- In Wardensville, W. VA – Kacapon River Heights – Near Strasburg, VA. 90 min. D.C. area. 116 total acres. Prime development land. Level to rolling forest. Private. At road’s end. Alive with deer and wildlife. Ideal for hunting, private camp, cabins, homes, investment. Beautiful mountain views. Just 2 miles from Cacapon River to fish, canoe, swim. Two adjoining 58 parcels, each divided into 17 mini-forests of 2 to 5 acres, all platted and recorded for resale as individual lots. Adjacent lots selling for $25,000 – 30,000 each. Foreclosure property.

Accessible by private road. Half mile off of Rt. 259. Convenient to Winchester, VA. For sale “as is”.  Grab one or both sections for $2,750 per acre. Bank will finance this offer with 15 percent down. Make cash offer for all or both. Banks wants to close books.

- In Davis, W. VA – Blackwater Falls – Mt. Storm Lake – Canaan Valley ski area. Like Wyoming in W. VA. Bank foreclosure of prime development property in popular, scenic Potomac Highlands. 1,800 ft. on National  forest, offering tax-free use of a million-acre hunting, fishing wilderness region joining your land.  Approx. 450 ft. on native trout stream; 600 ft. on main highway – Rt. 32. All woods and clearings, overrun with deer. No steep land. Can be subdivided.

Ideal 4-season retreat near ski slopes and large mountain lake for sailing, motor boating, scuba diving. High elevation region with cool weather. Create your own ranch. Hold for investment. Lots in this development once priced up to $100K per acre. Look on your own, or call for directions. Appointments advised for those with serious interest. 80 percent financing possible. All cash offers considered.

*****

Whether for personal use or as an investment to provide for your family’s future, visit the B.K. Haynes web site to see all of the latest ranch and camp possibilities- outside the perimeter of the Washington DC area.  Or call B.K. Haynes, Accredited Land Consultant, at (540) 635-3169.

B.K. Haynes is located at 501 S.Royal Avenue, in Front Royal, VA 22630.

Land bargains since 1966 in the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia’s Piedmont, the Blue Ridge, and the W.VA. Highlands

Email: bkhaynes ~at~ bkhaynes.com

P.S. And, don’t forget to check out B.K. Hayne’s new music CD and his Valley of the Stars radio information, on the web site (above), as well as the upcoming feature film that he wrote entitled, The Saddle Bum.

The Saddle Bum - a movie synopsis – based on the novel by Brad Haynes

Singer, author, song and screen writer, musical radio host, businessman, and movie producer, Brad Haynes, is a living legend in Virginia’s scenic Shenandoah Valley. Brad’s new movie is an adaptation of his romantic novel, The Saddle Bum — an intriguing story of lost love, set in the Valley and the Blue Ridge Mountains. Two unlikely lovers find and lose each other, but never forget a torrid and soulful romance that will scorch their hearts and minds for 30 years, when they are finally reunited.

Shenandoah is one of 20 national parks kicking off “Let’s Move Outside Junior Ranger.”  Led by the Department of the Interior and the Department of Agriculture, the program provides tools and information to parents to make it easy to enjoy the outdoors and be active and healthy. It is part of First Lady Michelle Obama’s nationwide campaign to end childhood obesity within a generation.

“Young people inspire us; we want to help them be healthy and curious for
life. It starts with family fun. We want to help parents learn the skills
they need to enjoy the outdoors with their kids,” National Park Service
Director Jon Jarvis said.

Young people who complete at least one physical activity in pursuit of
their Junior Ranger badge receive a special sticker that designates them as
a Let’s Move Outside Junior Ranger. The activities range from adventures
like hiking with a ranger to body surfing and canoeing.

“Shenandoah’s Let’s Move Outside Junior Ranger program offers kids and
parents the chance to hike on park trails during a Ranger-led Junior Ranger
Program or on their own with one of three Ranger Explorer Guides. These
activities are not only great exercise, but also provide incredibly fun
ways to see and learn about the park,” Superintendent Martha Bogle said.

More than 1,600 visitors participated in Ranger-guided Junior Ranger
programs in 2009, which are enjoyed by children of all ages.  Ranger
Explorer guides, targeted for kids 13 and older, provide an opportunity to
experience hiking on Stony Man Mountain, in Shenandoah’s Wilderness and on the Appalachian Trail.

Information about Shenandoah’s Junior Ranger and Ranger Explorer programs can be found on this web page.

By summer’s end, 50 national parks will offer Let’s Move Outside Junior
Ranger programs. Before heading out, families can look at www.letsmove.gov/outside for more information about activities and participating parks. This website hub will link families to the great outdoors and give tips and ideas on how to best plan and enjoy an active adventure.

All total, The National Park Service provides 84 million acres to explore, so there are many places and ways to move outside.

Here’s an opportunity to get fit with your family this summer, and teach your kids hiking and camping skills at the same time.  Shenandoah National Park is hosting two “Hiking with Children” seminars scheduled for two Saturdays this summer, on June 19 and July 17 – from 10:00 a.m. to noon. These programs are designed for parents that want to get outdoors to hike with their children and have a worry-free experience.

- Have you always wanted to hike with your family but were concerned about being safe?

- Do you wonder about keeping your little ones entertained and engaged?

- Are you making the right decisions about what to wear and what to take with you should unexpected situations arise?

Author Jeff Alt presents “Hiking with Children”

Guest speaker and expert hiker Jeff Alt, author of the celebrated A Walk for Sunshine, will share his expertise with you and your family. You will learn firsthand how to share nature with children for a fun and safe outdoor adventure.

Jeff is the father of two young children and regularly takes his family on overnight hiking trips. He has hiked the 2,160 mile length of the Appalachian Trail on his own. During the summer of 2007, with his wife and extended family, Jeff carried his 21-month-old daughter on a 50-mile hike across a swath of Ireland.

At the “Hiking with Children” seminars, Jeff will provide tips on how families with children can experience nature together on the trails in Shenandoah National Park. Both programs include a short hike with Jeff and park rangers on one of the park’s trails.

The “Hiking with Children” program is free but reservations are requested. There is a $15-per-car entrance fee to the park, good for seven days. Saturday, June 19 is Shenandoah Neighbors’ Day and the park will waive entrance fees for those residents living in counties adjoining the park
including: Albemarle, Augusta, Greene, Madison, Page, Rappahannock,
Rockingham, and Warren.

To register for a seminar, go to the Shenandoah National Park website.

“Hiking with Children” is one of the Shenandoah National Park Resource Seminars designed for those who want to get to know their national park a little more personally. Seminars provide a more in-depth experience to learn from scientists, researchers, educators, and other experts about resource issues and recreational opportunities in Shenandoah National Park.

