Spring Break Hiking- Panther Creek

Every spring we take a drive down Panther creek to see the phlox bloom. The rock faces all along the side of the creek are covered with it.  The kids were on Spring break this weekend Fri-Mon so we decided to enjoy the nice weather and do a bit of hiking.  

  It is a much darker pink than it looks. It always looks so light and washed out in the photos.

 i've never been able to capture its beauty in photos, but it doesn't stop me from trying.

It goes all the up as far as you can see, and spreads down over the rocks.  It doesn't last very long. i think the phlox only blooms for a week or two.  It is pretty amazing to see.

Wild Columbine is coming up everywhere.  i was hoping to collect some, to help establish it in my woods but it growing in the rock crevices. There was no way to dig the plants without pulling and breaking the roots off because it was so dry out. i love to collect native wildflowers and transplant them to areas where there are none.  i've collected a few of the columbine in the past, and they still come up in my native wildflower garden.

The kids and i took a small hike up the stream, but didn't go too far. We were not really dressed for hiking, and the area is know for rattlesnakes and copperheads.  Kenan injured his back last week, so he hung behind while i wandered into the woods a bit with the kids. This is a lovely place to hike, but it is quite rocky and a little treacherous in places. Very easy to slip and twist an ankle or bust your head open.  i was hoping to see more wildflowers, but there was not that many back in the woods.

i did find a patch of Little Heartleaf wild ginger up on top of some rocks. i identified Wild ginger for the first time last year, and ever since then i see t every where!  

There were several Swallowtails fluttering around enjoying the phlox. This is the first swallowtail i've seen this year!

i also found wild bleeding hearts coming up along the rock faces. Like the columbine it was coming up in the rock crevices.  So beautiful!

It was a gorgeous day and we enjoyed just hanging out for a bit and then we headed on to Beaver Creek Dam to look for tadpoles. 

This winter has been so long, it is nice to finally get  out and start hiking again. i missed our weekend day trips to the local state parks and other hiking trails.

i'm a little behind on posts this month. We took a trip to Florida at the beginning of April, and i'm planning to share some of our adventures on here. We also just hiked Hanging Rock yeterday, and i have a ton of pictures to share. i have to catch up on my creative everyday posts, and i have a product review for Earth Friendly Products to post in the next day or two.

i hope that you are all beginning to feel spring where you are!  Happy Earth Day!

First Signs of Spring in the Blue Ridge 2014

This winter is really starting to feel like it will never end.  We've had a few nice days in between the snow, ice and polar vortex cold and i took advantage of them and went out looking for signs of spring.

Coltsfood is always one of the first wildflowers to come up.  It lines the sides of road in the spring along with dandelions, chicory, and touch-me-nots. These two little blossoms were just beginning to open. Once they fully open they are often mistaken for dandelions.

Spotting the first butterfly of spring is always a beautiful moment! This little Eastern comma seemed as curious of me as i was of her.  i was following her, but the way she kept circling around i think she may have been following me.

She would stop just a few feet away, and open and close her wings.  She sat perfectly until i got my picture and then she disappeared into the woods.

Catnip is coming up all over the garden! i've already transferred a couple into pot (yes, i actually got to play in the dirt!) and i'll have to dig the rest before the garden gets tilled. Catnip makes the most fabulous tea. It's in the mint family and is a natural sedative.

One of the biggest sign that spring is coming! My hens have started laying again! Most of my hens,are new and were not laying yet last summer.  None of my birds laid over the winter, so we've been waiting for the new birds to begin laying.  In just the last couple weeks they have begun to lay regularly. 

So this isn't really a sign of spring, it is more a sign that winter isn't done quite yet.  It's a black swallowtail chrysalis.  We raised the little black swallowtail caterpillar in our carrot bed, and watched it transform into this chrysalis. It has spent the winter snug inside, and is waiting for the perfect spring day to emerge. Hopefully we'll get to witness it, and i'll share a picture on my next signs of spring post. 

If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant; if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome.  ~Anne Bradstreet

Nature Walks.

Spring is my absolute favorite time of year. After what felt like the longest winter in history, i was so very ready for spring to finally arrive. i've been outside almost every day hiking, wandering the woods and digging in my garden!  Exploring the woods and looking for wildflowers is one of my favorite activities.

Bloodroot is one of the first to appear. We've also been seeing a lot of wood violets, anemones and star chickweed.

Trillium is another favorite. This deep crimson comes up everywhere. It is sometimes called Wake Robin or Stinking Benjamin. :)  i have transplanted trillium in white, pink and yellow onto our property in hopes of getting them to spread. 

