The Tour of Page County Road Race

Yesterday I mentioned all the events that went on in Page County over the weekend - today I'll post a bit on Saturday's bicycle road race, part of the Tour of Page County.  The Tour is a stage race that combines the road race, a time trial, and a criterium event.  It's promoted by our neighbor Chris, and benefits the community cause Choices (linked below).

During the first race of the day, I road in the wheel van with Ricky supporting the women's group.  Another local friend, Bill, also drove as a wheel van for one of the other groups - and there were quite a few of our other friends out volunteering in other roles.  We weren't more than a mile or two into the course when I realized that I wouldn't have even made it this far on a bicycle, with the undulating, but beautiful, terrain.

Hopefully some of my photos will do it justice.

We did have a situation during the women's race where we had to get out and help the riders a bit - an accident that involved about eight bikes.  Most of the riders were okay, but two were treated by an ambulance crew.  Their injuries weren't serious, and I understand that they are fine, but I was sorry to see these folks having to end their rides - they did seem more disappointed about that than concerned with their injuries!

The Pig Ahead sign (second photo) made an appearance in the road race - readers may recall I'd posted about this a couple of years ago when I volunteered on the Shenandoah Time Trial, which is another race in the Page County series.  I understand that the rider in this shot is a trained first responder, and was at the scene earlier helping out with the bike crash.

The pig - actually a breeding pair - is just ahead in the photo, near the barn just visible over the hill.

In the afternoon, Chris and Ricky asked me if I wouldn't mind providing wheel van service for the masters race. My third photo is a look back into the cargo space of the old Equinox, full of wheels.  Fortunately, none of these riders needed the spares, although there were a couple of calls for assistance with the other classes.

The race had a small world context I might make a note of - Ricky is an old neighbor of ours when we lived at the Vernon House in DC.  He's an avid cyclist these days, and he and Chris new each other.  In that great way Facebook has of reconnecting people, we got back in contact a few years ago after losing track of each other for 10 years.

The last photo today is of the Masters class group heading out, very close to the start of their race.  At this point they were still all together - not a single straggler yet. Eventually, the official here on the motorcycle instructed me to move up in front of this group and follow the Cat 3/4 group leaders.

After avidly watching those bike races on TV all those years, this was a great event to be part of.  I've written about how important the races are to "active tourism" in the Valley - I was glad to have a chance to contribute.

Here's the link to Choices if you'd like to check out this important organization in Page County:  http://choicesofpagecounty.org/
Here's the Facebook page for Hawksbill Bicycles, if you'd like to get in touch and learn more about the cycling events in Page County:  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Hawksbill-Bicycles/459334500719

On golden beaver pond

It was a busy weekend around Hawksbill Cabin - between the "Tour of Page County" bicycle races, the adventure race, events at Wisteria Vineyard, and even a brewers association meeting, there was plenty to do.  I've got a few posts to catch up with, but first thing I thought I might share this video I took of the new beaver pond that has appeared across the street from us.

The narration may be hard to hear at times, and the videos is a little blurry, but here's two minutes of a tour from the road.

Finally, A Ham

After three years of butchering hogs with David and the crew, Mary and I finally had the chance to enjoy one of the hams.  In the past, we've lost them due to power fluctuations in Alexandria (surprisingly the power here can be flaky - we have a generator now to stabilize things), when they went through a freeze thaw cycle that left them freezer burned.

David offered some good advice for dealing with this, however, by cutting the ham (a market hog will provide hams in the 25-30 pound range, but the hogs he raises are bigger) into smaller parts and freezing them separately.  This year I had two thirds of the ham cured and took the other piece home - we smoked it BBQ style, as I mentioned in the previous post.

While "Kevin Bacon," as the hog Chris and I shared was known, was the centerpiece of the dinner, we had good company with some neighbors and with one of Mary's college classmates, and her mother.  Mary broke out the china and glassware that we received as wedding presents, and made a very festive spring table.

We used a "Joy of Cooking" process for preparing the ham - which weighed in at 12 pounds -  there are plenty of leftovers.  It was a simple minutes x pounds calculation, and came out perfect.  Both Chris and David helped us out on figuring out how to prepare it (thanks!).

Rounding out the dinner were a couple of family traditions from Mary's side, spring vegetables, a home brewed Dubbel, and a chocolate birthday cake (both Mary's and her classmate's birthdays are coming up).

Our neighbor is an accomplished baker.  She took one of Mary's handwritten family recipes and deciphered it - including some adjustments that had to be made for one entry: "add flour while needing" - and turned out a fabulous "babka."  This was a Polish soda bread with raisins and currents - totally a highlight of the meal.

Now that we know how to deal with the hams and not lose them, I'm looking forward to making a ham dinner an annual tradition.

The Alexandria Hops

The Willamettes, vigorous already in the early spring.

Since I learned about the hops neighbor Dan was growing in his backyard near Hawksbill Cabin, I have been inspired to try growing some myself.  I was prepared to try this even before I began brewing beer - I figured somebody would take and use anything I was able to produce.  As it turned out, I ended up with some first year hops bines in the ground at the same time that I was gaining experience as a brewer.

