#vandalia

A few odds and ends from a mini-roadtrip this past weekend. Blake and I reconnoitered several lakes to the west of Fairmont for a possible canoe adventure and stopped at Valley Falls State Park to check out the Tygart Valley River, which is running high from the monsoon-like rainfall from the past week. The rock outcrops that normally serve as my photographic vantage points were submerged in two to three feet of foamy whitewater. Yet, in a quiet cove set back from the river's chaotic rapids, I found a gorgeous cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis) basking at the water's edge. In the marshy edges of the local lakes, swamp rose-mallow (Hibiscus moscheutos) is now at peak bloom, often massing in large colonies with multi-colored flowers - red, burgundy, pink, and white. And of course Blake, who owns a built-in radar for all manner of reptiles and amphibians, found a shy eastern box turtle (Terrapene carolina carolina), which refused all entreaties by the photographer to come out of its shell for a portrait.

Photos from a mid-summer hike in the woods surrounding Friendship Hill National Historic Site, a short drive from where I live in Morgantown. The park borders the Monongahela River, where pawpaw (Asimina triloba) is a dominant species in the riparian woods of the floodplain. The fruit are rapidly maturing and will be ready for harvest in September, which means one thing for me: pawpaw ice cream. Also, our gorgeous native hibiscus, swamp rose-mallow (Hibiscus moscheutos), also known as eastern rose-mallow and crimson-eyed rose-mallow, is at peak bloom along the river's moist banks.

More wonderful finds (from top): starry campion (Silene stellata), also known as widow's frill, a graceful, summer-blooming forb that should be planted more frequently in native wildflower gardens; a common earthball (Scleroderma citrinum) growing in the crease of a moss-covered log; a lovely black-and-gold flat millipede (Apheloria virginiensis) fleeing from the photographer into the leaf litter; a bronze fern (Sceptridium dissectum f. obliquum), which, like all grape ferns, depends on mycorrhizal fungi for nourishment in the early stage of its life; a cranefly orchid (Tipularia discolor), which was growing in close proximity to the fern and also depends on mycorrhizal fungi for survival; pale-leaf woodland sunflower (Helianthus strumosus), whose luminous yellow flowers seek sunny openings at trail edges and along streambanks; and the cream-colored, bell-shaped flowers of American bladdernut (Staphylea trifolia L.), an attractive, suckering shrub of floodplain forests.

A sampling of the great summer wildflowers now in bloom along the Upper Deckers Creek Trail. From top: black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta); Joe Pye weed (Eutrochium purpureum); wild bergamot (Monarda fistulosa), visited by an Eastern tiger swallowtail (Papilio glaucus); yet more Joe Pye weed, because one can never get enough of this gorgeous summer giant, especially the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus); flowering spurge (Euphorbia corollata), a very showy member of an otherwise unassuming genus; Turk's-cap lily (Lilium superbum); cutleaf coneflower (Rudbeckia laciniata), also known as green-headed coneflower and goldenglow; New York ironweed (Vernonia noveboracensis); summer phlox (Phlox paniculata); swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnata), also known as rose milkweed; and hoary skullcap (Scutellaria incana).

The quartzite spires of Seneca Rocks, which tower 900 feet above the North Fork of the South Branch of the Potomac River, are but one of a series of rock "fins" exposed along the River Knobs, a jagged ridgeline running parallel to North Fork Mountain to the east. Nelson Rocks, Champe Rocks and Judy Rocks are other examples of crags rising from the same ridgeline. These exposed rock structures are part of a much larger geological formation: an arch-like fold of stratified rock layers referred to as the Wills Mountain anticline, which formed about 200 million years ago at the end of the Paleozoic Era. For geology buffs, this video explains it all.

US Rt. 219 - Down Memory Lane: From the first time my dad bestowed the privilege on my brother and me of helping him to assemble the Lionel model train set for Christmas, I've been a train and railroad buff. And you can't hardly grow up in Central Appalachia without recognizing the incredible impact the railroads have had in shaping the region's history, from the powerful Shay locomotives that hauled timber out of the mountains on treacherous grades to the genteel passenger trains that steered city dwellers to the grand porch hotels of the High Alleghenies for summer escapes. The B&O Museum on US Route 219 in Oakland, Maryland evokes many fond memories for me and is a great place to become acquainted with the history of the railroads in Central Appalachia. Located in a restored train station with a distinctive cupola roof and luminous stained glass windows, the museum is crammed full of memorabilia from the glory days of the railroads, from locomotives and telegraph equipment to a typical dinner service, replete with a sample menu. Bucket list stop for railroad aficionados . . .