Basics of Family Camping seminar will also be offered

Future seminars include The Basics of Family Camping, July 10 -11, and our science-based air quality seminar, What’s Up with the Air? on Saturday, August 14, 2010.

The complete Resource Seminar schedule can be found on the park’s website.  Members of the Shenandoah National Park Association receive a 20% discount on seminars. The Shenandoah National Park Resource Seminars are co-sponsored by the Shenandoah National Park Association and ARAMARK, the park’s official concessioner.

For more information, contact the park’s Education Office at (540) 999-3500, ext. 3489.

Strasburg, VA – Openings are still available for the “Cool Cloverbuds” 4-H Day Camp, which will be held at the Strasburg Park from June 28-30. The camp operates from 8:30 a.m.-5:00 p.m. daily and is open to all children who are 5-8 years old. Daily activities include crafts, games, singing, “learn by doing” programs, and swimming. Lunch, snacks, and a t-shirt are included.

Campers are supervised by adult staff members and trained 4-H volunteer teen counselors. Children do not have to be current 4-H members to enroll and a limited number of scholarships are available, based on financial need.

For more information, please contact the Shenandoah County Office of Virginia Cooperative Extension at (540) 459-6140.

Virginia Cooperative Extension programs and employment are open to all, regardless of race, color, national origin, sex, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, or marital or family status. An equal opportunity/affirmative action employer.

If you are a person with a disability and desire any assistive devices, services, or other accommodations to participate in this activity, please contact Carol B. Nansel or Nicole L. Ross, Shenandoah County Office of Virginia Cooperative Extension, at (540) 459-6140 during business hours of 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. to discuss accommodations two weeks prior to the event.

Shenandoah National Park, USA – Why not celebrate National Trails Day with the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club (PATC) at Shenandoah
National Park on Saturday June 5?

The Potomac Appalachian Trail Club invites new hikers and experienced backpackers to learn new trail skills at PATC Trail Patrol’s “Beyond the Trailhead” event at Byrd Visitor Center (milepost 51 – on Skyline Drive).

Come participate in hikes, demonstrations, and presentations throughout the day, while taking advantage of the fee-free weekend at Shenandoah on June 5 and 6 in celebration of the America’s Great Outdoor initiative.

The event is designed to give novice hikers the information they need to leave their cars behind and venture beyond the trailhead to enjoy this area’s numerous hiking and nature trails. Even experienced backpackers can learn new skills at the information tables and discussion groups on “Leave No Trace” outdoor ethics, hiking techniques, and equipment. Hands-on demonstrations of traditional tools, such as crosscut saws, used to maintain wilderness trails will be offered by Shenandoah National Park trail crew.

A variety of hikes guided by experienced Trail Patrol members will be offered for people of all ages and experience levels: hikes suitable for families with children; easy, moderate, and advanced hikes for adults. Hikers will need to meet at the registration table at Byrd Visitor Center 15 minutes before the hike time to sign in. Hikers should wear appropriate footwear and clothing for the season, and bring food and plenty of water.

Hikes leaving Byrd Visitor Center include:

- Easy – Story of the Forest Nature Trail – 1.8 mi. – 10:00 a.m.
- Easy – Appalachian Trail Ramble 2.0 mi. – 10:45 a.m. and 1:00 p.m.
- Moderate – Dark Hollow Falls Hike 1.4 mi. – 9:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.
- Moderate – Lewis Falls Hike – 2.0 mi. – 10:15 a.m.
- Advanced – Rapidan Camp National Historic – 4.0 mi. – 9:45 a.m.
- Landmark (Camp Hoover) by Mill Prong Trail

Pre-registration is encouraged but you may also register on June 5 at Byrd Visitor Center. To pre-register, send an email to TPNTD ~at~ patc.net by June 3, 2010. Please include your name and which hike you wish to join.

Thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail

A presentation about thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail, Appalachian Trail Reflections, will be offered as part of the National Trails Day event. Maryland backpackers Georgia Harris and Randy Motz will share their 2006 thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail by describing what trail life is like, relating what it takes to accomplish a thru-hike, and showing photos of their journey.

The one hour presentation will be given Saturday, June 6 at 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. at the Byrd Visitor Center auditorium. A book signing of the presenters’ book, “Solemates – Lessons on Life, Love and Marriage” from the Appalachian Trail, will follow each presentation.

PATC and Trail Patrol are charging no fees to attend or participate in any hike, workshop, or demonstration connected with the event. Byrd Visitor Center lies within the park at milepost 51 on Skyline Drive.

For more information about the event, email Trail Patrol at TPNTD ~at`patc.net, or visit the PATC website.

For more information on the park, visit the Shenandoah National Park’s website.

“Beyond the Trailhead” celebrates the annual National Trails Day organized and sponsored by the American Hiking Society. Potomac Appalachian Trail Club is the volunteer trails maintenance group headquartered in Vienna, Virginia that maintains 240 miles of mid-Atlantic Appalachian Trail and 730 miles of other trails in Washington DC, Virginia, Maryland, southern Pennsylvania, and eastern West Virginia.

PATC volunteers build and maintain trailside hiker shelters and rustic rental cabins; and publish detailed trails maps, hiking guidebooks, and books detailing the history of the Appalachian region.

Come out to the Shenandoah Valley and hike with mom for Mother’s Day. It will be fun for the whole family!

Visitors will have a chance to meet woodland beauties such as wild geranium, trillium, jack-in-the-pulpit, and many others on a variety of naturalist-led hikes.

Virginia O'Keefe's painting of a Jack-in-the-Pulpit

Participants will search for wildflowers along the Millers Head, Mill
Prong, Lewis Mountain, Upper Rose River, Appalachian, and Gravel
Springs-Bluff trails.  There will be a Big Meadows stroll, and a new hike called “Cultural Connections,” focusing on historical uses of plants.

Additional activities include bird walks, a children’s program, and
journaling.  The complete schedule is posted on the park’s website.

There will be several special programs this year.  J. Christopher Ludwig, Executive Director and co-author of the “Flora of Virginia Project,” will present an update on the soon-to-be-published manual of Virginia’s 3,500 native and naturalized plants.  The comprehensive guide will include the latest information, detailed illustrations, identification keys, descriptions, range and habitat for every plant. 
The program will be at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, May 8, at Byrd Visitor Center auditorium, milepost 51 on Skyline Drive.

Naturalist and author C. Colston Burrell will present “More Than a Pretty Face:  Native Alternatives to Exotic Invasives” at 10 a.m. Sunday, May 9, in Byrd Visitor Center auditorium.  He will explain how to replace exotic plants in home gardens with native trees, shrubs and perennials, providing food for butterflies, birds and other wildlife.  At 1:30 p.m., he will present “Obsession and Exploitation:  A Cultural History of Trilliums.” Mr. Burrell will also lead a wildflower hike to South River Falls on Saturday.

