Sunday Dog Walk

Lately on Sunday mornings Tessie and I have taken to walking the length of the Hawksbill Greenway in Luray.  Back in 2011 we took this walk a lot, but lately we had tapered down and were only walking half of it. The walk is about 3.5 miles - hopefully we'll keep this up.

There is plenty to see along the Greenway, and even though it is winter and all the leaves are down, it's pretty scenic.  I took this first snap from along the bend at the south end of the walk - you can just see the old grain mill and old co-op building there.

(About the old co-op building...the co-op moved out to the 211 bypass a few years ago, leaving this one behind.  It's housed a few businesses since then, including most recently a pop-up craft market showing off local wares.)

After our walk, Tessie and I took a short drive around town.  The sun was starting to come out, so it highlighted a barn I'd never noticed before, even though I've probably driven by it 100 times.
The angle I photographed happened to include Kennedy Peak, part of Massanutten Mountain, in the background.  This peak is around 3,000 feet high, making it something of a high point on Massanutten, although you can't miss its distinctive shape.

It's pretty interesting to notice the wide range of weather conditions you can have in the winter.  It was overcast and practically snow flurries during the walk, and then the sun came out and warmed everything up.

That was a good day for Tessie and me.

Sunday Greenway

By Sunday morning at Hawksbill Cabin, the little border collie can barely contain herself, she wants to get out for a walk and adventure so badly.  So, blessed with a sunny winter morning, she and I decided to take in Luray's Hawksbill Greenway - and better yet, since we had time to spare between errands, we took in the whole 3.5 mile loop.

There are a couple of fun things about this.

First off, the Greenway is the place where Tessie and I first took a long walk and I let her off leash for a little romp.  In fact, it was very near the place with the bees and buttercups painting shown here in the photo.  We obviously go back often, it's such a great asset to the town.

Second, this year I am hoping to keep better track of walks like this.  I've started to track our daily walks and finding it very motivating - we only go about .80 miles and it takes about 20 minutes, but since I have been keeping an eye on it, I'm already trying to figure out how I might add that little bit more to round it out to a mile...and possibly how we might add to the route and make it 1.5 miles someday.

I'm using the Map My Walk app for tracking this activity right now.  We have an initiative at work with challenges, and I am thinking about signing up with a commitment to do 300 miles this year with the dog walks - a stretch would be to take it up to 500 miles; to do that I would add in some hikes in Shenandoah National Park.  That doesn't seem hard to imagine at all, so I'll see what I can do.  In the meantime, Sunday's walk is documented here.

The third and final fun thing about this walk? I stopped to take a look at some of the paintings that people have added along the way.  Luray already has a number of murals around town - some lovely, some whimsical.  The ones on the Greenway have a folk art quality to them because they are often done by scout troops, but I did like the butterfly on the cone flower because of how it reminded me of summer days that are still a long way off.

Soon enough our little walk was over, and we got back to business.  I had some work and errands to take care of...and I needed to make some time to relax on the brick terrace.

Tessie's "AT Section Hike" Adventure

Tessie is conditioned to think that anytime I pick up the car keys while we are at Hawksbill Cabin, she is going for a ride.  On weekend mornings she has a pretty good chance of being right - but at other times, it's just as likely I'm heading out there because I forgot my phone charger.

However, last Sunday morning she was right, and we went out for a walk of a mile or so on the Luray Hawksbill Greenway.  We got back after and hour or so and I went to work writing - that came easy to me, so I finished earlier than I expected.  I decided we might head up to Shenandoah National Park for a short hike.

 The parking lot at the trailhead I wanted to go on was full, with spillover traffic on the shoulders, so we passed on.  I settled for the Pinnacles picnic area instead, with the thought we might explore a stretch of the AT in the direction of Mary's Rock - no plan for how far we'd go, just a leg stretcher and to keep Tessie trained on how to walk on leash in those conditions.

Off we went, her leading the way - she is a border collie, after all.  There was an easy leg on this hike, about 3 tenths of a mile and negligible altitude changes, to Jewell Hollow overlook.  I decided we'd keep it short and I'd work with her coming up on the rocks there with me, and on walking carefully on brick walls.

