It was great to see you and chat, John. Looks like you had a full
weekend, and that's all we can ask for.
I got back around 7:30 last night, slept in this morning, and am now in
a somewhat catatonic state, which is typical for me after the NPW. It's
the price I pay for the manic levels of energy I expend on the mountain.
With luck I'll be there in August and I hope to see you again.
On 6/2/19 11:54 PM, John wrote:
I'm home. This was the first year I didn't have to rush back to get
Baxter out of kitty jail ... I mean the pet hotel.
Didn't win any prizes, so my record for not taking the contest too
seriously remains unblemished.
Didn't do a whole lot of nature PHOTOGRAPHY, but it was an interesting
weekend for seeing nature. While I was driving up a Pileated woodpecker
flew across the road right in front of me. It was there and then it was
gone, but it was plainly visible; best look at one I've ever had. Every
time I've encountered them before, they were always up in a tree and
hiding around the other side of the trunk. BIG woodpecker. No hiding
this time.
Sunrise Saturday was a bust. Heavy gusts & thick overcast caused them to
close off the top of the mountain, including the trail-head for the
Black Rock Nature Trail (EASY, 1 mile trail with good view of the
Parkway from Grandfather Mountain). I'd used The Photographers Ephemeris
to figure out where I was going to shoot sunrise from & was going to try
out the 15-30 f/2.8 to see if I could image stack the foreground with
the "Waning crescent 4.9%" almost new moon that rose one hour before the
sunrise.
So, once I found out there wasn't gonna be no sunrise with an almost new
"Waning crescent 4.9%" moon, I figured I'd head down to McDonald's at
Banner Elk & get a cup of coffee to jump-start my mental processes ...
except it was closed when I got there. Doug later told me it caught fire
& they're having to rebuild it. I ended up with a cup of gas station
coffee from the mini-mart across the road.
Coming back to the mountain, I spotted a flock of wild turkeys out on
the edge of McCrae Meadow with the dominant Tom making a display. I
managed to get a couple of photos before someone else stopped & decided
to walk up on them to get closer ... with predictable results.
On the way back from Banner Elk, I saw a sign for a Draft Horse pulling
contest, so I bagged the contest & went over to take some photos there.
I'd never seen one before.
Headed back to the mountain around 4:00pm to turn in my one photo. They
extended the submission deadline until 5:00pm this year.
Went through Banner Elk again, and just before I got to the country club
entrance on NC 105, a bear cub came down the hill from my right and ran
across the road in front of me. Again, I got a real good look, but no
time to reach for my camera.
Even if I hadn't been fully occupied with driving, I deliberately put
the camera out of reach when I am driving so I won't be too tempted to
do something too stupid.
After this morning's presentations & issuing certificates to the
winners, I took a walk through the habitats before heading home. They've
got a new Elk habitat. And it looks like they've got plans to expand the
museum complex. The drawings they have in the brochure make it look like
it's going to be on the other side of the auditorium where the picnic
shelter is now.
Took a different route home, partly to see if I could remember one of
the old short-cuts I used to use when I was running service for the
alarm company & needed to get between two clients who weren't connected
by an interstate (or even a primary road).
Nailed it & had a nice sunset along the way. "Fields of Gold" and all
that, so I got to see a nice bit of nature this weekend, even if I
didn't get to photograph all that much of it.
--
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