On the Road to Tahawus

Yesterday my conscience got the better of me - I really HAD to finish up my invasive plant routes for APIPP. So, having the day off, I tackled the road up to Tahawus and the Upper Works. You can read more about this Iron/Titanium Mine here.

It was an off and on cloudy day, with the wind blowing rather robustly. I was glad I wore a couple layers, just in case.

It's about a ten-mile drive from the Blue Ridge Road up to the Upper Works, and at about 8 miles an hour, it took a long while to do the route. Two and a half hours, in fact.

The first thing that caught my eye was this dogwood with its lovely pink berries (only one had turned blue - can you find it?).


I was looking for invasives, but the only one I saw (that was on my list) was knapweed. But I'm not 100% sure if it is spotted or brown. Spotted has paler flowers than the brown, but much of the ID has to do with the color of the bracts. Are these brown or black tipped? I'm not sure. I'm hoping Jackie will chime in with her expertise.


I found two stalks of silverrod, too. This is a native flower, in the goldenrod clan. The difference? Well, the obvious difference is that the flowers are white, not yellow. Hence the name.


The extensive erosion along this waterway caught my eye.

What has caused the soil to slump so drastically here? It's sandy soil, which automatically suggests it doesn't have a lot of grip, and there is little vegetation in evidence to provide any sort of structure to hold the soil in place. Is it just gravity, or did that stream (could it be the Hudson?) rise dramatically with some of our heavy rain storms and tear away the soil as it rushed past?

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I love wetlands.


I believe this is part of Sanford Lake. What do you see along the shoreline? It's a rather large beaver lodge. Here is a perfect example that not all beavers build dams. Sometimes the water is deep enough for your food and all you have to do is build a home. A good shoreline is a fine place to set up housekeeping.


Looking northward toward the High Peaks.


This is the only building from the small town of Tahawus that is in any kind of condition worth saving. The rest are in various stages of utter decay (see link above to my piece about Tahawus).


These little rock cairns are ALL OVER THE PLACE these days. Someone (or someones) has been busy building them all along the roads, especially between Minerva and North Creek. Our golf course in Newcomb also has quite a few, some of which are over three feet tall!


As you can see, the autumn colors are really getting going now. If things go continue as they are now, the color should be good this year. Here we are once more along the Hudson (I think). I love that old stone ruin off to the right side of the river (click on photo to enlarge). Probably part of a bridge once-upon-a-time.

I'm happy to report that the evidence for invasives was pretty Spartan. With all the traffic Tahawus sees, though, I'm sure that in a few years there will be more than knapweed to worry about along this stretch of road. In the meantime, it is a lovely drive with some great views.

All Hail the Weather

While driving home yesterday from Glens Falls, I watched as the temperature plummeted from 75*F to 56*F over the course of about 5-10 miles. HM.

Then I saw what looked like drifts of snow along the sides of the road. NO...it can't be, I thought.

Finally, I pulled over, grabbed the camera, and went to look.

Upon closer examination, I saw it was piles of hailstones!

Some were quite significant in size.

That certainly explained the drop in temperature! These drastic changes in the weather often result in some sort of extreme weather event: hail, microbursts, etc.

In a way I'm sorry I missed this when it happened - it must've been exciting to experience. Then again, it's probably better for the car that I was a few miles away.

Flora Blanca

I don't speak Spanish, so I may have butchered that title, but what I intended to say was White Flowers. In the fall, most of the white flowers that we see are asters, so you can imagine my surprise last night to stumble across a white heal-all (Prunella vulgaris).


Normally this flower sports purple flowers, but apparently this one dared to be different and bloomed in white.

In the world of plant nuts, I recently came across an article about how there are some native heal-all plants, which is a shocker because we've pretty much relagated this "weed" of lawns and roadsides into the naturalized non-native group.

One of the things to look for on the native variety (P. v. elongata) is white hairs along the four ridges of the square stem (yes, it is in the mint family). Zooming in on the stem, it looks like there are white hairs on the ridges, doesn't it?

I wonder now if this is one of the native Prunellas. Hm.

Meanwhile, in the roadside ditch, "my" nodding ladies tresses (Spiranthes cernua) are blooming in quantity.

Lovely white dragon heads. If you can click on the photo and zoom right in, it looks like the petals are all a-glisten with moisture. Do they absorb the humidity from the air, or is it a trick of the light?