We did take a little side trail for another tenth of a mile maybe.  All totaled, 8 tenths of a mile or so, and then negligible altitude change.  We did get to take in a wonderful view of Page Valley, with Lake Arrowhead in the foreground, and she had quite a few good sniffs along the AT.

One thing I've come to enjoy about stretches of the AT in the vicinity of Thornton Gap - that is the construction of the trails.  Although the main tread areas can be well worn, often the masonry has held up very well, considering some of it was laid down in the 1930's by the CCC.  You can see this along the right side of the trail in the photo above - nicely mitered edge to that border.

This was Tessie's fourth hike in Shenandoah National Park.  It's fun to think about this as an actual shakedown for a longer day hike with something that could seriously be called a section - say 10 miles or so.  I'll have to think about how we would provision it, and maybe we'll take something like that on in the fall.

Along the Greenway

Frequent readers know that Mary and I enjoy frequent walks along the Hawksbill Greenway in Luray.  It's just an excellent community resource that provides so many people with a recreational outlet.  One of our favorite things is to take Tessie for a Sunday morning walk out there.

A few weeks back, around the time of those big rains, I took Tessie out for a walk, only to find that the little pedestrian bridge was closed, with some of the lateral railings down.  There is a walkway like this in the Potomac Gorge around Great Falls that is constructed with similar rails, designed so that it can be taken down quickly to protect it from seasonal flooding.  When I saw the closure on the Greenway, I thought, "Well, that's why they put this kind of bridge here - when the creek is up they can protect the bridge."

Flash forward a few weeks, and there is a front page story in the local paper about vandalism to the Greenway.  It turns out that some one vandalized the bridge, twisting the gates out and tossing them in the stream.  There were other impacts too.

While the paper mentioned an investigation that was still ongoing at the time, I got the impression that the vandals were mischievous youths - the final results haven't been published in the news yet.  However, what is known is that the damage cost about $7,000 to repair...the good news is that the bridge is reopened, as shown in the second photo.

Mary, Tessie and I took our walk last Sunday and were happy to see it.

High Water on the Hawksbill

Friends began letting us know that there was an exceptional rain storm out in the Valley last Friday.  We were hearing forecasts of as much as five inches, and it was still raining Friday night in the DC Metro area so we held off driving out until Saturday morning.

In Sperryville, we could see that the Thornton River was running up, so we figured we'd see high water still clearing out of Luray and Page Valley when we got there.  Sure enough, the Hawksbill was up, and you could see that it had gotten out of its banks during the thick of things.

On Sunday, Tess and I took a stroll on the Greenway and the creek was still high, but it had settled back into its banks.  I took a photo from the bridge - there was a line of debris along the walk there that marked high water at the level of the bridge ramps.  Usually by now the place where these kids are standing would be dry, almost a beach.

A little further around the bend we got to the trestle where the fish mural is painted.  Last week we watched a little boy playing on the concrete footer that you can see submerged here - it was dry all the way down into the creek then.  Easily a drop of two feet to the water level.  

There's a little cleanup to be done around the Greenway this week.  Sand from upstream swept up onto the path in some areas, and the access road was still closed on Sunday morning.  

The Luray Parks and Recreation team is on it though - I'm sure of that.  They'll have the place looking spiffy soon enough!

Walking on the Hawksbill Greenway

Tessie and I enjoy a little walk along the Hawksbill Greenway on Sunday mornings when we're out in Luray.  She finds some good sniffs around, and I enjoy the little peeks at the stream that you find around every corner - like the ones here.

The Greenway is a little urban park that the town has put together.  There's a four mile long walking trail along the stream, and it's very popular with the locals.  We're lucky enough to see friends from around town pretty much anytime we're our for our walks.

I know I have posted about the Greenway before, but here is a link with more information about the park: http://www.hawksbillgreenway.org/history.html

There are a couple of flocks of ducks there, you can always spot some trout, there are several species of herons, and in one section, there's a pasture full of grazing cows.  Not a bad feature, this park.

Now that I'm thinking about it, I can't wait to get back for a walk this Sunday!

Hawksbill Greenway, A Ritual

After a pause to reflect yesterday, I'll return to the subject of the ritual Tessie and I enjoy on weekend mornings, walking along the Hawksbill Greenway in Luray.

