Snowy Day in the Gorge

 Chimney Top Road

12/26/20

The Gorge got a couple inches of snow on Christmas Eve and Day and I wanted to take advantage of the beautiful weather on the 26th. Chimney Top Road is closed for the winter and I decided that it would be nice to just walk the road vs. hike the trails and likely get covered with snow. 

Chimney Top Road

Chimney Top made a good lunch spot. Oddly, while I was eating a guy and his dog appeared. I figured that they had walked the road behind me since there isn't really another way to get there, but when I returned back down the road, there were only my earlier foot prints. I guess he must have scrambled up from below. 

Half Moon from Chimney Top

Red River and the road

Revenuer's Rock

Hansons Point

Princess Arch

Looks like an eye

Red River Gorge Fall

A couple day hikes in the Red River Gorge

October 16 - Douglas Trail

October 21 - Sky Bridge for sunrise & Rough Trail for the rest

I almost never see the sunrise in The Gorge because I rarely camp there and I don't wake up early enough to drive there in time. But, I woke up at 5 am and could not go back to sleep. I was already planning on a day hike, so I just left a lot earlier than I normally would. 

Early light on Sky Bridge

I then drove over to Chimney Top Road to hike a part of the Rough Trail that I had not seen in a couple years. 

I saw a 4 foot rattlesnake slithering off into the woods. It was too far back to get a photo, but he did rattle at me as I tried to get close enough for a photo. A minute later this frog freaked me out when it jumped right by my foot :)

And then a minute after leaving the frog, I saw a tiny movement on the trail. It turned out to be one of the smallest snakes I've ever seen. 

For perspective, note the leaf stem near the body. The snake was the size of a strand of linguini or thick spaghetti. I thought it was interesting that as I took some photos he would open his mouth and rear back like he was going to strike. I would have thought that a new snake would be more likely to hide but I guess not. 

November 13 - Swift Camp Creek

 

Dayhike in the Gorge

 9/30/20

The weather was perfect but the sky was not very photogenic, just bright blue with no clouds, so I wasn't very inspired by the great views. 

I hiked out to the end of Jailhouse Rock and then back to the trailhead, didn't see anyone until close to the car. I still had time, so I hiked out towards Courthouse Rock and enjoyed the view, lots of people along this stretch of trail. 

This guy jumped off the trail right in front of me. I first thought it was a grasshopper, but leaned over as it crawled onto a bush. I have always like Praying Mantises, so I sat down and pulled out my camera. Thankfully he held still for a minute so I could get a couple up close photos.

There were Asters blooming all over the place. 

Red River Gorge Dayhike

 September 25, 2020

About 8 miles mostly on unofficial trails

It was very overcast most of the day, nice hiking but not very photogenic. The clouds started breaking apart towards the end of the day.

Weird fungus that looks like coral, never noticed/seen this before

Comet Neowise

July 21 2020

Chimney Top, Red River Gorge

I had been kicking myself for missing a couple of really clear nights with very little moon and not trying to see the comet. I looked at the sky around 7:15 (right after dinner) and there were no clouds in the west. I asked my wife if she minded it I drove out to the gorge to check out the comet. Of course she said go right ahead, see you in the morning. I grabbed my camera stuff and filled a Nalgene with water and off I went. I thought I might catch sunset, but for some reason a stretch of the Mountain Parkway was shut so I had to take a side road that cost me about 10 minutes, so I just missed what looked to be a nice sunset. Oh well, not why I was there anyway.

There was still a lot of light so it was a easy/short hike to Chimney Top where I found about 20 other like minded people. I set up off to the side and away from the crowd and waited for it to get dark. 

While waiting, I caught a glimpse of a 1-day old moon. You can just make out the sliver just right of center in the orange part of the sky (look above the valley). This is the youngest moon I have ever seen without a telescope. 

I'll make it easier for you :)

And then the main event. This is with my zoom lens at 105mm.

And then zoomed out or with my 21mm lens. I was happy that the clouds did not come in and ruin the view.

The photo below is a stack of 12 individual photos to get a little more detail.

The sky to the south was lit up with distant lightning the whole time I was waiting for it to get dark and while photographing the comet. Really glad that this did not come closer. After the comet dropped into the clouds on the horizon, I shifted positions to see the Milky Way and the lightning. 

The bright star is Jupiter.