utenzi

I needed to walk a MTA form over to the Technology Transfer office Today. Since that's on the other side of campus from where I work, I did the walk at lunchtime and combined the walk with a side trip to the Battle Branch Trail . The picture there to the left is the Forest Theater, slightly ice covered at the moment. Getting that picture was a mite treacherous due to the fore mentioned ice. In case you're curious, Battle Park is named for Kemp Plummer Battle. Who the hell is he, you ask? He was president of UNC from 1876 to 1891. And yes, that was a long time ago. This second picture shows the trail I was walking on. I didn't have much time so I just looped around on the Deer Track Trail, and then got back to the lab lickity-split. The trail was very icy but except for the hilly sections, the footing wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Still, I wish I had been wearing hiking boots. I didn't fall but I did slip around a bit and it was because I was wearing smooth...

Yesterday I went to the NC state zoo in Asheboro. I got there at 9am, which is when they open, and I stayed until 3pm. I probably walked around 6 miles during those 6 hours, maybe 7 and my calves are a little sore. And I'll tell you, it was damn hot. And humid. It was supposed to hit the low 90s on Sunday and it sure felt like it. Those fellers there on the left are ring tailed lemurs. Lemur Island is the newest attraction at the NC Zoo and they have a number of ring tailed lemurs there and supposedly some red-ruffed lemurs too. The only one I saw stayed semi-hidden under a rock ledge---you can see him in the picture at the bottom of this post. I took a bunch of pictures at the zoo so I'll probably be posting a few more before I get tired of looking at them. :-)

I got up a little early today to go hiking in the nasty cold. It got down to the mid-20s but by the time of the hike, 10am, it was over 30. Balmy, almost. The sun was shining so strongly that the snow in the trees was melting. On us. I really wish I had worn a hat 'cause I got soaked---head and feet. I really like this picture of the log. There's snow on top, moss underneath, and below that you have fungi. What a nice layering effect! We were the first people to hit the trail today but one other couple arrived later on and we saw them near the river. Even though the trail was wet and we got our feet soaked in the near-freezing water it was a great day. The snow was so pretty in the bright sunshine. Even so, the hills were a real pain in the ass due to the slippery footing and the taxing affect of breathing hard in the cold dry air. I almost felt like going around the loop again--but instead I did a little shopping at Lowe's and Wal-mart. Xmas is just around the corner!

It was certainly a brisk morning for a hike but at least the sun was out and due to all the rain, the Eno River was looking pretty good. The waterfall above was very near the parking lot, between an old gristmill and the blacksmith shop. This part of Eno Park has educational / historical buildings that were originally part of a small settlement named Synnott's Mill (Michael Synnott operated the mill from 1752 thru 1778 whereupon a new mill downstream drove Synnott out of business). We hiked the West Point trails in Eno Park. We started at 10am and it was probably around 35 degrees there. As you can see from the graphic, when I left my house, 30 miles west of where we hiked, it was a lot colder. The hike was supposed to be 4 miles long but we had to shift around a bit to avoid a flooded area so it was probably only 3.5 miles as we hiked it. There were enough hills to get me to take off my hat and gloves fairly soon and eventually my jacket as well.

Here's 5 pictures that I took at Sarah Duke Garden on Sunday. I took over 170 pictures there that day and well over half of them are very good. The light was really good that day. Hard to believe people were complaining at the start because of the gray overcast skies. A pretty yellow flower. If you like that sorta thing... This guy looked way too serious. Get a load of that incredible camera setup---and all just to get some pictures of ducks. And if you look carefully, you can see he's got his dog hitched to his back end. The bridge in the Asian section of the Garden. Nice reflections on the water. And this was a rather nice tree in the parking lot. Only 165 pictures left to go...

I went on another group hike at the Occoneechee Mountain park yesterday after work. This time it was drizzling and cloudy so there wasn't much light for taking pictures. On the other hand, the greens of the trees and plants were so vibrant and everything smelled delightful. Except maybe me--I fell down a few times while bushwhacking. The ground was just too wet for good footing on steep slopes. I really like the picture below. Just a mossy log in a sea of ferns but the colors are quite nice. Same kind of color palette in this picture. What little sun there was lit the glade and gave nice fresh green colors whereas dark greens and browns predominated in the woods. It made for a nice picture illustrating the tonal difference in the two areas. And here's the group I hiked with. We're all clustered at the base of the quarry walls, just before we moved on to the steep part of the hike. Incidentally, it was just a few minutes later that I started my falling exercise as I tried to...