Programs are free, and no registration is required.  There is a $15-per-car
entrance fee to the park, good for seven days.  For more information about
Wildflower Weekend, call the park at 540-999-3500, at extension 3283.

Afton, Va – Here’s something a little different. So many kids today, and for that matter so many adults, can tell you just about everything about technology, but when it comes to living in the wild, or building a camp fire, or good old fashioned survival, they would readily admit that they are clueless.

The time is ripe for the Return to Nature

In our push to have – and be – the latest PC’s, has our connection with Nature slowly dissolved from our lives? Have basic outdoor skills evaporated in thin air? Here’s one chance to drag your kids away from their smart (???) phones and gadgets, and go back to the Source, and re-connect yourself, as well. It’s “Scouting” taken to a new level.

May 7 to 9, 2010, The Living Earth School, at 101 Rocky Bottom Lane in Afton, Virginia, is hosting Family Survival Weekend. It begins Friday evening and lasts through Sunday  at 4 p.m.

Join the Living Earth School for a relaxing, adventurous weekend in the woods with your family. No cell phone. No laptops. No interruptions – except for  the calls from the wild. This workshop will teach the four essential elements of surviving in the woods, so your family can go on in confidence, and will change your relationship with the natural world. This class will lay the foundation for survival and give you the practical tools needed to live closely with the land.

The workshop will discuss: 1) shelter, 2) water, 3) fire and 4) food. Participants will make a debris shelter that will keep you dry and warm without a sleeping bag. Also, carve your own friction fire set, and learn the many crucial skills of survival like wild edible plants, safe water collection, awareness and more.

This class is a fun, hands-on way to learn to live more closely with the Earth and to walk with greater awareness of the beauty the world of nature holds. Participants will also cook over the open fire, tell stories and roam the beautiful forests of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

About The Living Earth School

The Living Earth School is located in the Blue Ridge Mountains of central Virginia, outside of Charlottesville. Kate and Hub Knott are co-founders and owners of the The Living Earth School.

Their web site explains: “We are in the Chesapeake Bay, James River, and Rockfish River watershed. The Blue Ridge are some of the oldest mountains in the world, once as tall as the Himalayans, and now the rounded tops and ridgelines around us rise about 4000’ above sea level.

The mountains are rich with medicinal plants, wildlife (including bobcat, bear, coyote, deer, owls, etc) and some of the highest diversity of amphibians in the world. There are rock outcrops to explore, creeks to follow, and mysteries that keep pulling ones curiosity further. We use two sites, a camp facility in Sugar Hollow for our summer camp programs and our base camp in Afton.”

Down time is so important these days. Henry David Thoreau would be proud.

Details: Admission for the weekend is $225 (1 adult, 1 child) +$75 for each additional person.

For more information on the Family Survival Weekend, call (540) 456-7339, or visit the Living Earth School website, which illuminates their unique “coyote mentoring” philosophy.

*****

Here are some of the other meaningful, “connective” programs that they offer:

- Father/Son Weekend of Fire -  May 15 – 16

Come spend this special weekend together, diving into the world of fire. Learn the ancient art of fire making, carve your own bowdrill fire set, tell stories, wander the mountains and cook on an open fire under a star lit sky.  Besides a great weekend of fun, leave with new skills you can utilize together into the future.  Sat 9 am- Sun 11am $175 (includes father and son age 6+, each additional child, $65. (Instructors: Hub Knott and Kyle Scaggs)

- Hide Tanning- The Brain Tan Method – May 21 – 23

Learn to tan in a completely non-toxic traditional way. In this class, you will transform a deer hide into a soft, supple, wearable buckskin. Learn to scrape the hair, grain and membrane, brain, wring, soften and smoke the hide. Walk away with a finished braintan buckskin, and an 8 page handout to review when you tan in the future. Hides and materials provided. $200 – Friday- Sunday (majority of 3 days will be necessary, as well as some down time between.) Some camping options possible.

- Mother/Daughter Weekend – May 22 – 23

Come spend a magical weekend with your daughter immersed in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains! We will connect with the natural world, cook over the fire, make wild edible teas, weave stories of mother-hood, daughter-hood throughout our day and weave our tales into a basket.  Mothers and daughters will make their own basket to go home with together.  For participants that attended last year we have advanced basket options to weave into the weekend. Sat 9 am – Sun 11am. $175 – includes mother and daughter age 6+, each additional child, $65. (Instructor: Kate Knott)

Washington, D.C. – Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced today that all 392 national parks, including Shenandoah National Park,  will have free admission during National Park Week, April 17 – April 25. Parks will also offer additional family friendly activities and special offers on tours, lodging, food, and souvenirs. A listing of parks and promotions is available on the National Parks web site.

“We are rolling out the red carpet and inviting everyone to visit a
national park and help celebrate National Park Week,” said Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar. “Parks are fun and affordable destinations and great places to engage in healthy, outdoor activities, whether for a few hours or a few days.”

National Park Week, a program of the National Park Service, is an
opportunity to engage families and communities in America’s Great Outdoors, reconnecting them with nature and creating close to home opportunities for people to get outside, be active, and have fun.

“National parks preserve our heritage, promote recreational experiences, and provide places of quiet refuge,” said National Park Service DirectorJon Jarvis. “Most people live within a short drive of a national park so I encourage everyone to spend some time enjoying America’s Great Outdoors during National Park Week.”

There will be hundreds of family friendly events on Saturday, April 24, for National Junior Ranger Day. Each child participating in Junior Ranger activities will receive a certificate, patch, or pin.

Other National Park Week highlights include the 40th anniversary of Earth Day and the 75th anniversary of the nation’s most visited national park – the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Normally, 146 of 392 national parks charge entrance fees ranging from $3 to $25. The other 246 do not charge for admission. The fee free waiver for National Park Week does not include other fees collected in advance or by contractors—such as fees charged for camping, reservations and use of concessions.

Shenandoah National Park – SPRING HIKING – From the Park’s latest press release: “Shenandoah Superintendent Martha Bogle announced that the 12-space “upper lot” on the park boundary at the Ridge Trailhead access for Old Rag Mountain will be permanently closed to public vehicle access and parking.

Temporary signing in the upper and lower lots and at Rt. #600 to advise visitors of the impending upper lot closure has been posted. Park staff will accomplish the closure with the installation of a temporary gate and other barriers by mid-April 2010.

The closure is a result of an Environmental Assessment (EA) entitled “Old Rag Parking Lot,” which included extensive public involvement over a two-year period. The Finding of “No Significant Impact” for that project was approved in June 2009.

