Wanderlust Close to Home

After physical therapy today, I was hit with a bout of wanderlust. Since we have tickets to see Thor: Love and Thunder tonight, I didn't want to go too far, plus I also am a little shy of needing to get gas since the Camaro requires premium. Since I bought a Maryland State Parks Annual Pass this year, I opted to go to the close-by Patapsco Valley State Park and hike around on some trails I haven't really explored. 

Of course, the first thing I realize is that I wasn't going to have my hiking poles with me, since I left them in the Crosstrek after our trip last weekend. I didn't really want to just go along the paved Grist Mill Trail, so I just figured I could find a long enough stick somewhere along the way. 

Wineberries were prevalent along all of the trails I was on

I started off on the Santee Branch Trail, heading roughly north, and when it met up with the Bull Run Trail, I paused for a moment to admire the bike "shop" that was installed there. It looks like it has tools and a bike pump for mountain bikers who find they need it along the trail. I wonder how many other ones there are in the park?

A combination tool/air pump station for bicyclists

There were quite a few birds, rabbits and squirrels along the trail, and some interesting fungi. I found one cluster of slime molds that was pretty intriguing. 

A cluster of slime mold

I paused by a small stream (Bull Run? Though the maps all say "Bill Run," so I'm not sure which is correct), and saw at least two kinds of crayfish, but couldn't really get a photo. 

It's not Cascade Falls, but it was still pretty

An odd looking rock 

Once I met up with the Soapstone Trail, I followed that in the direction that I thought would be taking me back to the Camaro. Instead, I ended up at the trailhead at Rolling Road. No biggie; I headed down a different way. It was a little traumatic at first, as there was barbed wire next to the trail. This triggered bad memories of a random stretch of barbed wire along the Patapsco River that almost ended my life so many years ago on a 4-H trail ride. 

No idea why there was a barbed wire fence here

I ultimately ended up at the Lower Glen Artney area, where some Civilian Conservation Corps-built shelters are found, just as they are in other areas of the park. 

The CCC built a lot of shelters and other structures at Patapsco Valley State Park

I opted to just follow the road back to where I'd parked, as I was out of water and I was tired. My trail shoes also are worn out, and I'm pretty sure I bruised my right foot when I stepped on a rock. It wasn't a long hike, but there were a lot of steep hills and with the humidity, I was soaked with sweat yet not cooling down. Needless to say, the first thing I did when I got home was shower! 

My Camaro makes me happy

Looking over the trail map for the area when I got home, I see lots more opportunities for hiking, even as the Grist Mill Trail will be closed after Labor Day for about a year to fix the footbridges. I need to print out the trail map and keep it with me! 

I'll leave you with a photo of tiny mushrooms; these were barely an inch tall and the slender stalk looked delicate. 

Larger than life

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Beauty in the Rot

Pat wanted to go fishing yesterday, so I tagged along. I didn't bring my rods this time; I just wanted to wander. His destination was Dam #4 along the C&O Canal, and I figured it was high time that I traversed the section of towpath between there and Taylors Landing, if not all the way down to Snyders Landing. 

This great blue heron thought Dam #4 fishing was a good idea, too.

Dam 4 is approximately mile 84.6 along the C&O Canal, and Taylors Landing is at 80.9. Snyders Landing is 76.8. Pat usually fishes for 3-4 hours at a spot, but as I started moving along the towpath, I saw several other people fishing around Dam 4. I wasn't sure if that would affect Pat's decision to fish there, though I have had good luck fishing at Taylors Landing and thought maybe he'd shift downriver if needed.

It was forecast to be in the mid-to-upper 80s, and "low humidity," though I thought it was pretty muggy outside even at 8AM. The temperature never seemed oppressive, but the moisture in the air and the reminders of the damage from a storm the previous evening made me wonder if more storms were on the way. 

Of course, all of the rain and humidity meant there were a lot of fungi, slugs and other decomposers to be seen amidst the fallen limbs and five foot jewelweed.

Moisture drips from a yellow jewelweed flower

A small helicoid snail

A wood ear fungi grows on a fallen log

I saw a lot of wood ear (jelly ear) fungi and the ubiquitous shelf fungi, and not a whole lot of the stereotypical club or mushroom fungi. I suppose the mushrooms would take another few hours after the storms to pop up. 

The remains of a tree, showing the internal structure of a trunk and wood ear and shelf fungi

A reddish orange jelly fungus on a fallen tree at Lock 40

Split gill fungi on a limb

It's July, and so flowering plants were in the minority. I did see some small, unripe pawpaw fruits, and lots of jewelweed, but that was about it. There were tons of mosquitoes, and I was pretty happy to have bug wipes with me to keep them at bay. 

Pawpaw fruits knocked down by the storm

A few months ago, I hiked up from Ferry Hill to Snyders Landing and saw Lock 39. This time, I saw Lock 40, between Taylors and Snyders Landings. The stone is in really good condition, though it's far enough from anything else that the vegetation around it is completely overgrown. 

Upstream side of Lock 40

Looking through the lock channel from the upstream side

Looking at Lock 40 from the downstream side

Probably the strangest thing I saw on the trip was the interaction between two black-and-yellow flat millipedes. When I first saw them, they were about an inch apart, crawling in opposite directions. They quickly turned towards each other and started..... I don't know what. Mating? Fighting? It wasn't clear. I took a few photos and left them to do their Mutual of Omaha thing. 

This was right after they "noticed" each other

I can't tell if this is fighting or mating

Anyway, I had little-to-no cell service most of this hike, so while I was trying to keep Pat updated on where I was, I wasn't getting any response from him. When I arrived at Snyders Landing, I send a text and a photo, then wandered over to the parking area where I saw the Crosstrek. He said he hadn't caught anything and so finally just gave up. I had texted him that there was no one at Taylors Landing, but he hadn't stopped there to try. His loss; last time I was skunked at Dam 4 and drove to Taylors Landing instead, I ended up with a 17 inch walleye. 

It was a good hike, with lots of little things to see if you know what to look for. I need to do this more often. 

A small brownish-orange slug crawls on the cut edge of a fallen tree

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