glorious fall day

Norris and Cheryl hiked up the ridge along the logging road to do a little trail maintenance with the chainsaw today. This tree blocked the path so completely we hadn't even realized the logging road doubled back and stayed on our property at that point until Cheryl and her brother Roger were doing some trail clearing last fall.


The tree stretched across both the trail we knew about, and the switch back that had been hidden to us on all our prior hikes. Here Norris is making the final cuts.

Cheryl took this next picture specifically to show the large stand of rhododendron growing on the mountainside. The main feature of the photo seems to be the spectacular vines shapes. They must have grown this way after the tree they were climbing fell.



Back to the rhododendron - the patch of deeper green to the right and behind Norris, just behind the yellow tree inside one of the wild vine loops is the rhododendron, with dozens of plants growing behind what is visible, all probably 10-15 feet in height.