Beaver Run in the Fall

The beaver pond across the road is going on two years old this time.  It's the second time these industrious critters have built over there - the previous time was in 2008 or so, and that one lasted about a year.

I thought the heavy rains might take it down over the last few weeks, but it survived.  Dan told me there was a breach, and I could tell from the water levels that it is much lower than it has been for most of the year, although the foliage has kept it hidden until now.


They seem to have settled on having the dam height a little lower in the past, so it doesn't quite cover the whole lot over there.

Still, it's pleasant enough to look at - the water sparkles through the trees year round, and sometimes I can see the wake of one of the beavers swimming around on patrol.

Fall on the Terrace

After the Page County Century ride wrapped up, I had agreed to get back over to Hawksbill Cabin to meet up with neighbors Sally and Dan, who had taken a ride over to check out the Woodstock Brew House over on the North Branch side of the Valley.  They brought a nice growler of a session pale ale to share as we sat out on the brick terrace enjoying the great day and the start of fall colors.  

We had a good time catching up, and later they invited me up for some ribs on Sunday.  Dan has a vintage Weber kettle that he uses for grilling, and they have several hickory trees on the property, so it is a simple matter of gathering up a few downed branches to get an ample supply of smoke for the barbecue.

Those ribs were great.  Since we'd already enjoyed the growler, he broke into his stash of Beaver Run Brewery offerings, including an IPA made with Hawksbill Hops!  The nice evening outside was a reminder that fall has arrived and it won't belong before we're putting on sweaters and raking leaves.  

Summer came and went too fast this year.

The Page County Grown Century

For a few years now, Page County Grown has worked with Page Valley Cycling and Hawksbill Bicycles to put on a Century bicycle ride.  The most recent edition was last weekend, and there was a record turnout of more than 70 riders going the distance - 25, 55, and 100 mile routes are offered.


My job this time was to staff the lunch stop at Public House Produce.  Of course, that meant we shared the promotion opportunity, since Hawksbill Hop Yards is co-located there, and is also a member of Page County Grown.



Quite a few of the riders came by for bagels, fruit, nutella and peanut butter, and various other offerings, taking a break from what turned out to be beautiful weather, with the fall colors just beginning in the Valley.

There was a lot of activity around the farm.  The goats were interested in the riders, but in the end, Delilah here was just not impressed.

It was a great event, ending up with a great meal catered by the Mimslyn down at the VA.  That's another point of interest - I'm eligible for membership, and have been meaning to check in on that.  Maybe a goal for 2016.

Along with volunteering for more active tourism events, of course!

The C-130 and the Blue Ridge

As I'm wont to do, I was sitting out in the sunshine on the brick terrace a few weekends back.  I heard a gentle rumble of an unfamiliar airplane overhead and started looking around for it.

To my surprise, there was a C-130 in an unusual paint scheme crossing the sky - flying quite low actually, since it was headed for the Blue Ridge in Shenandoah National Park.  The mountains near us - including Stonyman, Hawksbill, and Big Meadow, stretch upwards to 4,000 feet, and I thought the C-130 might have to climb a bit to clear.

In the first photo, you can just see the aircraft.  The line of trees below obscures the view of the park here, but that is on a line to Big Meadow, so that probably gave a thrill to some of the park visitors.

As I was looking through my photos yesterday, I thought I might zoom in on the photo of the C-130 to see if the paint job would come in any clearer.  Here you can see the bright silver of the plane - really caught be by surprise, as we more often get Air Force Reserve or National Guard flights in the area, and the planes are usually green.  I can't identify ths one from a web search, but I suspect it may be a Navy version.