The Old Rag Mountain area trails are some of the most popular day and overnight use trail areas in park. Visitation on weekends each day can frequently exceed 500 people completing the 8.8 mile Old Rag circuit hike. Public vehicle parking has been provided at the 12-space National Park Service (NPS) upper parking lot and the leased 250-space lower lot.

Parking space at the upper lot is frequently overwhelmed, resulting in extensive roadside parking which extends on to the road pavement and on private land. Access to the trailhead by emergency vehicles for response to incidents on Old Rag Mountain is hindered by improperly parked visitor vehicles.

It is anticipated that the closure of the NPS upper lot will substantially reduce the conflict and congestion of shared visitor vehicle traffic an pedestrian use on Rt. #600, will minimize road shoulder parking trespass on adjacent private land, and should potentially reduce crowding and resource impacts at the Ridge and Nicholson Hollow Trailheads.

Upon closure of the upper lot to public, vehicle access the site will continue to serve as work trip parking access for PATC and Old Rag Mountain Steward volunteers, and for emergency vehicle and other official park administrative access. For the near future, at least one portable toilet will be maintained on site and most trash receptacles will be kept available.

A new parking lot in the area of Nethers Rt. #600 for Old Rag trail access is planned for future construction.”

Hot Site

Hiking Upward is a great web site that includes details about the Old Rag Mountain hike, including first-hand hiking accounts as well as beautiful photos of the area and trail. It is a strenuous, popular hike.

Or, check out the National Park Service’s web site.

Shenandoah National Park, USA – Enjoy nature – Get ready for camping and enjoying the great outdoors with your family! Today, Shenandoah National Park Superintendent Martha Bogle announced that facilities closed during the winter season will begin opening in March, and will continue to open through the Spring. Even though Spring is just around the corner, Shenandoah National Park staff members are continuing the hard work of clearing snow from the unprecedented 2010 winter season.

The March opening dates shown below are tentative – based on Mother Nature and successful snow clearing operations:

Visitor Centers: Harry F. Byrd Visitor Center will open March 26; Dickey Ridge Visitor Center will open on April 1; Loft Mountain Information Center will open on May 14, operating weekends and holidays only.

Campgrounds: Big Meadows Campgrounds
will open on March 26; Lewis Mountain Campground will open on April 9; Mathews Arm Campgrounds will open on May 14; Loft Mountain will open on May 21, pending completion of a construction project to rehabilitate roads in the area.

Picnic Grounds: Elkwallow, Pinnacles, South River and Dundo Picnic Grounds are currently open. The remaining picnic grounds will operate as follows: Big Meadows Picnic Grounds will open March 26; Dickey Ridge will open on April 1; and Lewis Mountain Picnic Grounds will open April 9. Loft Mountain Picnic
Ground remains closed.

Concession-operated Restaurants, Lodges and Associated Facilities: Big Meadows Wayside will open March 19; Skyland Resort will open on April 1; Big Meadows Shower/Laundry will open on March 26; Lewis Mountain Cabins and Lewis Mountain Campstore will open on April 9; Elkwallow Wayside will open on April 16; Loft Mountain Wayside will open on April 30; Big Meadows Lodge will open on May 20; Loft Mountain Campstore and Loft Mountain Shower and Laundry will open on May 21.

For more information about planning a trip to Shenandoah National Park, call the park at (540) 999-3500, or visit their web site.

Strasburg, VA – Just announced! EarthKorps is proud to present the “Shenandoah Riverside Festival,” a low-cost family weekend camping trip that supports taking care of the Shenandoah River and cleaning up our environment.

Mark your calendars for April 30, May 1 and May 2 – for three days of music and camping in Strasburg, Virginia, right along the beautiful, historic Shenandoah River. (The River is a tributary of the Potomac River, approximately 150 miles (241 km) long, in the U.S. states of Virginia and West Virginia.)

Strasburg is in the Shenandoah Valley – at the crossroads of Route 66 into Washington D.C., and Interstate 81. Like many of the small towns that dot the Valley, Strasburg sits on Old Valley Pike (Route 11), and the river runs alongside the road in many places. Skyline Drive is only about 10 miles away.

Music groups performing during the River camp-out include these bands:

- On The Bus
- Lagerhead
- George Wesley & Small Axe Orchestra
- Joe Herbert & Indoe Loop
- David Frye
- Steal The Prize
- GAC Bluegrass Band
- Jake and Burtones
- Scott Murray – Ambrose Dilemma
- Rick Harris Jr. – Mark Barreres
- Friends ‘O The Shenandacky

One low price ($35) covers the entire weekend of camping for your group, or pay $20 for a one-day pass (Saturday night). There is limited vending available for this event. There is plenty of hiking nearby.

100 percent of the proceeds will benefit the continued clean up of the Shenandoah River.

Earth Korps – the sponsor of the weekend – is being formed as a non-profit organization in the heart of the Shenandoah Valley by a river enthusiast that goes by the name of “Captain” Beau Morgan. The purpose of the project is to clean up the physical pollution that is desecrating the Shenandoah’s natural beauty.

This week, Earth Korps organizers spoke briefly about the background and the need for the clean up event, remarking:

“Since 2005, the Shenandoah River has experienced a series of fish kills every spring that have affected several of its native fish species. In the spring of 2005, redbreast sunfish and small mouth bass along a 100-mile (160 km) stretch of the South Fork Shenandoah River began dying of lesions caused by bacteria and fungi.

Basically there’s a problem, not only in chemical pollution destroying the quality of the water, but also hugely in part by physical pollution. The river is absolutely, quite literally, littered with everything from tires, cans, and plastic, to shopping carts, lawnmowers, and vehicles. There needs to be a change. The river needs help, and that’s where we all come in.”

Spread the news!

If you’d like more information about the Shenandoah Riverside Festival, or if you’d like to contribute your time and energy to this worthy event, email: lazarus_11 at hotmail.com;  for more information on Capt. Morgan and his vision for the future of the Shenandoah visit the Earth Korps web site.

On a web site dedicated to transcendentalism, a commentator writes: “Thoreau definitely liked to see the world as microcosm, as here he finds the pattern of seasons both in the small (every day in the pond) and the large, as reflecting the great archetypal pattern of death and rebirth. Note that he spent two years, two months and two days at the pond, beginning on July 4th. However, he chose to structure the last part of the book clearly in terms of the seasons – fall, winter (reconsidering the pond and its animals in the winter), and now, triumphantly, spring and the bursting out of life.’)”

