Trip to McAffe Knob

My first season at Konnarock is over. We survived and had no injuries, hooray! I thoroughly enjoyed a week off in Blacksburg seeing old friends as well as Hope Hop and DJ Williams at the Lantern. Now it is off to the Mid-Atlantic Crew based in Carlisle, Pa for another two months with the awesome ATC.

Katharine and myself caught the itch to get out of town so we took a little 18 mile loop up to McAffe Knob. It was hot and dry during the day and awesome at night and in the morning, but the air was always fresh and strong. After eating lunch at Tinkers we took a break and had a deer gaze upon us curiously and come graze 10 feet from us. I can't remember the last time, if ever, that I have had an odorific event with a deer, her scent palpable. She was a skinny thing. Soon after we witnessed some vulture's getting it on.

Just never know what you are going to witness in the woods. The trip was great though, I can't wait to get back to Blacksburg this fall.




en route to McAffe Knob via the Andy Layne Trail and AT



hangin out



view of the ridgewalk ahead from Tinkers Cliff




vulture love



We made it!



Takin it all in



sweet sunset



foggy morning



morning dew collects on the web



melting into the mist




a sleepy snake hanging out next to the trail



let your light shine


some more pictures as of late

Morning mist dances on the lake
A lone heron hunts, patiently poised

The start of another day
While vespers of last night haunt me still

The sun has not yet risen
But we have
We have
Silently

The meaning of stillness overtakes
The lake becomes a dark mirror
The large bird looks up at me
The coldness of the night holds on

The sun is about to rise
Kingfisher lets himself be known
The new dance of dawn is under way
The blessing, the fight, for another day
The sun seteth
And the sun also rises
We all greet the fresh spin
But let us not forget our dreams

Lines of darkness recede
Shadows grow
Like our uncertainties and desires
The forest slowly comes to overfilling life
Ever changing
Ever flowing
Never knowing what this new chance will bring

See existence as the gulping promise of opportunity
stealthy

Mist swirls and curls
Folding in on itself
Slowly we all begin to unfurl.

Everything is one and we ones are three
The engulfing mist, the majestic heron, and me

Roan

Coming up on our last week at Konnarock and its difficult to believe how quickly time passes. The temporal is ever so swift.

I had the pleasure of being in the high country these last two weeks. We just returned from Unaka Mountain in Tennessee, finishing up a long relocation that is now the newest section of the Appalachian Trail. The Tennessee Eastman, the maintaining hiking club that worked aside us and treated us to a wonderful dinner, were thrilled to finally conclude this project they have been whacking away at slowly for years. They were great to work with, very experienced and friendly.

The previous week we worked with them as well, this time atop Roan Mountain, an island in the sky. I am smitten with Roan and its bald meadows. A lovely, lovely place close to 6000 ft elevation at places.

We saw the Turk's Cap Lilly, one of the tallest flowers on the trail.






And we got to stay at the Barn, aka Overmountain Shelter, the largest shelter on the AT with an amazing valley view.



Nice place to wake up.




The fog rolled in thick two days while we were on Roan. Awesome experience.



Pretty phlox



Overseeing some trail building






Indian pipe. The Ghost Plant. The ghost plant is a pretty cool story. As you can see from its color, it isn't very green. It lacks chlorophyll, therefore it cannot produce food and energy from the sun via photosynthesis. It actually gains its energy indirectly from the sun though.

A Mycorrhiza relationship is a symbiotic association between a plant's roots and a fungus. For example, an oak tree may have mycorrhizal fungi on its roots. The fungus has access to food from the roots, and the tree has better access to absorption of water and minerals it may otherwise have trouble getting from the soil because of the fungi's mycelia, their means of getting nutrients.

So the Indian pipe gets its energy from the mycorrhizal fungi that is living off of another plant. A crazy example of parasitism, but interesting and more proof of the layers of interconnectedness. I always love seeing this plant out in the woods.