The fixed, hard stone provides an ideal path for water to rush down the mountain. The stone may seem immobile and rigid but in time it will be defeated by the steady pounding of the water and the quiet, patience of the moss. For now they share this space and offer a beautiful, peaceful spot to sit and rest.
This post was inspired by Brenda of A Meditative Journey with Saldage. When I saw these ferns they reminded me of the type of image she frequently posts. That being said, I’m sure she would have done a far better job with them than I did.
Canada Violet
This Canada Violet was growing along a hiking trail in Shenandoah National Park when I was there last May.
I love these mountain pools in Shenandoah National Park. This one is downstream from Dark Hollow Falls but you can find scenes like this throughout the park.
Click on the image to see a larger version of the photograph.
Daisy Fleabane
This daisy fleabane was blooming along a hiking trail in Shenandoah National Park at the end of May.
Knowing “bane” loosely means something that is hated by or makes something’s existence more difficult, I thought fleabane was an interesting name for a wildflower so I looked it up. Folklore has it these plants can be dried and used to keep fleas away. That explains the name.
When my friend and I reached the bottom of Dark Hollow Falls I decide to challenge myself a little. I switched to a 50mm prime lense, rather than the two zoom lenses I had been using all morning. My challenge was to only shoot with the prime lense for the rest of our hike.
When we arrived at this spot I immediately found myself frustrated because I couldn’t frame the entire waterfall with a 50mm lense. It was simply too big and we couldn’t get very far away from it. Knowing my wide angle zoom would easily frame the scene only made the whole situation more annoying. Sticking to my self imposed challenge I started looking for different perspectives and ended up with this. I am absolutely certain I would not have taken this photo if I was using the lense I normally shoot with.
Sometimes forcing yourself to do things differently can lead to different ways of seeing things.
Blackberry Blossoms
The bees in Shenandoah National Park were busy pollinating blackberry blossoms growing along the Dark Hollow Falls trail when I was last there.
On the way to Dark Hollow Falls, in Shenandoah National Park, I noticed this tiny “island” of wildflowers and moss growing in the stream.
If you click on the image you can see a much larger version of it.
The Carolina Chickadee is a common bird in the Southeastern United States. I photographed this one in Shenandoah National Park but we get plenty of them visiting our backyard bird feeders throughout the year. They are gregarious, often congregating with Titmice, vocal, and pretty acrobatic. As you can see in this photo, they frequently hang under branches to find food.
Carolina Chickadees are also quite small. According to allaboutbirds.org they only weight between 0.3-0.4 oz (8-12g). Every winter, when it gets really cold I wonder how they survive. Thankfully they do.
Earlier this month I visited Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. Nearly all the west facing rocks had large icicle formations on them. On my way out of the park I decided to stop and get some photos of the icicles. Since it had been above freezing they were all slowly melting.
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