Jack in the pulpit. This one is always fun to find! Such an unusual plant.

i also came across this interesting plant for the first time. It's called Largeflower Heartleaf and it's a type of wild ginger! The flowers are small and hidden near the ground so i've never really noticed them before. Now that i've identified it, i'm finding the plants every where!

So i admit, i like finding morels much more than i like eating them. They are tasty, but for me the fun is in the hunt!  Earlier this week the kids and i hiked all over the woods looking for morels, but didn't find any.  On our way back through the yard i spotted this lone morel about 5 feet from the garden. :)  

i can't wait to go out this weekend and hunt for more. We have a couple secret spots we like to check, and this is definitely the weekend to do it!

So it's been three months since our house fire, and i am just now starting to feel a bit like myself again. Getting out of this house, and be able to dig in the dirt and hike has really helped to lift our spirits. 

Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul.  ~John Muir

Spring.

i was beginning to wonder if winter would ever end. We were hit with a surprise snow/ice storm the first week of April.  Finally, the winter has retreated and the flowers of spring are appearing everywhere.  We've been spending a lot of time at the property, cleaning out gardens and flower beds, hiking through the woods and playing down at the creek.

These little yellow wood violets are one of the first to appear.  They cover the floor of the woods, and are a welcome splash of color in area that is still covered in brown dead leaves.

 Bloodroot also blooming, and the may apples and trillium and just starting to poke out of the ground. i also found a wild ginger for the first time!  Funny how i can explore these woods for over a decade and still find new things. They are always changing.  i love this time of year, and could spend all day wandering through the woods looking for wildflowers.

We've been getting lots of creek time.  The kids would be here all day, everyday if they could.

We spotted our first snake! A sure sign that spring is here to stay!

The past few weeks have been full of ups and downs, and i will try to update eventually.  i'm also going to work on posting a few artist features/giveaways and product reviews again, as it's a nice distraction and helps me to keep this blog active.  i'm giving away a spring bendy doll over on FB this week, and will have a post up later today with the link and instructions for entering.


No matter how long the winter, spring is sure to follow.  ~Proverb

End of Summer Fun- Panther creek

The last weekend of summer vacation we had a visit from Aunt Tabitha and Uncle James. We took them to one of our favorite places to play Panther creek.


Panther creek is actually just a scenic spot along Big Reed Island Creek. The road we take to get out there is called Panther creek rd. and so we have always called it Panther creek.


Beautiful views up here!


We enjoyed a picnic lunch on the rocks next to the water. While we were hanging out, this tiny butterfly landed on my boy.



It seemed very curious and stayed for a few minutes, the fluttered away.



We took Aunt Tabitha on a hike up throw the rocks along this smaller creek. It's actually kind of a difficult hike. It's very rocky, steep and slippery. The kids were having such a great time, we went a bit farther than we usually hike. We found this beautiful little waterfall. The kids really wanted to keep going, but we had the boys behind (they were afraid of the poison ivy) so we turned around and went back. The climb down (rocky, steep and slippery) is a lot more difficult than it was going up.


i had to get pictures of all the lovely wildflowers. This is a native wildflower called Cardinal flower. i would have loved to bring one home to transplant in my native wildflower garden, but only saw the one while we were hiking so i left it alone.


One of the cliffs was covered in Wild bleeding hearts. We found some of these earlier in the spring, so i was surprised to find them now.


i also spotted these, and had no idea what they were. They are called Pale Corydalis.



After we had left Panther creek, we drove down a dirt road to look at an area where there had been a pretty significant rock slides a couple years ago. i caught a glimse of these pink/purple flowers and made my husband stop the car so i could go back and see what they were. From my first glass i thought they might be a wild rose. However when i took a look at the plant, i was really surprised at what i saw. The leaves look almost like grape leaves, and there are no thorns on the stems. The flowers look like raspberries, although they are larger and purple. The seed/fruit pods are fuzzy red, similar to the wineberry.


i was even more surprised to find fruit! The berries look like raspberries!! i brought home a leaf and flower to help me identify it. i have never seen anything like it!!

So what is this mystery plant?? It's a Purple flowering raspberry or Virginia raspberry. Seriously, how have i never heard of this?!? It's a native flower, and in all my researching of local native flowers i have never ever come across this. It makes no sense at all.

These were just growing on the side of dirt road, not far from my house. i'll be heading back to get a clipping of it, so i can get it established on my land. i absolutely love wild berries, and native wildflowers and this is has the best of both worlds. It's an absolutely beautiful plant and the berries are edible, and good for the wildlife.

Weekend Nature Hike.