As we in the Shenandoah Valley await Spring, here are some words of wisdom and hope from Thoreau, a great observer of Nature and Life Itself:

“Spring” – From Chapter XVII – “The opening of large tracts by the ice-cutters commonly causes a pond to break up earlier; for the water, agitated by the wind, even in cold weather, wears away the surrounding ice. But such was not the effect on Walden that year, for she had soon got a thick new garment to take the place of the old. This pond never breaks up so soon as the others in this neighborhood, on account both of its greater depth and its having no stream passing through it to melt or wear away the ice.

I never knew it to open in the course of a winter, not excepting that of ‘52-3, which gave the ponds so severe a trial. It commonly opens about the first of April, a week or ten days later than Flint’s Pond and Fair-Haven, beginning to melt on the north side and in the shallower parts where it began to freeze.

It indicates better than any water hereabouts the absolute progress of the season, being least affected by transient changes of temperature. A severe cold of a few days duration in March may very much retard the opening of the former ponds, while the temperature of Walden increases almost uninterruptedly. A thrust into the middle of Walden on the 6th of March, 1847, stood at 32°, or freezing point; near the shore at 33°; in the middle of Flint’s Pond, the same day, at 32½°; at a dozen rods from the shore, in shallow water, under ice a foot thick, at 36°.

This difference of three and a half degrees between the temperature of the deep water and the shallow in the latter pond, and the fact that a great proportion of it is comparatively shallow, show why it should break up so much sooner than Walden. The ice in the shallowest part was at this time several inches thinner than in the middle. In mid-winter the middle had been the warmest and the ice thinnest there.

So, also, every one who has waded about the shores of the pond in summer must have perceived how much warmer the water is close to the shore, where only three or four inches deep, than a little distance out, and on the surface where it is deep, than near the bottom.

In spring the sun not only exerts an influence through the increased temperature of the air and earth, but its heat passes through ice a foot or more thick, and is reflected from the bottom in shallow water, and so also warms the water and melts the under side of the ice, at the same time that it is melting it more directly above, making it uneven, and causing the air bubbles which it contains to extend themselves upward and downward until it is completely honey-combed, and at last disappears suddenly in a single spring rain.

Ice has its grain as well as wood, and when a cake begins to rot or “comb,” that is, assume the appearance of honey-comb, whatever may be its position, the air cells are at right angles with what was the water surface.

Where there is a rock or a log rising near to the surface the ice over it is much thinner, and is frequently quite dissolved by this reflected heat; and I have been told that in the experiment at Cambridge to freeze water in a shallow wooden pond, though the cold air circulated underneath, and so had access to both sides, the reflection of the sun from the bottom more than counterbalanced this advantage.

When a warm rain in the middle of the winter melts off the snow-ice from Walden, and leaves a hard dark or transparent ice on the middle, there will be a strip of rotten though thicker white ice, a rod or more wide, about the shores, created by this reflected heat. Also, as I have said, the bubbles themselves within the ice operate as burning-glasses to melt the ice beneath.

Every morning, generally speaking, the shallow water is being warmed more rapidly than the deep, though it may not be made so warm after all, and every evening it is being cooled more rapidly until the morning. The day is an epitome of the year. The night is the winter, the morning and evening are the spring and fall, and the noon is the summer.

The cracking and booming of the ice indicate a change of temperature. One pleasant morning after a cold night, February 24th, 1850, having gone to Flint’s Pond to spend the day, I noticed with surprise, that when I struck the ice with the head of my axe, it resounded like a gong for many rods around, or as if I had struck on a tight drum-head.

The pond began to boom about an hour after sunrise, when it felt the influence of the sun’s rays slanted upon it from over the hills; it stretched itself and yawned like a waking man with a gradually increasing tumult, which was kept up three or four hours. It took a short siesta at noon, and boomed once more toward night, as the sun was withdrawing his influence.

In the right stage of the weather a pond fires its evening gun with great regularity. But in the middle of the day, being full of cracks, and the air also being less elastic, it had completely lost its resonance, and probably fishes and muskrats could not then have been stunned by a blow on it. The fishermen say that the “thundering of the pond” scares the fishes and prevents their biting.

The pond does not thunder every evening, and I cannot tell surely when to expect its thundering; but though I may perceive no difference in the weather, it does. Who would have suspected so large and cold and thick-skinned a thing to be so sensitive? Yet it has its law to which it thunders obedience when it should as surely as the buds expand in the spring. The earth is all alive and covered with papillæ. The largest pond is as sensitive to atmospheric changes as the globule of mercury in its tube.

One attraction in coming to the woods to live was that I should have leisure and opportunity to see the Spring come in. The ice in the pond at length begins to be honey-combed, and I can set my heel in it as I walk. Fogs and rains and warmer suns are gradually melting the snow; the days have grown sensibly longer; and I see how I shall get through the winter without adding to my wood-pile, for large fires are no longer necessary.

I am on the alert for the first signs of spring, to hear the chance note of some arriving bird, or the striped squirrel’s chirp, for his stores must be now nearly exhausted, or see the woodchuck venture out of his winter quarters. On the 13th of March, after I had heard the bluebird, song sparrow, and red-wing, the ice was still nearly a foot thick.

As the weather grew warmer it was not sensibly worn away by the water, nor broken up and floated off as in rivers, but, though it was completely melted for half a rod in width about the shore, the middle was merely honey-combed and saturated with water, so that you could put your foot through it when six inches thick; but by the next day evening, perhaps, after a warm rain followed by fog, it would have wholly disappeared, all gone off with the fog, spirited away.

One year I went across the middle only five days before it disappeared entirely. In 1845 Walden was first completely open on the 1st of April; in ‘46, the 25th of March; in ‘47, the 8th of April; in ‘51, the 28th of March; in ‘52, the 18th of April; in ‘53, the 23d of March; in ‘54, about the 7th of April.

Every incident connected with the breaking up of the rivers and ponds and the settling of the weather is particularly interesting to us who live in a climate of so great extremes. When the warmer days come, they who dwell near the river hear the ice crack at night with a startling whoop as loud as artillery, as if its icy fetters were rent from end to end, and within a few days see it rapidly going out.

So the alligator comes out of the mud with quakings of the earth. One old man, who has been a close observer of Nature, and seems as thoroughly wise in regard to all her operations as if she had been put upon the stocks when he was a boy, and he had helped to lay her keel, — who has come to his growth, and can hardly acquire more of natural lore if he should live to the age of Methuselah, — told me, and I was surprised to hear him express wonder at any of Nature’s operations, for I thought that there were no secrets between them — that one spring day he took his gun and boat, and thought that he would have a little sport with the ducks.

There was ice still on the meadows, but it was all gone out of the river, and he dropped down without obstruction from Sudbury, where he lived, to Fair-Haven Pond, which he found, unexpectedly, covered for the most part with a firm field of ice. It was a warm day, and he was surprised to see so great a body of ice remaining.