Here's a photo of the old swimming hole - reader Posumcop and I have had some exchanges about this little pool in the Creek near the railroad overpass.  On most summer afternoons you'll see kids down there swimming and horsing around, but when the dog and I come strolling by, it's usually pretty quiet, as in this photo.

Luray has a tradition of having murals around town. There are some rules that they go by, generally so that nothing is too much of an advertisement.

This is a new one going up on the exterior wall of a sawmill that is along the Creek here.  The mountains are the Blue Ridge section that runs from Mary's Rock on the left to Hawksbill Mountain on the right - Luray's Skyline, so to speak.  The other items in the photo, becoming clearer day by day, are references to the tradition of sawmills in the Valley.  I'm looking forward to seeing the finished mural.

The Greenway is a pathway that follows the Creek through town for nearly two miles.  You can get a nice walk in there, nearly four miles if you do the whole thing.  Tess and I usually take in about two miles of it, though, on these weekend walks.

An Accident on the Hawksbill Greenway

One of the nice amenities in the town of Luray is the Hawksbill Greenway.  I've posted about it before, and was planning to put up a short post today about the walk Tessie and I took yesterday morning.

However, there was news last week about a tragic accident on the Greenway, and I wanted to make a note of it.

A tree fell on June 1 and struck a pedestrian as she walked along the pathway.  Her name was Patricia Lee Shanks Davis; she was 66 and very active in the community, according to the Page News and Courier and her obituary.

The tree that fell was 30 inches in diameter and 80 feet tall.  Apparently the trunk snapped off at about four feet, and the tree fell across the creek and struck Ms. Shanks.  They're still trying to figure out what went wrong with the tree - I suspect a combination of stress from being undermined by the creek (it was on a section with a steep bank), and possibly the earthquake last year.

In any case, here's a note in honor of Ms. Shanks. I was very sorry to hear this.  There's a memorial web page up for her at http://www.forevermissed.com/pat-shanks.

Another Spring Greenway Visit

Since Tessie joined us, I find myself taking advantage of the Hawksbill Greenway more and more often whenever we are in town.  We have a couple of preferred walks, most often starting from the little parking area at Ruffner Plaza, where the summer concerts are given.

From that direction walking south, you'll pass the old sawmill, then go under the BUS 340 and rail bridges, pass the swimming holes, and wind up at the southern end of the walk.  Whenever I take this walk, I always enjoy the view you get, from whichever angle, of the two bridges over the creek.

All right, they're iconic - made famous in the O. Winston Link photograph I've mentioned before.  Here is a link to the Link Museum store with the famous image.  I have a copy - if I ever work in an office again I may even get to hang it up!

http://shop.linkmuseum.org/_store/Display_Products.asp?ProdID=1_1002B

Spring on the Greenway

 It has been a few weeks since I had been out on the Hawksbill Greenway in Luray.  So Tessie and I decided to take a little walk there this morning.

It's a lovely, if chilly, spring day, still overcast, with the stream up after the weekend's rain.

Still, it's spring, as we were informed by this little family of ducks who scampered down the bank into the stream as we approached.

Now, there's been no shortage of activity on the Greenway lately.  A few weeks back, the stream was stocked for "Heritage Trout Day" - celebrated throughout the state.  And there are these new additions - little waste receptacles for recycling monofil fishing line and bait tubs.  Cool stuff.

 Also, there are new murals in town, including this one going up on the sawmill.  I'm keeping an eye on this one's progress.

Lastly, last weekend was the annual Earth Day on the Greenway. While I arrived too late to join the festivities, I did see all the traffic and tents.  It looked like a great event, and well attended.  Congrats to the organizers - I hope Mary and I can join the fun next year!

The Urban Trout Stream

About mid-October, during the walks that Tessie and I take, I started to notice more and more folks along the banks of Hawksbill Creek, some doing traditional flyfishing and others simply casting along with rod and reel. Then I realized that we'd entered the season where that stream is stocked - from about October 15 through June 15.  The water is not really cold enough for trout for the rest of the year and so it's not stocked then.

(A schedule of stream stocking dates is maintained by the state of Virginia here:  http://www.dgif.virginia.gov/fishing/stock/)

Small fish are nearly always visible in the stream along the Hawksbill Greenway, and some of the murals illustrate the species you can find there, namely sunfish, bass and trout.  On the day I took these photos, apparently the stream had just been stocked, and obviously the leaves were still up - it was early in the fall.  But I saw a number of keepers in the creels.