Okay, this one isn't white, but sometimes my camera washes out the purple color so the point where it practically looks white. It's eyebright (Euphrasia americana), a native (!) plant found all over the place up here, mostly in "waste" areas.

I've said it before, but it's worth repeating: there's great stuff in roadside ditches. Check out a ditch near you today.

Saturday Morning on the Hudson

As I lay there in bed Saturday, with the sunlight streaming through the window and a gentle, cool breeze blowing, I told myself that this was the day I would actually get my canoe out on the water.

I've been wanting to explore the Hudson River downstream from the pump house, so I called a friend and she was eager to drop her laundry and come paddling with me.

Once we launched our boats, we paddled upstream. I've been wondering just how far one can go in this direction. Every spring I can hear the roar of the rapids, but I had no idea how far away they were.


My guess would be that they are less than a quarter mile away. Lots of rocks and a bit of water still flowing through them.


The flow was just enough that Monica got pinned against a couple rocks as she tried to cut across.


So, we headed back downstream.

Unlike my paddling adventures with Jackie, we didn't do any botanizing. About the only things I could see blooming along the shores were goldenrod and asters.

Mostly we were there for the scenery.

I was excited to see these tracks, though. The inner banks of the river's curves were often exposed expanses of mud - perfect for taking tracks. Based on the size and shape, I was pretty sure these were beaver tracks.


And just down the shore a bit further, we found this channel leading to the river. A beaver trail going toward a food source?


How beautiful the Hudson is up here. Folks from down below are amazed at our little river. I know that I find it equally amazing when I've seen it at its other end. At least our end still has a bit of its wildness in tact.



We never did get as far as the rapids, which means I'll have to come back another day! But the clouds were really rolling in and the sky was getting very dark. The wind had whipped up mightily, and I knew Monica was probably getting chilled, thanks to her unintended dip in the river. So we headed back upstream. With the wind pushing us and our determined paddling to get back before it rained, we were at the pump house in about a third of the time it took us to paddle downstream.

For others interested in paddling this part of the Hudson, I say give it a go! When the water is high, you might have a bit of a challenge paddling back up to the put-in point, but those who want to brave some pretty intense rapids and a carry or two can continue on down to the bridge on 28N.

Around the 'hood

Friday afternoon the monarchs were in fine form in my yard. The New York Ironweed is in full bloom and the butterflies were all over it. Despite this, they refused to sit still for a photo session. As soon as I snuck up on one, it would flit to the other side of the plant, or to a plant in a different bed. At one point I watched three (!) drift in together, silhouetted against the blue sky - what an image it would've made!


Aren't these delicate pink flowers delightful? They look like tissue paper creations. They are the greatly enlarged (via photo magic) blossoms of one of my heathers.

It seems to be the time of year for shades of purple. Here is our native monarda, a lovely lavender flower. The bees were very happy to have these around, since most of the season's flowers have already called it quits thanks to the excessive heat and lack of rain this summer. Goldenrods prevail, and in my gardens, the native bee balm is still doing well.

I really got quite a kick out of watching the bees as they scrambled around the circle of flowers, shoving their heads inside each one in hopes of finding a little nectar. I have a video of it, but it refuses to post today. I'll try again later in the week.

Toby and I walked down to the pump house in the evening. I can't help but chuckle and shake my head in amazement every time I pass over this latest addition to the town:

Yes, Newcomb now has a speed bump! And don't you love that the warning signs are about three feet in front of it?

Apparently a local resident was complaining about the speed of the cars going to and from the golf course. So, now we have a speed bump, on a dead end side road.


As we came around a bend in the road, a flash of white caught my eye - a red-tailed hawk flying up to rest on a utility pole.


The neighborhood blue jays were none to pleased and were calling out in near hysteria. Eventually the hawk became uncomfortable. You can see it crouching here, getting ready for take off.


And away we go!

Fun with Sunsets

We had a lovely sunset Friday night. Took some shots and played around with the color a little bit.


Here's what it really looked like as the sun was starting to set:


And again, about 10-15 minutes later.

The Poetry of Science

Squirrel posted this on her blog Squirrel's View, and it was so meaningful that I had to link to it as well.

The Symphony of Science

Enjoy!