The Seneca Rocks formation comes from 425 million years ago, when the Tuscarora sandstone formed so much of the mountainous ridge extending through West Virginia. On September 28, 1965, the Seneca Rocks – Spruce Ridge became the first National Recreation Area in a U.S. National Forest. Some of the trees in this area are 200 […]
Seneca Rocks in Virginia Read More »
This is a shagbark hickory tree from New Jersey, and the likes of this species used to be far more common to America’s eastern forests than they are today. The same holds true for pignut hickory, black oak, and white oak trees (as well as beech, pine, hemlock and larch). And these all have some
How Indigenous American Burning Practices Shaped the Eastern Forests Read More »
These two flowers from my neck of the woods both came out along the Appalachian Trail in May: the one to the left was from early this month and is known as a “Rattlesnake Plantain”. The other is blossoming right now at the end of the month and is called a “Pink Lady Slipper.” These
Evolution of Orchids (and Native Pennsylvanian Orchids) Read More »
With the Canadian fires contributing to horrific air pollution in areas as far south as the Carolinas, as well as the recent Trump-dominated US Supreme Court decision that limits the US Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to regulate clean water, the effects of pollution in our lives are of pressing importance. It’s worth remembering an episode
London’s Pea-Souper of 1952 Read More »
Crabtree Falls, located near the George Washington National Forest in Virginia, is a place of stunning beauty. I got to visit this 1,200-foot waterfall yesterday after a rainstorm and my pictures do not do it justice. With five major cascades, it is one of the tallest waterfalls east of the Mississippi River, with the longest
Crabtree Falls, Virginia Read More »
Looking at the ridges and furrows of fields such as this, one can get a rare glimpse of what Medieval agricultural topography was like. The undulating patterns you see here were made hundreds of years ago above the settlement of Wood Stanway in Medieval England. There are two big reasons why the landscape still looks
Wood Stanway and How the Black Death Changed England’s Landscape Read More »
Catoctin Mountain Park — situated right next to Cunningham Falls State Park, is in north-central Maryland and is run by the US National Park Service. Its 5,120 acres overlook the Monocacy Valley. Back in 1935, the area was put under the CCC to be fostered as a public recreational area. Cunningham Falls State Park has
Catoctin Mountain Park and Cunningham Falls Read More »
Tobyhanna State Park was formed out of state lands that had been on a large artillery range that preceded Tobyhanna Army Depot. It has 5,540 acres of land surrounding Lake Tobyhanna, which is named after an American Indian term meaning “a stream whose banks are fringed with alder.” Today I saw a lot of birch
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The Range Trail is a winding path that traverses across swampy and rocky forest in the Tobyhanna State Park, established in 1949. As you can see from the third slide, the area was used by the U.S. military as a live-artillery training ground during both World Wars. I didn’t see any shell remains on my
The Range Trail at Tobyhanna State Park Read More »
Here are some photos of Gouldsboro State Park, established in 1958. The human-made lake you see here, as well as the park it was named after, get their nomenclature from Jay Gould (1836-1892), a rich industrialist from New York who at one point owned ten percent of all the rail tracks in the United States.
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This is Humpback Mountain, an incredibly ancient formation dating from the Alleghenian orogany — ie, when the Appalachian Mountains were formed — between 325-260 million years ago. Made up of granite with greenstone, the mountain is part of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia, and you can see why they are called that because of
These are the Shohola Falls, dropping a total of 200 feet in the half-mile course it makes along the Shohola Creek as it drops from Shohola Lake. Located in the Poconos Mountains of eastern Pennsylvania, “Shohola” is an American Indian word that means “meek” or “faint”. This area is part of the Catskill formation and
The origin of mushrooms is ancient — in fact, a 2020 scientific paper reported the discovery of fossilized fungi found in the Democratic Republic of Congo dating from 715 to 810 million years ago! Yet there is much scientists still do not understand about these fruiting bodies of the Earth’s mycelium layer (a network of
Origins of Mushrooms Read More »
The National Park at Acadia is a jewel among the United States natural lands. The movement to make trails and preserve the area for posterity and enjoyment got going in the 1800s. Even though many of the civic groups who galvanized these measures cut both women and people of color out, women were among the
Acadia Eliza Homans Read More »
https://chrissysenecal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/PXL_20230807_185351865-1.mp4 Acadia National Park received its name in 1919. The biodiversity of New England’s only National Park is unusual, stemming from its past history of glaciers. Here you see some glacial domes on top of Mount Sargent. At 1,373 feet above sea level, one can see for miles around.
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This view on top of the Beehive Trail in Acadia is enjoyed by hundreds of people every summer day in the national park. As one follows the adjoining Gorham Mountain and Bowl trails (in the picture the pond is the Bowl), the plaque on the fourth slide appears, dedicated to a “Waldron Bates” (d. 1909),
Acadia Waldron Bates Read More »