On a walk a few weeks back Mary and I ran into our friends from Appalachian Outdoors Adventures working over the creek on a Sunday morning.  They weren't having any luck this morning, but Howard broke out his phone to show us a couple of recent catches - big ones, each one easily filling the pan for two people!

I guess it's time to break out my copy of A River Runs Through It again to have a look.  And maybe to be on the lookout for a trout dinner somewhere soon!

Ways to Celebrate the Fourth, #52

I'm told that many, many Page County residents were at the fireworks last night along the Hawksbill Greenway.  So many in fact, I see a Facebook post that said, "Is everybody who lives in Page County here?"  Mary and I didn't join them, but we drove past at 6pm and the area around the Farmers Market downtown was definitely filling up.

Earlier in the day, I had taken Tessie for a walk along a part of the Greenway - we saw a lot of folks out enjoying this wonderful resource.  It even inspired me to do a little web search this morning, and I found the link to the Hawksbill Greenway Foundation, which supports the enhancement and long-term care of the park.  http://www.hawksbillgreenway.org/

Now, I've opened the post with a photo by O. Winston Link - it's a famous shot of some folks out for a summer swim in Hawksbill Creek, along with some other notable landmarks, such as the Bus 211 overpass and the (now) Norfolk Southern bridge with an engine there.  (No copyright infringement is intended.  I have a copy of this photo on my office wall, procured from the Link Museum in Roanoke:  http://www.linkmuseum.org/ .)

This year, all summer long, so far, I've been seeing a similar scene in the creek.  But the swimming hole has now been moved upstream and slightly around the bend, although the trestle is still visible from the new spot.  They've got a rope swing there, and as we walked by a bunch of kids were having a good time.

There are a couple of other attractions in this area of the pathway, basically Phase III of the project (there were four so far, and the trail was completed in 2009).  There is a bridge that crosses the stream here, with a park that features an old millstone; there are also quite a few little stone ledges that create cascades and eddies in the stream.

And that's what makes the stream attractive for another reason:  fishing.  It's a stocked trout stream, a program that takes pace from October to June every year.  Those summer flows get low, however, so when the stream is warm, I guess the trout are gone.  Other game fish are bluegill and small mouth bass.  This mural under the Bus 211 overpass highlights some of the species; I saw a family doing some casting nearby, I'm guessing for bluegill or some sunfish...the young girls were bored though and wanted to move on, maybe to the river.

Don't Miss: Luray's Earthday on the Greenway

Today a quick note to mention the Earth Day observance in Luray along the Greenway this Saturday.  Mary and I have attended this even the last few years and it's always worthwhile - there will be live music, exhibits and activities.  There's a full day planned again this time, beginning with a 9AM Earth Day 5Krun!

Here are the scheduled events:
10:-10-45 Felicia Housden will be strumming her sweet guitar for your listening enjoyment...Felicia is awesome...hear her roar!

11:00- 12 The Wildlife Center of Virginia will be in attendance to speak about Virginia habitats and how you can help the animals within them.

12:15- 1 Rob Christensen returns to soothe our souls a bit with sweet song. take a little time to slow down and have a listen!

1-1:30 Yoga instruction with Jason Nichols, last year I believe this was one of the most fantastic scenes at EDotG...alot of kiddos focused and enjoying yoga by the creekside...beautiful...anyone can participate!

1:30-2:30 Fear & Whisky come to us from Harrisonburg, VA. This band is righteous! Jim Shelley on guitar, Amy Bugg on bass, and Jeff Lown on drums! LOTS OF FUN!

3-4 SLeePFeeDeR returns with some new rocking material! Ike Sours on bass, Greg Flynn on drums and Casey Firkin on guitar! You'd better tie your socks on, because they might just get rocked off on this day!

Here's a link to the event's home page for more information!  http://www.earthdayonthegreenway.com/

Here's a shout out to Deana and the team for organizing another great event!