Not seeing any ducks, he hid his boat on the north or back side of an island in the pond, and then concealed himself in the bushes on the south side, to await them. The ice was melted for three or four rods from the shore, and there was a smooth and warm sheet of water, with a muddy bottom, such as the ducks love, within, and he thought it likely that some would be along pretty soon.

After he had lain still there about an hour he heard a low and seemingly very distant sound, but singularly grand and impressive, unlike anything he had ever heard, gradually swelling and increasing as if it would have a universal and memorable ending, a sullen rush and roar, which seemed to him all at once like the sound of a vast body of fowl coming in to settle there, and, seizing his gun, he started up in haste and excited; but he found, to his surprise, that the whole body of the ice had started while he lay there, and drifted in to the shore, and the sound he had heard was made by its edge grating on the shore, — at first gently nibbled and crumbled off, but at length heaving up and scattering its wrecks along the island to a considerable height before it came to a standstill.

At length the sun’s rays have attained the right angle, and warm winds blow up mist and rain and melt the snowbanks, and the sun, dispersing the mist, smiles on a checkered landscape of russet and white smoking with incense, through which the traveller picks his way from islet to islet, cheered by the music of a thousand tinkling rills and rivulets whose veins are filled with the blood of winter which they are bearing off.

Few phenomena gave me more delight than to observe the forms which thawing sand and clay assume in flowing down the sides of a deep cut on the railroad through which I passed on my way to the village, a phenomenon not very common on so large a scale, though the number of freshly exposed banks of the right material must have been greatly multiplied since railroads were invented.

The material was sand of every degree of fineness and of various rich colors, commonly mixed with a little clay. When the frost comes out in the spring, and even in a thawing day in the winter, the sand begins to flow down the slopes like lava, sometimes bursting out through the snow and overflowing it where no sand was to be seen before. Innumerable little streams overlap and interlace one with another, exhibiting a sort of hybrid product, which obeys half way the law of currents, and half way that of vegetation.

As it flows it takes the forms of sappy leaves or vines, making heaps of pulpy sprays a foot or more in depth, and resembling, as you look down on them, the laciniated, lobed, and imbricated thalluses of some lichens; or you are reminded of coral, of leopard’s paws or birds’ feet, of brains or lungs or bowels, and excrements of all kinds.

It is a truly grotesque vegetation, whose forms and color we see imitated in bronze, a sort of architectural foliage more ancient and typical than acanthus, chiccory, ivy, vine, or any vegetable leaves; destined perhaps, under some circumstances, to become a puzzle to future geologists.

The whole cut impressed me as if it were a cave with its stalactites laid open to the light. The various shades of the sand are singularly rich and agreeable, embracing the different iron colors, brown, gray, yellowish, and reddish. When the flowing mass reaches the drain at the foot of the bank it spreads out flatter into strands, the separate streams losing their semi-cylindrical form and gradually becoming more flat and broad, running together as they are more moist, till they form an almost flat sand, still variously and beautifully shaded, but in which you can trace the original forms of vegetation; till at length, in the water itself, they are converted into banks, like those formed off the mouths of rivers, and the forms of vegetation are lost in the ripple marks on the bottom.

The whole bank, which is from twenty to forty feet high, is sometimes overlaid with a mass of this kind of foliage, or sandy rupture, for a quarter of a mile on one or both sides, the produce of one spring day. What makes this sand foliage remarkable is its springing into existence thus suddenly. When I see on the one side the inert bank, — for the sun acts on one side first, — and on the other this luxuriant foliage, the creation of an hour, I am affected as if in a peculiar sense.

I stood in the laboratory of the Artist who made the world and me. I had come to where he was still at work, sporting on this bank, and with excess of energy strewing his fresh designs about. I feel as if I were nearer to the vitals of the globe, for this sandy overflow is something such a foliaceous mass as the vitals of the animal body.

You find thus in the very sands an anticipation of the vegetable leaf. No wonder that the earth expresses itself outwardly in leaves, it so labors with the idea inwardly. The atoms have already learned this law, and are pregnant by it. The overhanging leaf sees here its prototype.

Thus, also, you pass from the lumpish grub in the earth to the airy and fluttering butterfly. The very globe continually transcends and translates itself, and becomes winged in its orbit. Even ice begins with delicate crystal leaves, as if it had flowed into moulds which the fronds of water plants have impressed on the watery mirror. The whole tree itself is but one leaf, and rivers are still vaster leaves whose pulp is intervening earth, and towns and cities are the ova of insects in their axils.

When the sun withdraws the sand ceases to flow, but in the morning the streams will start once more and branch and branch again into a myriad of others. You here see perchance how blood-vessels are formed.

If you look closely you observe that first there pushes forward from the thawing mass a stream of softened sand with a drop-like point, like the ball of the finger, feeling its way slowly and blindly downward, until at last with more heat and moisture, as the sun gets higher, the most fluid portion, in its effort to obey the law to which the most inert also yields, separates from the latter and forms for itself a meandering channel or artery within that, in which is seen a little silvery stream glancing like lightning from one stage of pulpy leaves or branches to another, and ever and anon swallowed up in the sand.

It is wonderful how rapidly yet perfectly the sand organizes itself as it flows, using the best material its mass affords to form the sharp edges of its channel. Such are the sources of rivers. In the silicious matter which the water deposits is perhaps the bony system, and in the still finer soil and organic matter the fleshy fibre or cellular tissue. What is man but a mass of clay?

The ball of the human finger is but a drop congealed. The fingers and toes flow to their extent from the thawing mass of the body. Who knows what the human body would expand and flow out to under a more genial heaven? Is not the hand a spreading palm leaf with its lobes and veins? The ear may be regarded, fancifully, as a lichen, umbilicaria, on the side of the head, with its lobe or drop. The lip lapses from the sides of the cavernous mouth. The nose is a manifest congealed drop or stalactite. The chin is a still larger drop, the confluent dripping of the face. The cheeks are a slide from the brows into the valley of the face, opposed and diffused by the cheek bones.

Each rounded lobe of the vegetable leaf, too, is a thick and now loitering drop, larger or smaller; the lobes are the fingers of the leaf; and as many lobes as it has, in so many directions it tends to flow, and more heat or other genial influences would have caused it to flow yet farther.

Thus it seemed that this one hillside illustrated the principle of all the operations of Nature. The Maker of this earth but patented a leaf. What Chamollion will decipher this hieroglyphic for us, that we may turn over a new leaf at last? This phenomenon is more exhilarating to me than the luxuriance and fertility of vineyards. True, it is somewhat excrementitious in its character, and there is no end to the heaps of liver, lights, and bowels, as if the globe were turned wrong side outward; but this suggests at least that Nature has some bowels, and there again is mother of humanity.