My space for this venture is very constrained in the back yard - we have a postage stamp of a suburban space here in Alexandria, and the whole cleared space back there may be twice the size of the area Dan has under cultivation.  So I decided to keep my plants in pots, easily movable if I figured out a better arrangement for the situation - or in case I failed.

I had aspired to grow Cascade and Willamette hops, since I had seen that those varietals do well in the area.  I would plant two rhizomes in each post to ensure that I would have a survivor of each one.  When I went to order, however, I found that they were sold out of Cascade, and substituted UK Goldings.

The UK Goldings in their spacious new pot.

After discussing this further with Dan, I remembered that while his Willamettes do fine growing as plants, they aren't high yielders for some reason.  His hypothesis is that their location isn't great, since they are in the partial shade of a walnut tree, and because the soil around that tree may not be optimal due to the falling nuts every year.  My plant grew very well, too, but I did not see any cones in the first year (not that I was expecting much of a crop - the plants take a few years to mature).

The Goldings, on the other hand, performed better than I expected.  There were even cones on those plants come harvest time - about two dozen.  Not enough to do anything with, but still, product!

I bought a second pair of Goldings rhizomes, and I transplanted both of the existing plants into new, larger pots last week.  I found that there were roots that had escaped the plants and made their way into the flower beds - not entirely unexpected, because in my readings about hopyards I found that you plan at least a 4x4 hill for each plant.  I was fairly brutal in pruning these roots back for the transplanting, and hope I did not do any lasting damage.

I'll post a series on these hops over the course of the growing season, with a next post to describe the trellis system I am trying out for the Goldings this year.  That's all for now though!

Cabin Lore: The Neighbors' Tree House

The front of the tree house, from the Lawyers' yard.
Beaver Run is visible in the background.

Among the earliest buyers and builders in the Hawksbill Pines neighborhood were the Lawyers - that was their actual last name, and the cross street at the top of the hill was named after them.  They settled in and built a weekend home up there with excellent party amenities, including walk in cold storage out in the barn - the same one that Dan now brews out of.

They lived in the house at the end of the block for a good long time.  There is still evidence of wonderful summer parties there in the house - the current owners will take you for a walk down in the basement where many a guest signed in.  Times were good in the summer in the Pines!

Some time after the couple retired to the neighborhood, their first house became too difficult to live in.  They owned the lots next door, so they built an easy 60's era ranch over there.  It's actually a two-story home built into the hillside, so the basement opens to the yard in the back, while the main entry is at ground level in the front.

The view of the tree house from Hawksbill Cabin,
across the hollow.

Eventually Mrs. Lawyer was confined to a wheel chair.  They weren't going to let that stop them from enjoying the great outdoors, however, so they built a grand tree house out in the woods.  It's at least a 30 foot walk out the deck to get to it, and the house is easily 30 to 40 feet above ground.

I can imagine summer nights out there with friends, enjoying a cookout dinner and playing cards into the night.  In the spring, the serenade of the peeper frogs would be absolutely amazing, and in the summer, the fireflies would be such a treat.  Combine that with an unobstructed view of Big Meadow Mountain in Shenandoah National Park and you wouldn't have much to complain about.
 

Nuthatch Rescue

After we returned from our hike in SNP on Sunday afternoon, I was sitting in the Hawksbill Cabin living room and heard a loud bang.  I was a familiar sound, I'd heard it once or twice before - a little nuthatch had collided with the windows out front.  I saw the little bird laid out on the brick terrace, and just as quickly as I had looked up, I saw Mom Cat run over to check it out.

I rushed outside to see if there was anything we could do for the bird - that meant the first priority was to keep him safe from Mom Cat and the other barn cats.  They probably hunt the little song birds, and we suspect that they have taken at least one other unfortunate little bird that hit one of the windows.

A few years ago a finch struck the rear window at the Alexandria house.  That time, Mary made a call to the animal shelter to see if they would come and get the bird, of if they could offer advice.  We were told that they go into shock from the collision - that there was a good chance of recovery, as long as they are kept safe from predators until they recover - which can be anywhere from a half hour to a couple of hours.

So with the little nuthatch, I figured I would get him up off of the brick terrace, and keep him away from the barn cats and the hawks that patrol the neighborhood.  I scooped him up into one of the chairs and sat next to him to keep watch.

When he rolled over onto his back, I thought to myself, "This isn't good."  I figured I would soon be dropping him into a pile of leaves back in the wood lot.  But after about 10 minutes, he popped over onto his feet, as shown in the photo.  He was clearly still shaking things off, but the prognosis was looking better.

After another 10 minutes or so, I saw him moving his head around, checking me out.  I thought I might move the chair over to the side of the terrace, so he could see the trees and other cover - and fly away to them as soon as he was ready.  As soon as I did that, he was off, flying up and over the house.

Later, while we were packing for the drive home, I went around back to see if I could spot him.  There were two nuthatches back there - I assume it was him and his mate.  It reminded me that we found a little nuthatch nest last year in the pool cabana, with five eggs in it - maybe this is one of that brood.