Dog Day Morning

After a horrific weather day Saturday, a day that we still don't know the entire scope of impacts from, Sunday dawned a beautiful spring morning - so often the case after such bad weather.  So Tessie and I decided to get out for a walk on the Hawksbill Greenway in Luray - me with the hopes of finding a spot where I might be able to get her off leash without inconveniencing everybody else out for a walk on such a fine day.

We found a spot on the north end, a mown area that has been carved out of an old hay field, about a quarter mile there that stretches along the creek.  I let her off leash and we walked back and forth along it a couple of times, then we took a short walk farther along towards town. 

After all the rain, the creek was way up - you could see that all along 340 and you could see the signs that the water had been even higher over night.  I hope there is no lasting damage to the Greenway's new section, up by the swimming hole - that's where it looks like the stream got out of its banks.  Maybe some of the little trees got knocked over, but hopefully not much more than that.

Here are a couple of shots of the stream in the area where we took our walk, a couple of the rapids reaching category two level, I think, for paddlers - although this stream is probably too constrained for any of that sport.  The one spot under the highway overpass is definitely something you wouldn't want to take lightly in your kayak...

From the blue skies you can see what a beautiful day we had. 

The first photo above shows the pup finally feeling it when we got back to the stretch of old pasture.  She figured out she could run here, and she put in a good leg stretcher for a couple of laps.  Later on, after we got back to the house, I gave her a brushing to check for ticks and then put her sporting new safety bandana on while we sat on the brick terrace.

One more encounter...the cows were out in the pasture that the Greenway surrounds.  As we approached the fence there, the pup was interested in them, but not too much.  We didn't get much closer than this before she decided she didn't need to check them out better.

Now the encounter with cows reminded me of a walk Mary and I took with Gracie back in 1995, when we just got her.  On Q Street NW in the District, there is an old trolley car bridge over the Rock Creek Parkway that has four large statues of bison on it.  As we passed through the shadow of one of the statues, Gracie pause to look up and saw the big bison.  A bark fest ensued - she didn't know what to make of it.

No barking from Tessie on Sunday, but she was a happy tired little doggie on the drive back home.

Willow Grove Mill: A Luray Point of Interest

On Saturday, with a couple of visitors out for the day, we took in a couple of Page Valley sites. After a picnic near Hawksbill Creek at Wisteria Farm and Vineyards, we drove into town via the Ida Loop and made a stop at Willow Grove Mill. I’ve driven past the mill hundreds of times, but this is the first time I ever pulled over to take a look around – I’m glad we finally did.

Apparently, the mill is typical of dozens of mills that populated the area in the 1800’s. This one was owned by the Ruffners, which was one of Luray’s early families – in fact, they provided the original land for the founding of the town. Their land was along both sides of Hawksbill Creek from this area down to where it flows into the Shenandoah River.

Last week, I mentioned Stonewall Jackson’s commitment to protecting the “breadbasket of the Confederacy” – this mill was part of the agricultural industry he was making reference to. The historic marker (http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=11034 – none of my photos are good enough to republish) talks about the 1864 Valley campaign that burned this and other production facilities

The family that owns the farms now has a little farm store on US 340 by the Creek. There are lots of local treats to be had, but one highlight is some heritage items about the mill’s operation, including this flour bag. I snapped this photo a few weeks ago during a stop.

The mill was recently featured in a new town mural, which can be seen along the Hawksbill Greenway. The building is prominent, but a couple of highlights have been added to emphasize other aspects of Valley life – there are some hunting dogs in the foreground, and a row of re-enactor tents can be seen in the background.

The URL for the marker says there are quite a few other points of interest within two miles of the mill. I need to make a point of finding them all and checking them out.

Earth Day on the Greenway

On Saturday, the big Earth Day festivities were on in Luray. Here’s the home page: http://www.earthdayonthegreenway.com/index.php

We made a stop in the afternoon while we were running errands. While we were there, we listened to a panel discussion on a range of issues, including forest management, local food growing (Heather from Public House was on the panel), and the Fibrowatt campaign were some of the discussions.

We also ran into “Firkin-Good”, Deanne, whom I met through the Fibrowatt efforts. She’s been part of the event for the last few years, and was very busy doing photography and coordination. Her husband’s band SleePFeeDeR was set to perform later in the afternoon, but we missed the show.

