park, couple miles from home

The Crater, Petersburg National Battlefield

Letter from William Pegram (Confederate soldier) to Jenny Pegram1 August 1864Pegram-Johnson-McIntosh Collection
"I suppose you all have gotten, before this, a correct account of the affairs on Saturday. It was an exceedingly brilliant one for us. The enemy avoided our mine & ran theirs under Cousin Dick's Battery. They blew it up about daylight, & taking advantage of the temporary confusion & demoralization of our troops at that point, rushed a large body of whites & blacks into the breach. This turned out much worse for them in the end. The ever ready Mahone was carried down to retake the line with his fine troops, which he did, with comparatively small loss to himself, & great loss to the enemey. I never saw such a sight as I saw on that portion of the line for a good distance in the trenches, the yankees, white & black principally the latter, were piled two or three or four deep. A few of our men were wounded by the negroes, which exasperated them very much..."

Union tunnel at Petersburg National Battlefield

Lieutenant J.J. Scroggs5th U.S.C.T., 3rd Brigade, 3rd DivisionJ.J. Scrogg's Diary and Letters 1852-1862compiled by Larry Leigh
"...The signal for their advance was to be the explosion of a mine under a rebel fort in their front. 3 o'clock came but no explosion. 4 and still nothing but the stillness of death which was really oppressive. The suspense was fearful and some were already predicting the failure of the great mine when the smothered roar of an earthquake and a power which shook the earth for miles around the mighty giant broke through the imprisoning walls lifting the rebel fort, guns and garrison high in the air. Hardly had the tremendous explosion taken place when it was succeeded by another and more terrible roar burst with an awful crash from the iron throats of one hundred pieces of artillery. For one hour without cessation or interval the iron storm raged over our heads, the screaming hurtling misiles suggesting that ten thousand devils were holding high carnival in mid air, or forty thousand juvenile hogs had attempted a passage through a fence and stuck..."

Petersburg National Battlefield
http://www.nps.gov/pete/

Petersburg National Battlefield

Cliff, Oregon Inlet Bridge, from the beach, Atlantic Ocean is 50 feet in front of truck. This is on the Bodie Island side. Later, we drove up the beach to the bridge. Taken during our 24 hour road trip to Hatteras. http://gorp.away.com/gorp/resource/us_ns/nc_capeh.htm

right side

right side

backroom