Trip Report

Roadtrip from the Blue Ridge to Mount Jackson in the Rain /  by Todd Henson

Towards the end of April my father and I went for a day trip in Virginia. We’d visited a hamfest in the morning, then drove along Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park and found some white trillium flowers closer to noon. Just after photographing the trillium it began raining and it continued for some time as we drove out of Shenandoah National Park and along Route 211 west towards Luray. I was the passenger on this trip and had kept my camera out as we drove so I decided to create some “from the road” photographs to capture some of our trip and show what the roadside scenery looks like in a storm.

Route 211 From the Blue Ridge to the Massanutten

Route 211 between the Blue Ridge and Massanutten mountain ranges can be a beautiful scenic drive. These two photos were created past Luray as we approached the Massanutten. You can see the same house and barns in them both. As beautiful as this area is, I felt it was even more beautiful on this rainy day, and I even enjoy the spots of rain on the windshield, something I most often try to avoid by clicking the camera shutter just after the wipers clear the windshield.

Route 211 west towards Massanutten

Raindrops on the windshield while riding towards Massanutten on Route 211

Route 11 from New Market to Mount Jackson

From Route 211 we turned right and headed north on Route 11, leaving New Market and heading towards Mount Jackson. This is another beautiful stretch of road that parallels the Massanutten mountain range. I found several scenes I thought were worthy of photographing, with various buildings set off against both the Massanutten in the background and the clouds in the sky.

A farm house, clouds, and Massanutten

A church and the Massanutten range along Route 11

Farm land and the Massanutten range

Tips

So often on these trips I see what I believe would make wonderful compositions while in the car, but seeing them and capturing them while the car is moving are two entirely different things. Everything is in motion, the car, me within the car, the camera within my hand, and other cars on the road. I’ve shared some techniques in the past to help with photographing from a moving car, such as raising the ISO and shutter speed and turning on vibration reduction, and to add to those suggestions, keep your arms and body slightly flexible so they move with the movement of the car. This might help reduce the harder vibrations of the vehicle moving along the road, similar to how moving video cameras are sometimes mounted on stabilizers to smooth the motion.

Photographing from the road is a lot of fun and something I highly recommend if you’ve never tried it yourself. It gives you the chance to realize some photos you might not otherwise be able to create. Just be sure you’re a passenger if the vehicle is moving.

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A Walk in the Woods at Widewater /  by Todd Henson

On the last Saturday of May, 2023, my father and I decided to hike the trails of Widewater State Park in Virginia. This is a somewhat new park to us though we’ve now hiked it several times. It’s a fairly small park with a small number of trails, but what they have is enjoyable, fairly level, and always changing with the seasons. It offers a mix of forested trails, a small pond, some marshy areas, a wide portion of Aquia Creek, and a very wide part of the Potomac River.

This time we began at the main parking area and chose to hike Long Pond Trail towards the road. There were few clouds in the sky this morning and we got a bit of a late start, so the sun was really shining through the clearing as we approached Long Pond.

Long Pond Trail

When we reached the pond we turned right onto Holly Marsh Trail and hiked over the road to the other side of the park. Not too far into the woods I spotted movement amongst the ferns and when I slowly got down and looked closer I found an Eastern (or Northern) cricket frog, one of the smallest vertebrates in North America. To make it easier to see I framed it almost at the center of the photo. It has a nice light green stipe down its back.

An Eastern cricket frog among the ferns

We also found an Eastern grey squirrel foraging through the underbrush. It didn’t appear at all concerned about us and went about eating the small snack it had found in the leaves.

Snacking with a squirrel

When hiking in the woods I absolutely love looking up into the tree canopy. It’s beautiful the way the light shines through, backlighting the leaves. And I love the patterns of the branches and bark and leaves. In this case I chose a white oak to photograph.

White oak canopy

After looking up doesn’t it make sense to also look down? In this case I chose to focus on a small field of ferns.

Among the ferns

We were still hiking Holly Marsh Trail, which strangely enough parallels Holly Marsh. In the distance we could just begin to hear the sounds of boats on the Potomac River, almost 3 miles wide at this point.

Holly Marsh Trail

Pausing to allow a family to walk past us I noticed this small, young leaf growing directly out of the bark of a tree. I’m always fascinated when leaves grown on their own instead of from branches. I’m not certain, but this may be an example of an American sweet gum tree.

Perhaps a little sweet gum

Instead of hiking back the way we came we decided to walk along the road back to the other half of the park. Along the entrance to this section we saw a small clearing in the trees and within that clearing was a field of ferns and a single lichen-covered tree. The sun was fairly bright at this point so it did shine through and highlight some areas.