Here are a couple of photos of the events. Local sponsors for the event put up tents with information and merchandise – I’ve got one of Howard here from Appalachian Outdoors Adventures. Andy was there too, listening to the panel while I was taking this…earlier in the day we’d run into Gary and Linda in the shop.

A Holiday Walk on the Greenway

The Hawksbill Greenway in Luray has become a favorite destination for us on some weekends. It is a scenic little 4-mile walk if you do the whole thing, taking in the creek, the town, and even a little set-aside cow pasture.

It's rare enough to find a resource like this in a more populated area, and to think that there was enough support in a small town like Luray to put together the proposals and funding - well that's saying something. And we've never been on the path when we didn't encounter a lot of other folks out enjoying a walk.

Since we'd taken a walk around the Hawksbill Cabin neighborhood, we knew that the combination of melting snow and rain had Beaver Run flowing high - there were a couple of posts about this in the last few days.

Once the water leaves our little creek, it joins Hawksbill Creek over by Jordan Hollow Inn. From there it flows along US 340 to Luray, a couple of additional creeks adding to the flow - including Upper Hawksbill Creek. So there is the possibility that it would have a lot of water by the time it gets to town, and indeed it did this weekend.

We took the walk twice, each time enjoying a close up view of the surging flows. True to form, we passed many neighbors out for a walk, and a couple of folks out fishing (but not catching anything). There were new bikes (with training wheels) getting try outs. It was a good time.

These photos highlight the water flow in Hawksbill Creek over the weekend. For comparison, there is a recent early December post with additional photos of the creek - it was high water then, but not like this - and you can find it at this link: http://hawksbillcabin.blogspot.com/2009/12/hawksbill-greenway.html

Beaver Run Story

Since the beaver dam fell - I posted on this a few weeks back, our little stream that runs across the lot still fascinates. I thought I would write a quick post on how Beaver Run changes with the weather, as I kept an eye on it for a few days while there was snow on the ground.

This snow fell about a week earlier, but obviously the weather had stayed cold enough that the stream was frozen over and still in its banks. On Christmas night a rain storm moved in, dropping about an inch of rain overnight. I could hear the sound of the stream filling and then rushing along over the little cascades down the hill.

I should mention that the weather reports said that there was the equivalent of an inch or more of rain already on the ground in the snow - the combination of cold weather and barometric pressure producing a ratio of about 15 inches of snow being equivalent to one inch of rain. So there was a lot of water that needed to clear out of the hollow and from the hills around us.

The stream rose and washed a lot of the snow off the banks. Down stream, at the Hawksbill Creek in Luray, the water was really high, and I will post on that tomorrow. Here, above the confluence our watershed, is smaller, but there is still plenty of ground to drain.

Finally, a look at the creek on Sunday, after the rain and after a lot of that drainage had gone downstream. The creek was still up and briskly flowing, enough so that the neighborhood still had the sound of small waterfalls in the background.

Not to get preachy on this, but that's a very pleasant and relaxing sound, if you haven't ever taken the time to sit still and enjoy it.

Hawksbill Greenway

Last weekend, as the temperature warmed up and the freezing rain moved off, I went into Luray for a little shopping and a walk along the Hawksbill Greenway. I already posted about the Chinquapin Oak earlier in the week - I also stopped by for a visit at Appalachian Outdoors Adventures, where they were having a busy holiday Sunday. Today, I wanted to do a quick upload of three more photos from my walk that day.

Having posting and editing problems today - the photos are out of order, will have to fix that later.

This first one is of a little dam on the Hawksbill Creek at the "newer end" of the Greenway. This segment was just completed last year. As I looked back along the creek, I could see that the water flow was still surging, and the sound of the water flowing over the dam was quite loud here.

The second photo is at a spot on the creek where it takes a hard turn to the west to get around an outcropping. There is a vintage photo that you can see around town of this spot, with a steam locomotive going across the bridge in the background and a group of children swimming in the little pool at the bend. When they built the Greenway, they rebuilt a little dam here and restored the pool - note the rope swing.

Last photo is a spot near Ruffner Plaza, where summer outdoor concerts are held. In good weather, this is a great spot to visit. As far as the creek goes, there is a part of the rock (just below the surface in this shot) where the flow is forced into a little channel, making it perfect for the start of the rubber duckie race during the Spring Fest.