autumn

First Trip to Seneca Rocks, West Virginia /  by Todd Henson

Seneca Rocks Discovery Center during autumn

A well-known and popular destination in West Virginia is Seneca Rocks, a large rocky crag in the Appalachian Mountains. It’s popular both for tourists coming to view these incredible mountains and hike the trails, and for rock climbers who crave a challenge. In fact, the 10th Mountain Division of the U.S. Army trained here in 1943 - 1944 before deploying to Europe during World War II.

A 10-image panoramic view of the famous Seneca Rocks in autumn

Some of the fall foliage at Seneca Rocks, West Virginia

The rock formations, the creek, and the local community were named after the Native American Seneca nations, thought to have travelled through this area, along with other nations, for trade and war, though they actually resided further north in the New York region.

Bell Wall just left of center, Gunsight, the gap in the center, and South Summit on the right (a very technical formation) at Seneca Rocks

South Summit at Seneca Rocks, West Virginia, is a very technical climb

We were fortunate to visit during autumn when there was some nice color to the leaves. The lighting was a challenge, photographically, as we arrived very near high noon on a cloudless day. This time of year it appears the run rises somewhat behind the rock formations so they were in some degree of shadow during our visit. I’m guessing arriving later in the afternoon might allow you see the rock faces lit up. I’d love to return on a day with a few more clouds, maybe a bit of a stormy look, though I’ve no desire to drive some of the roads we did during a storm.

The Seneca Rocks Discovery Center, in West Virginia, was closed during the government shutdown

Another unique aspect to our visit is that the Discovery Center was closed due to the government shutdown. Thankfully, the Forest Service kept the area open to visitors and just closed the facilities. And the area was very busy with almost full parking lots. Many people were hiking the trails or walking along the paved paths. And there were many people on the faces of the cliffs and rock formations.

Turn around and face away from the rock formations and you’ll see some stores, a motel and a restaurant, all of which were packed

Rock Climbers and/or Hikers

If you click on the photos to get a larger view you may be able to spot some of the many rock climbers all over the formations. Below I’ve created some photos where I circle the groups of climbers and/or hikers in red so you can see just how popular this location is for climbing, some of it very technical, especially that of the south summit.

I circled in red all the climbers/hikers I could find at Seneca Rocks. Some of the circles contain multiple people.

South Summit, one of the more technical features, attracts many climbers. I’ve circled all I could find in red.

See how many climbers and hikers were on the rock formations at Seneca Rocks?

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Greens and Browns Along the Ground /  by Todd Henson

In autumn most of the forest floor is the brown of fallen leaves. But there are still patches of color, mostly shades of green, sticking up every so often through the brown. I’ve gathered together a small collection of photos from one hike through Prince William Forest Park on October 29th, 2023, that show some of these greens and browns along the ground. I hope you enjoy them.

Fan Clubmoss

One of the common plants that remains green late in the year is fan clubmoss with its distinctive fan shape. It tends to grown very low to the ground and spreads out all over the forest floor.

Fan clubmoss spreads across the leaf-covered ground

Fan clubmoss and beech leaves (and a couple red oak)

Tree Clubmoss

Not quite as common in these woods is tree clubmoss, which grows taller than fan clubmoss and is far less smooth. In fact, the combination of the sharper bristles and the tall yellow stalks make it one of the plants sometimes used to create Christmas wreaths and other greenery. On one trail you can find fan clubmoss on one side and tree clubmoss on the other with the trail seemingly the dividing line between the two.

A field of tree clubmoss

Looking down on tree clubmoss

Delicate Fern Moss

What struck me about this scene was the beautifully delicate green fern patterns growing out of a hole in the fallen tree. Delicate fern moss is a very appropriate name. Sadly, I didn’t quite nail the focus with this image, but it still conveys the wonderful patterns and color.

The beautiful green patterns of delicate fern moss grow from a hole in a fallen tree

Partridge Berry

And speaking of color, it’s not at all uncommon to see the darker green leaves of partridge berry vining their way over other greenery like moss and lichen. And of course the bright red berries are an extra treat, especially when seen against all that green.

A bright red partridge berry with its darker green leaves set against lighter greens and brown leaves

Quartz

And let’s not forget the geology of this forest, one with plenty of quartz underground and sometimes poking out for us to appreciate. Here we see examples of quartz surrounded by leaves and some bits of greenery.

A wide view of quartz, leaves, moss and lichen

A quartz closeup


Autumn and winter often lead to less color in the landscape, but that doesn’t mean there’s no color. We just need to look a little closer to see it. And when we see it, to appreciate it.

Thanks for reading.

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Mid-November Oak Leaves /  by Todd Henson

Mid-November oak leaves

My father and I went for a very nice hike this past weekend along the Farms to Forest Trail Loop in Prince William Forest Park in Virginia. It’s a beautiful location with some forested hilly terrain and a small creek that feeds into Quantico Creek at the end of the loop. Being mid-November most of the leaves had fallen from the trees, though there were still some stragglers. This section of trail is known for having many red oak trees and I kept noticing their leaves, so I decided to photograph a few.

Would you believe I just happened to find this fantastic arrangement of three oak leaves resting on a fallen tree? Well… you shouldn’t! This is one of those less common cases where I arranged a photo to show you the leaves. Of course, it was an extremely windy day so just as I set one leaf down and tried to place a second the first was lifted up by the wind. Eventually I managed to get them all down and snap a quick photo. When I got back home I noticed I didn’t even manage to photograph the same side of each leaf! The left-most leaf is the front side whereas the other two are the backside. Oh well. 😃

What I was drawn to was the variety of color in the leaves, one red, one brown, and one green, all found right in the same spot. I believe the left and right are red oak. The middle may be black oak, as it’s not quite as narrow and pointy as the red, but I’m not certain. If you look closely at the leaves at the top and bottom you’ll also see white oak and American beech (and possibly others I missed).

And finally, another example of red oak, this time the top of the tree set off against the blue sky. Not an award winning photograph, by any means, but it shows the beautiful red leaves of red oak in autumn.

Red oak blue sky

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