Is It Possible...

...to be dead of exhaustion and just not fall over?

I've kinda been asking myself that question now and again.  For years I said that work was getting in the way of my real life, and I didn't understand people who worked into their 70s because they didn't know what they'd do when they retired.

Yeesh.  There aren't enough hours in the day for all the things I want to do.  Then add the things I NEED to do and you have one tired puppy some days.  But smiling.  All those years stuck on a computer in an office job left me feeling like Scooter does about being inside.

Now, as Spring rolls into Summer, I can sit on the porch pretty much any ol' time I want. 

The lawn still needs mowed. Frequently.  And the house needs work.  There are things that seemed like a good idea at the time but need maintenance work that has been put off because STUPID JOB!...  Like retreating the decks.  That would be the double decks in back and porch in front.  It's been so long that I'm having to strip a lot of gunk off with the power washer, then I'm going to have to do some sanding.

Completed portion on right.  I thought it would take me a week.  Maybe it would if I didn't stop for other things.  I still haven't figured out what I'm going to do about the algae covered sections hanging out over the 2 stories of sloped weeds and rocks known as my back yard.   I suppose it will involve borrowed extension ladders and bungee cords.  And maybe a neighbor to hold the ladder.

But other, more important things keep getting in the way.  Like today, when Bruce and ML rescued me from power washing.  I mean, it was going to rain this afternoon anyway, so it really wasn't worth pulling the washer out, was it?

At least I've found that, if not the best, I'm not the world's worst M1 carbine shooter.  It would help a lot if the sights wouldn't keep drifting to the right.  Which is pretty amazing, considering how much oomph it took me to knock them back the last time it happened.  Tells you a bit about the energy going into recoil. 

And Thank You Dick's For Tremendous Sales! - I finally got a kayak.  All these years living near two rivers and I didn't have a boat.  I've been watching - I needed one that not only handled well on the river but that I also could also get up on the SUV on my own.  The Pelican 100 Trailblazer fit the bill perfectly.

Oh, what I was missing.  The first hour out paddling upstream from Shepherdstown on the Potomac I saw such a variety of wildlife - so much more than I had ever seen from the C & O Canal Towpath that runs right along it.  An eagle, wood ducks - both male and females with ducklings - cormorants fishing.  None of these are my photos - valuable things like my cell phone stay safely in a dry sack in the storage compartment - but you get the idea.

 

 

And then there's hiking.  Friday I headed out to investigate a place I've passed many times on my way south - Sky Meadows State Park.  Turns out it's an absolute gem.

Numerous well marked, well kept trails, connecting in such a way as to allow for building of hikes of a variety of lengths. 

I connected the dots for a 7 mile walk.  The first thing I learned is that the park has a huge population of my favorite woodpecker, the red-headed. Gorgeous birds.

The park's name is appropriate, whether you stay at the low elevations or climb to the ridge and connect with the Appalachian Trail. 

Spring wildflowers like trillium are done, but early summer ones are booming.

And there was dancing.  Of the kind caused by glimpsing movement out of the corner of the eye.  A sudden movement on the right side of foot, quick shuffle left as tail is seen slipping under rock.  Movement on the left and a quick step forward and to the right - the snakey shuffle.

Patterned, living along a stream, reasonably sure they weren't copperheads - thinking northern water snake.  Non-venomous, but startling when you suddenly have three of them, two not so small, moving near your feet. 

And then, whaddaya know, a week's gone.  A far better sort of week than I would have had this time last year.

Sleepy Creek, Or "Where the heck am I?"

So after 7 years here I suddenly realized that I'm actually closer to some hiking areas than I used to be, and I decided to try out the trails in Sleepy Creek Wildlife Management Area.  The Tuscarora Trail, a 250 mile long side trail of the Appalachian Trail, runs through the Eastern Panhandle, following the ridge of Sleepy Creek Mountain and the boundary between Berkley and Morgan Counties.  A check of on-line maps and a topo showed that Sleepy Creek has enough side and jeep trails to create a loop hike, so off I went. 

First discovery - all my maps are out-of-date.  There are a lot of trails there that aren't on any of them. But one trail out of the parking area said 1.7 miles to the Tuscarora and the other trail was the one I wanted to come back on, so off I went on the trail that wasn't on the map.  It didn't take long until I realized that I needed to be UP THERE:

But it's a nice trail, well maintained, and scenic.  Brushy Creek still has one mountain laurel bush blooming beside it.

And then the uphill started.  The trail has switchbacks, but it feels like it's going straight up to the ridge.  Fortunately, I could find things to distract me.  Hints of symmetry  in the rocks started catching my eye and led to contemplation of what rock formation I might be in.  The hints finally became clear imprints of a brachiopod and a snail of some sort.  Not many fossils.  I'm thinking maybe wash-ins rather than a community of animals.

Decent day, pretty trail.  But am I there yet?

Ah, ripple marks!  So definitely a shallow water deposit, and the ancient remains of currents across the sand.

Finally, up on the ridge and the Tuscarora.  Worth the climb!

But now I realize the error of taking a trail that isn't marked on my map.  I have no idea WHERE I've come up on the trail.  So I have no solid idea of how far I need to go before looking for my selected side trail to come back.  And is my side trail even still there?  Hmm.  Well, nothing for it but to hike north and enjoy the view.

It turns out that the trail I came up on isn't the only one that isn't marked on my maps, and intersecting a few unknowns makes for slow going as I try to figure out where the stray trails are crossing on the map and where I might be.  Finally, I spotted a distinct peak across the valley that allowed me to sort myself out, and I headed down-slope on the next trail that intersected, hoping it was the right one because I sure didn't want to climb back up to the ridge if I was wrong - this trail was even steeper than the one I had come up on.  But I figured down meant down to Brushy Creek, and if all else failed I could bushwhack along the creek until I hit the first trail again.  After the major elevation drop was over, the trail widened into a jeep trail and became very pleasant walking.

And I was relieved when it opened into a meadow - one map I had did have the wildlife meadows marked, and I knew immediately where I was by it.

The meadows are full of wildflowers and butterflies now, and knowing where I was meant I had time to dawdle and appreciate them.

 

Home in plenty of time to get to 6 pm Mass.  And in bed, completely exhausted, and sound asleep by 8:30.  Still haven't found an updated map of the area, still don't don't know how far I hiked.  But it's definitely an area to return to.

And having guessed from vague memories of geology courses past that the sandstone is the Tuscarora, some quick research confirmed that, especially since I was crisscrossing red silt/sandstone, which would be the Juniata below it.  Lower Silurian (440 to 417 million yrs in age, + or - 10 million), shallow marine, representing a vast shoal at the edge of an ancient sea.  The formation has yielded a few fossils of these guys, eurypterids, which could reach 2 meters in length:

Imagine running into one of those while diving!