Small fern clearing

Along the side of the main road there are several sections of old rusted barbed wire that’s been there so long many trees have grown right around it. Along one stretch I watched as a pale damselfly landed on the wire. It proved very patient and allowed me to approach close enough for a photo.

Barbed wire damselfly

Last time we hiked this park we noticed some poison ivy growing on a tree right near a bench that faces Aquia Creek. As with last time I chose to photograph it, and in one of the photos I later found a harvestman resting on a leaf. It would appear harvestmen don’t have quite the same reaction to poison ivy as most of us might.

Harvestman on poison ivy

At this point we were very near the main parking lot and it was approaching noon, so after a short rest on the bench we took a last look out at Aquia Creek before leaving the park.

Approaching noon along Aquia Creek

I hope you’ve enjoyed this little walk along with us as we hiked Widewater State Park.

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First Visit to Seven Bends State Park, Virginia /  by Todd Henson

The Lupton Road entrance to Seven Bend State Park, Virginia

In mid-March my father and I drove out to Seven Bends State Park for the first time. This is an interesting park near Woodstock, Virginia, that’s split into two sections along the Seven Bends area of the North Fork of the Shenandoah River. In both cases you first have to navigate a very narrow one-lane windy road and then cross a one-lane bridge that’s very low to the river. We were told by a park ranger that it’s fairly common for the bridges to flood, so if you visit be sure to watch the weather and plan accordingly. Also, please be patient and drive safely, making way if you can for oncoming vehicles.

The one-lane bridge on Lupton Road

A view of the North Fork of the Shenandoah River

A view of the North Fork of the Shenandoah River in the other direction

Seven Bends is a reasonably recent addition to the network of state parks. It was created when Dr. James R. Myers donated almost 700 acres of land in memory of the Fravel and Myers families. It’s always nice to see donated lands turned into park land.

Seven Bends State Park was created from donated land

Though we drove to both sections of the park we spent most of our time on the Hollingsworth Road section, hiking the Bass Bight Trail. The park appears to have a range of trails of varying difficulty. The easier trails parallel the river and the more difficult ones head up into the hilly mountains. This time around we stuck to the river trails.

The trail map for Seven Bends State Park

The first thing we noticed on the Hollingsworth Road section was a large corn field just beyond the parking areas. It wasn’t in season so everything had been cut down and was brown, but it might be interesting to return and see what it looks like with corn growing. I wonder if it might be a good location to photograph certain species of birds that might gather in corn fields?

Looking back towards the parking lot over a cleared corn field

Bass Bight Trail parallels the river with the corn field to the right

It was early enough in the year that most trees were still bare of leaves. But we did see the first signs of leaf growth, both lighter shades of green and in some cases shades of red. I was drawn several times to different sections as the sun lit up the leaves. I don’t know that any of these photos are anything special but I think they show some potential for this area.

Some of the lit up trees that caught my eye on the slopes on the mountain

A touch of red on otherwise bare trees

I loved how the sun highlighted the new leaves on the trees

We noticed several flowers while there, though it’s still early in the season. The first we noticed were small groups of grape hyacinth in the grassy areas. Later, at the end of the trail, I stumbled across some unknown flowers that I later learned were young Virginia bluebells, an absolutely lovely flower sometimes found along rivers or creeks. It’s good to know another location where we might find these flowers if we arrive at the right time. In the same area we found lots of rough horsetail growing.

Grape hyacinth were scattered around in the grass

The buds of Virginia bluebells were just beginning to emerge

I loved the look of several sections of rough horsetail, especially this one with a vine running through it

Near the end of trail I noticed something moving in the river. It was bright white but also orange. All I had with me was a wide angle lens and a macro so I couldn’t get any closeups, but with the macro I was able to create a few photos that revealed the creatures to be a pair of Greylag geese. I very strongly suspect these are domesticated. One of them appeared to have some kind of problem with its feathers, or perhaps it was molting.

A massively cropped image showing the two Greylag geese in the river

Eventually the pair of Greylag geese went on shore

Before we left we spoke with a ranger who recommended we get lunch at the local Woodstock Cafe, and I’m glad she did. My father and I each had a great sandwich and I sampled some of the local coffee. Stop by if you ever find yourself in Woodstock, Virginia. 

Have you ever heard of, or visited, Seven Bends State Park in Virginia? It’s certainly a location I’d like to visit again.

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