In any case, my karma was assured for the week.  I'm looking for my next good deed.

Jones Run Falls - More Photos

In the post yesterday, I mentioned I had a couple of photos and such, taken with my new iPhone 5s, that I wanted to share.  Let me start off with a photo of Tessie and me, which Mary took of us down at the falls. Good times! 

Next, here's ten second video of Jones Run Falls.  At 42 feet, this is not the tallest in the park, but still it's pretty grand. This was my fourth hike down to it - I think it has become my favorite in the park.



Here is the first of a couple of panoramic shots I took, using that feature on the iPhone.  The first one is of one of the two falls you reach before you arrive at the main falls - there's a cave and some pretty interesting rock formations in this part of the gorge. Even though the waterfall here hugs that large boulder, there is plenty to take in at this spot.

The final shot here is a panoramic view of the main falls.  It shows how the falls plunges over a rock ledge through this part of the gorge, and the abstraction from the pano feature makes for an interesting perspective.

Jones Run Falls - an Easy SNP Day Hike

Over the course of the last week, I read somewhere that the waterfalls throughout Shenandoah National Park were at their peak because of the recent heavy rains, which followed a snowy winter.  I asked Mary if she thought she might be up for a hike to check out a waterfall or two, suggesting we might go to Jones Run Falls in the South District, which has become one of my favorite waterfalls in the park.  We set off on Sunday morning, with Tessie coming along for the hike, and on the way to the trailhead we saw lingering snow in the shadows along Skyline Drive.

As I prepared to write this post, I took a minute to recall my previous hikes to Jones Run Falls, trying to figure out why I like this waterfall so much.  I’ve linked a couple of the old posts below – they’re full of photos of the scenery, and that is certainly part of what I like so much.  It could also be that the cascades along this stream, along with Doyle’s River, are so accessible to hikers – you can literally walk right up to them if you want, and even jump in there for a shower if you like.

While I have done the Doyle’s River/Jones Run circuit before, we agreed that we weren’t up to a hike as rigorous as that.  Instead we chose to simply hike down the Jones Run gorge from the trailhead at milepost 84, a descent of 900-plus feet and a round trip of 3.4 miles.  The combination makes it an “easy” hike in my book, it needs to exceed 500 feet of elevation change and five miles of distance to be moderate.

The fact that there are three waterfalls and two stream crossings on this short hike makes it a very worthwhile outing.  While there are no rock scrambles or other features of that sort, the jumbled formations of boulders strewn about the gorge offer some pretty great views as well.

Mary, Tessie and I had a nice walk together, and spent about an hour enjoying the falls once we reached them.  A couple of family groups were out for the day, and everybody wanted to give Tessie some attention.  That’s a canine who knows how to work it.

In addition to the linked posts below, I’ll be making a second post about this hike – I wanted to use a couple of the iPhone photo features, and I’ll share a couple of extra photos tomorrow.

As I mentioned, here are some previous blog posts about this hike:

http://hawksbillcabin.blogspot.com/2011/09/doyles-riverjones-run-75-75-hike.html

http://hawksbillcabin.blogspot.com/2010/04/waterfalls-everywhere-jones-run-doyles.html

http://hawksbillcabin.blogspot.com/2010/04/jones-run-doyles-river-part-2.html

The Return of the Beavers

 When we arrived at Hawksbill Cabin on Saturday morning, we were surprised to look out into Beaver Run hollow and see that the beavers had returned from upstream, building a little dam in our stretch of the creek.  I remembered from a few years ago that we had a pond, and was very excited by the new development - and also worried, as always, since they are construction within 100 feet or so of our little road.  

After we got unpacked and settled in, we all took a walk over for a closer look.  As the plants are all greening up in the hollow, you can still get around pretty well in there, and I was able to get pretty close to it.  

It's not yet as big or robust as the one they built in 2008, but it is coming along. At that time, the stream was narrower and had some pretty high banks, so when the pond filled the water was as deep as six feet or so in places - it probably is this time as well, especially in the stream channels.

We kept an eye on the pond all weekend, hoping to catch a glimpse of the beavers at work, but no such luck.  I'm sure we'll see them eventually, but for the moment, all we've seen is a couple of pairs of ducks.

Looking back on my old blog posts, I found that the old dam was built in the spring of 2008 and lasted until heavy rains in spring 2009.  I used the label "beaver dam" to track the dam back then - I'll re-inaugurate that label again for posts about the new dam, starting with this one.

The Idle Hop Yard

After we brewed at Beaver Run Brewery last weekend, I took a walk out to have a look at the hop yard.  It was idle, not a sign of any shoots yet.  Dan had pruned the hills down and set up the trellis so that everything was ready for spring.

It won't be long at all - I remember a visit last May, and the bines were already topping out.  There's a post here:

http://hawksbillcabin.blogspot.com/2013/05/hops-progress.html

After brewing and my little walk around the farm, I went home and tasted a tripel that Dan and Chris had brewed over the winter - with a fire.  Times are good, but the winter can't end soon enough.  I think spring has finally broke.