I’ve been seeing lots of huge white pines recently. Here’s the bark

And here’s a bit of prose I shared with you earlier, from Henry David Thoreau

I also hiked by some beautiful trout streams and wanted to give a shout out to my brother, Pete

He would have worked these waters while I made excuses as to why I was not catching anything

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Today was wrinkly acorn day

A four lobed sassafras, like a four leafed clover

I went left, it being a Tuesday and all

A few other nice moments of the day

And the fungi were looking good 

Some American chestnuts from a rare nut producing tree

Rolling on,

Junco

Spent most of the day today climbing steeply to the top of Thunder Ridge, and then along the ridge to its southern terminus at Apple Orchard Mountain.

Saw some fine wood forms

This one had some human facial features

The guillotine

What would a day be like without some fungi?

The Blue Ridge parkway

Some fine views

And a few others

A little terrarium in a log

Living the good life,

Junco

Love the way this guy moves:

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Like many of Virginia’s highest peaks, High Cock Knob is wooded at the top and offers no views. 

However, what I saw along the way was fabulous

I loaded full resolution photos today because I had a strong signal. 
Can u tell?

Continually amazed by the beauty of this place, 

Junco

Crossed a few tributaries of the James River this afternoon

Later, arrived at the  James itself

Earlier in the day, it was foggy

Crossed the Blue Ridge Parkway

About midday, a climb got me above the clouds

Saw a few other things of interest during the day

Loves the way this vine had “suction cups” at the kale adding edge

Immature pokeweed

I think the acorn below (in the stump) has a promising future

That’s the James as we were approaching it

Another very fine day,

Junco

I can’t tell you excited I was to hike for a whole day, knowing that that it was not going to rain. It started out very foggy but then cleared by late morning.

  It still feels more like late summer, than fall. Not really cool yet and most of the leaves are still green.

There are some nice colors in the forest 

Here is a cool frog I caught today. Anyone want to help me identify it?

Resending the frog photos

They may not have uploaded in the original post

What skinny animal lives in here?

An anteater terrier mix?

These stalked orange mushrooms are similar to both chicken of the woods and chanterelles. Not sure what they are 

Some more scenes from today.

Sleeping out with no fly (rain tarp) over my tent – how sweet!!!!

Junco

Climbed one of the taller peaks in Virginia yesterday – the Priest. The ascent was over 3000 feet.

Rained all day, especially up high. Got a few photos in before it got too wet.

Some great fungi

A cool turtle

Some pretty leaves

Some interesting wood/tree images

And a few others

Even a couple views

I learned that duct tape can repair torn hiking shorts ( and can withstand the washing machine)

Some sun predicted today!!

Junco