This is the frost coming out of the ground; this is Spring. It precedes the green and flowery spring, as mythology precedes regular poetry. I know of nothing more purgative of winter fumes and indigestions. It convinces me that Earth is still in her swaddling-clothes, and stretches forth baby fingers on every side. Fresh curls spring from the baldest brow.

There is nothing inorganic. These foliaceous heaps lie along the bank like the slag of a furnace, showing that Nature is “in full blast” within. The earth is not a mere fragment of dead history, stratum upon stratum like the leaves of a book, to be studied by geologists and antiquaries chiefly, but living poetry like the leaves of a tree, which precede flowers and fruit, — not a fossil earth, but a living earth; compared with whose great central life all animal and vegetable life is merely parasitic. Its throes will heave our exuviae from their graves.

You may melt your metals and cast them into the most beautiful moulds you can; they will never excite me like the forms which this molten earth flows out into. And not only it, but the institutions upon it are plastic like clay in the hands of the potter.

Ere long, not only on these banks, but on every hill and plain and in every hollow, the frost comes out of the ground like a dormant quadruped from its burrow, and seeks the sea with music, or migrates to other climes in clouds. Thaw with his gentle persuasion is more powerful than Thor with his hammer. The one melts, the other but breaks in pieces.

When the ground was partially bare of snow, and a few warm days had dried its surface somewhat, it was pleasant to compare the first tender signs of the infant year just peeping forth with the stately beauty of the withered vegetation  which had withstood the winter, — life-everlasting, golden-rods, pinweeds, and graceful wild grasses, more obvious and interesting frequently than in summer even, as if their beauty was not ripe till then; even cotton-grass, cat-tails, mulleins, johnswort, hard-hack, meadow-sweet, and other strong stemmed plants, those unexhausted granaries which entertain the earliest birds, — decent weeds, at least, which widowed Nature wears.

I am particularly attracted by the arching and sheaf-like top of the wool-grass; it brings back the summer to our winter memories, and is among the forms which art loves to copy, and which, in the vegetable kingdom, have the same relation to types already in the mind of man that astronomy has. It is an antique style, older than Greek or Egyptian. Many of the phenomena of Winter are suggestive of an inexpressible tenderness and fragile delicacy. We are accustomed to hear this king described as a rude and boisterous tyrant; but with the gentleness of a lover he adorns the tresses of Summer.

At the approach of spring the red squirrels got under my house, two at a time, directly under my feet as I sat reading or writing, and kept up the queerest chuckling and chirruping and vocal pirouetting and gurgling sounds that ever were heard; and when I stamped they only chirruped the louder, as if past all fear and respect in their mad pranks, defying humanity to stop them. No, you don’t — chickaree — chickaree. They were wholly deaf to my arguments, or failed to perceive their force, and fell into a strain of invective that was irresistible.

The first sparrow of spring! The year beginning with younger hope than ever! The faint silvery warblings heard over the partially bare and moist fields from the blue-bird, the song-sparrow, and the red-wing, as if the last flakes of winter tinkled as they fell! What at such a time are histories, chronologies, traditions, and all written revelations? The brooks sing carols and glees to the spring. The marsh-hawk, sailing low over the meadow, is already seeking the first slimy life that awakes.

The sinking sound of melting snow is heard in all dells, and the ice dissolves apace in the ponds. The grass flames up on the hillsides like a spring fire, –  — as if the earth sent forth an inward heat to greet the returning sun; not yellow but green is the color of its flame; — the symbol of perpetual youth, the grass-blade, like a long green ribbon, streams from the sod into the summer, checked indeed by the frost, but anon pushing on again, lifting its spear of last year’s hay with the fresh life below.

It grows as steadily as the rill oozes out of the ground. It is almost identical with that, for in the growing days of June, when the rills are dry, the grass-blades are their channels, and from year to year the herds drink at this perennial green stream, and the mower draws from it betimes their winter supply. So our human life but dies down to its root, and still puts forth its green blade to eternity.

Walden is melting apace. There is a canal two rods wide along the northerly and westerly sides, and wider still at the east end. A great field of ice has cracked off from the main body. I hear a song sparrow singing from the bushes on the shore. He too is helping to crack it. How handsome the great sweeping curves in the edge of the ice, answering somewhat to those of the shore, but more regular! It is unusually hard, owing to the recent severe but transient cold, and all watered or waved like a palace floor.

But the wind slides eastward over its opaque surface in vain, till it reaches the living surface beyond. It is glorious to behold this ribbon of water sparkling in the sun, the bare face of the pond full of glee and youth, as if it spoke the joy of the fishes within it, and of the sands on its shore — a silvery sheen as from the scales of a leuciscus, as it were all one active fish. Such is the contrast between winter and spring. Walden was dead and is alive again.  But this spring it broke up more steadily, as I have said.

The change from storm and winter to serene and mild weather, from dark and sluggish hours to bright and elastic ones, is a memorable crisis which all things proclaim. It is seemingly instantaneous at last. Suddenly an influx of light filled my house, though the evening was at hand, and the clouds of winter still overhung it, and the eaves were dripping with sleety rain.

I looked out the window, and lo! where yesterday was cold gray ice there lay the transparent pond already calm and full of hope as in a summer evening, reflecting a summer evening sky in its bosom, though none was visible overhead, as if it had intelligence with some remote horizon.

I heard a robin in the distance, the first I had heard for many a thousand years, methought, whose note I shall not forget for many a thousand more — the same sweet and powerful song as of yore. O the evening robin, at the end of a New England summer day!

If I could ever find the twig he sits upon! I mean he; I mean the twig. This at least is not the Turdus migratorius. The pitch-pines and shrub-oaks about my house, which had so long drooped, suddenly resumed their several characters, looked brighter, greener, and more erect and alive, as if effectually cleansed and restored by the rain. I knew that it would not rain any more.

You may tell by looking at any twig of the forest, ay, at your very wood-pile, whether its winter is past or not. As it grew darker, I was startled by the honking of geese flying low over the woods, like weary travellers getting in late from Southern lakes, and indulging at last in unrestrained complaint and mutual consolation. Standing at my door, I could bear the rush of their wings; when, driving toward my house, they suddenly spied my light, and with hushed clamor wheeled and settled in the pond. So I came in, and shut the door, and passed my first spring night in the woods.