Just about every weekend, weather providing, we go for a family hike. Yesterday we had a few things to do in town, and decided to just hike along Beaver Creek again. It's a short hike, less than a mile, but it's quite pretty and we wanted to check for tadpoles. Last week we released the last of our frogs and the kids wanted more tadpoles to raise.

The trail follows the creek and is lined with a variety of wildflowers. We saw lots of Dame's rocket, fleabane, buttercups, wild azaleas and forget-me-nots. We also spotted many different kinds of butterflies, dragonflies, spiders, two snakes and a frog.


This lovely Dame's Rocket was everywhere.


We spotted yellow and black swallowtails, common buckeyes, commas and this Fiery Skipper.

This Common Buckeye Butterfly also posed for a picture, but the other butterflies just flitted by.

There were tons of these dragonflies everywhere.

We also came across this pretty cool mass of baby spiders. They are super tiny!! The whole mass was a little over an inch long. We gently blew on it, and the babies scattered everywhere! It was very neat to observe. i think these are probably the black and yellow garden spiders, but i'm not positive.

We also found what we had come looking for...tadpoles!!

We came prepared and had brought along a small jar and a bucket, and the kids had a great time catching a few. We brought home 15, and are excited to watch them transform!

Hiking at the Cascades

The Cascades in Pembroke Virginia is one of our favorite places to hike in the spring. We have come almost every year since moving to Virginia. Although the hike itself is absolutely breathtaking no matter when you visit, i love to come in the early spring when the early wildflowers are blooming.
The Cascades are most known for the incredibly beautiful scenic hike and spectacular 70 foot water fall. We'd heard there were more fall farther up the trail, but have never hiked to them. So this time we decided to check them out.

The main trail to the falls splits into two separate trails. The lower trails, are what we usually take. They are the most scenic, but also a little more strenuous. The upper trails are an easier hike, but the view is not quite as nice. However, because we wanted to hike the extra to get to the upper falls, we decided to take the easier upper trail there, and the lower trail back if we felt up to it.



The upper trails are not really advertised. Infact, when we came to this fork in the trail, the sign only points toward the main falls or back to the parking lot. There was no mention of the upper falls. At this fork, we took the trail to the left that continued up. A little ways up this trail was a sign pointing us in the direction of the conservancy trail and Barney's wall. we continued along this trail, for about 1/2 mile.

The entire trail was extremely muddy. Something to keep in mind if you plan to hike here. About 1/2 mile up the trail we came to a another fork. The main trail went towards the left, and had another sign showing the distances to the conservancy trail and Barney's wall. To get to the upper falls, you need to take the trail the right. It is almost hidden among the Rhododendrons.


The sloping muddy trail spits you out right at the very top of the upper falls.


This doesn't look really capture how magnificent these falls are. We looked around for a way to get to the base of the falls, but there was no real obvious trail. We finally found what looked like little more than a deer trail, that brought us to a little ledge near the base of he falls.

Here i was finally able to get a picture of them. They are most definitely worth the extra 1/2 mile to get to them. It was a little dissapointing that they are so difficult to access, but then again the area was quite secluded and free of other people...which made it really nice. The lower falls are sometimes pretty packed with tourists. The creek before the upper falls, are quite calm and shallow, with rock pools to safely play in, so this may become a new favorite spot for us.

As always i was obsessed with taking picture of the native wildflowers. The Jack in the Pulpits were blooming and coming up everywhere.

The trilliums were also in full bloom. i saw both the Trillium grandiflorum in varieties of white, pale pink and darker pink and also the Trillium erectum, which has the dark maroon flowers. i also saw many different varieties of violets, from white to yellow to purples. Wild phlox, Solomon's Seal, Squawroot, wild geranium, and tons of star chickweed.


We also spotted 6 species of butterflies. Easter Tiger Swallowtails, pipevine swallowtail, cabbage white, red admiral, painted lady and Duskywings.

After leaving the upper falls, we went back and continued on to the lower fall. The entire hike (5 miles round trip) follows the river, and has amazing views like this.

The main falls were as beautiful as ever, however they were busier than i have ever seen them. You can't tell by the picture, but the rocks, benches, trail here were completely packed with people. We usually walk out onto the rocks, but passed it up this time. We hung out for a little while and watched several people slip on the rocks and wipe out while attempting to walk up to the base of the falls. It is always extremely slippery.

We had a fabulous time hiking. The power of the waterfalls always energizes us, and we decided to take the lower (harder) trail back. i thought for sure the kids would be tied and whining by that point...but they were literally running down the trail and we (kenan and i) were struggling to keep up with them. i am so looking forward to summer and these weekend family hikes. Although we have our favorites we love to visit, this year i really hope to explore some new ones too.