More from Canaan Mt.

I love to catch the light coming through the leaves as they change color.
Because it is so moist on Canaan Mt. it provides a perfect environment for Soapwort Gentian.

Table Rock

Table Rock overlook is one of the many fine overlooks into Blackwater Canyon. From here you can see the Otter Creek wilderness.

Canaan Valley

Some one turned the cloud machine on just as soon as I got there. This was taken on Canaan Mt. I found loads of cranberries and blueberries. The blueberries were a surprise since their season is usually around August. Here I am in a sea of cottongrass!
On one of my evening hikes I came across these ferns with some sort of insect hatch going on. It was quite lively.
I walked up on this little doe late one evening. She had an itch on her hind leg. All in all the weather was perfect the entire time I was there. I'll post more tomorrow.

Blackwater River

They call it the Blackwater river because there is so much tannin in the water from the decaying understory that the water is a tea color. I'm leaving tomorrow for four days of shooting the fall colors up there. The weather is going to be perfect this time. Last weekend it was nothing but rain. I'm packed and ready to go. Wish I could take you all with me you'd love it! I should have something posted by Tuesday.

Blackwater Canyon

Blackwater Canyon and Canaan Valley have been described as ''a piece of Canada gone astray''. At an elevation of 3,000-4,000 feet both the canyon and the valley share a flora very similar to Canada. Bogs,cranberries,balsam fir and tamarack just to name a few. The area also receives an average of 150'' of snow much of it attributed to lake effect . It's an area of extreme beauty and one that offers many recreational possibilities. As a forestry student at WVU I spent 3 summers hiking in the canyon looking for genetically superior trees. Once identified we would make a map and then come back and collect the seeds either by climbing the tree or shooting branches out with seeds on them. Once collected we'd plant them in a nursery and follow their growth cycle.

It's from this point here that West Virginia's Office of Tourism shoots their photos for come and visit '' Wild Wonderful West Virginia''

Fly Like an Eagle

Hey I had to post these blasts from the past for you all to enjoy. These were probably taken 1960-62 while I was in boy scouts. As a young boy I wanted to be an indian then when I joined the boy scouts my dream came true. I fell into a group of boys that also wanted to be indians. We made everything you see here and in the next photo. We read books and studied indian clothing, customs and dances.
Here I am on the right doing the Hopi Snake Dance. I've got a feather and am trying to distract the blacksnake from biting my buddy. It was great fun and brings back great memories!

Maine

They had the most magnificent collection of rocks on their beaches. Of course signs were posted '' Do not remove rocks from the beach'' I could have filled the trunk of our car! Damn they were beautiful.