In the morning I watched the geese from the door through the mist, sailing in the middle of the pond, fifty rods off, so large and tumultuous that Walden appeared like an artificial pond for their amusement. But when I stood on the shore they at once rose up with a great flapping of wings at the signal of their commander, and when they had got into rank circled about over my head, twenty-nine of them, and then steered straight to Canada, with a regular honk from the leader at intervals, trusting to break their fast in muddier pools. A ”plump” of ducks rose at the same time and took the route to the north in the wake of their noisier cousins.

For a week I heard the circling, groping clangor of some solitary goose in the foggy mornings, seeking its companion, and still peopling the woods with the sound of a larger life than they could sustain. In April the pigeons were seen again flying express in small flocks, and in due time I heard the martins twittering over my clearing, though it had not seemed that the township contained so many that it could afford me any, and I fancied that they were peculiarly of the ancient race that dwelt in hollow trees ere white men came.

In almost all climes the tortoise and the frog are among the precursors and heralds of this season, and birds fly with song and glancing plumage, and plants spring and bloom, and winds blow, to correct this slight oscillation of the poles and preserve the equilibrium of nature.

As every season seems best to us in its turn, so the coming in of spring is like the creation of Cosmos out of Chaos and the realization of the Golden Age. –

“Eurus ad Auroram Nabathæaque regna recessit,
Persidaque, et radiis juga subdita matutinis.”"The East-Wind withdrew to Aurora and the Nabathean kingdom,
And the Persian, and the ridges placed under the morning rays.

***

Man was born. Whether that Artificer of things,
The origin of a better world, made him from the divine seed;
Or the earth, being recent and lately sundered from the high
Ether, retained some seeds of cognate heaven.”

A single gentle rain makes the grass many shades greener. So our prospects brighten on the influx of better thoughts. We should be blessed if we lived in the present always, and took advantage of every accident that befell us, like the grass which confesses the influence of the slightest dew that falls on it; and did not spend our time in atoning for the neglect of past opportunities, which we call doing our duty.

We loiter in winter while it is already spring. In a pleasant spring morning all men’s sins are forgiven. Such a day is a truce to vice. While such a sun holds out to burn, the vilest sinner may return. Through our own recovered innocence we discern the innocence of our neighbors.

You may have known your neighbor yesterday for a thief, a drunkard, or a sensualist, and merely pitied or despised him, and despaired of the world; but the sun shines bright and warm this first spring morning, re-creating the world, and you meet him at some serene work, and see how it is exhausted and debauched veins expand with still joy and bless the new day, feel the spring influence with the innocence of infancy, and all his faults are forgotten.

There is not only an atmosphere of good will about him, but even a savor of holiness groping for expression, blindly and ineffectually perhaps, like a new-born instinct, and for a short hour the south hill-side echoes to no vulgar jest. You see some innocent fair shoots preparing to burst from his gnarled rind and try another year’s life, tender and fresh as the youngest plant. Even he has entered into the joy of his Lord. Why the jailer does not leave open his prison doors, — why the judge does not dismiss his case, — why the preacher does not dismiss his congregation! It is because they do not obey the hint which God gives them, nor accept the pardon which he freely offers to all.

“A return to goodness produced each day in the tranquil and beneficent breath of the morning, causes that in respect to the love of virtue and the hatred of vice, one approaches a little the primitive nature of man, as the sprouts of the forest which has been felled. In like manner the evil which one does in the interval of a day prevents the germs of virtues which began to spring up again from developing themselves and destroys them…”

*****

As a student of Thoreau writes: “Thoreau makes a big deal out of sleeping (winter) and waking (spring), and his desire to awaken the sleepwalkers around him.”

This text from Walden Pond is from American Transcendentalism Web. To view more selections by Thoreau, and other writers of the genre, click here.

Here is the website for the Walden Pond State Reservation site in Massachusetts.

Shenandoah National Park, VA – Travel Advisory – The recent severe winter storms have left Shenandoah National Park with heavy accumulations of snow resulting in the complete closure of Skyline Drive.  Although crews are working to open the Drive to visitor use, Park staff anticipates that it will be early March at the earliest before sections of the road can be opened to the public.

Employees have experienced snowdrifts of up to eight feet. Removal of the snow requires extensive loader work due to the depth and density of the snow drifts. Skip Willoughby, Roads Work Leader and 11 year veteran of the Park, said “This is one the heaviest snows and the most we’ve had to deal with since I’ve been at the Park.”

With the depth of the snow, snowplows are unable to gain enough momentum to push snow over the rock walls making it more difficult to clear from road surfaces. Temperatures along the ridge top have not climbed above freezing, resulting in little melting. Additionally, winds continue to blow creating new drifts each night.

Hiking trails remain open to the public via the park boundary, but visitors should expect advanced hiking conditions due to the deep snow pack. Downed and hazard trees may be incurred at any time. Park staff has not assessed trail conditions at this time. Visitors should be aware that boundary parking areas and road shoulder parking may be unavailable due to snowdrifts clearing operations.

Road conditions are updated on the Shenandoah National Park’s main phone line at (540) 999-3500, and on the Shenandoah National Park website.

(Information about the snow clearing operations and a photo gallery illustrating the work in progress are also on the web site. The picture above is provided by Shenandoah National Park.)

Shenandoah National Park, VA – The staff of Shenandoah National Park has begun planning for a year long celebration of the park’s 75th Anniversary – during 2011. Over 30 people from local county governments, partner organizations and tourism professionals have volunteered their time to work with park staff to engage local communities and ensure a terrific celebration of one of the nation’s most treasured places.

The mission of the anniversary celebration is to inspire the public to value the park resources in Shenandoah’s Blue Ridge Mountains and infuse surrounding communities in the Shenandoah Valley and Virginia Piedmont with a sense of ownership and pride in the park and region.

Generous donations by the Shenandoah National Park Association and the Shenandoah National Park Trust will assist in getting planning off the ground.

Shenandoah National Park Association hires Bedwell as 75th Anniversary Coordinator

As coordinator, Bedwell will provide essential liaison functions between the National Park Service and the members of the Shenandoah National Park 75th Anniversary Committee in the planning and coordination of 75th Anniversary events and commercial activies related to the 75th Anniversary.

Bedwell’s previous professional experiences as Product Manager for Plow & Hearth, Marketing Director for Montpelier, and Orange County Director of Tourism will benefit the planning of the anniversary events for the Park and the surrounding communities.

Bedwell said, “As a native of the mountains of Virginia, I have a deep personal respect for Shenandoah National Park and look forward to sharing that sense of heritage and preservation through the celebration activities.” She lives in Locust Grove, Virginia with her husband, Michael.

One of the first tasks facing Bedwell and the Anniversary committee will be to establish a website, which will showcase “all things 75th”, including events and merchandise. Website design has been made possible through a grant by the Shenandoah National Park Trust.

To view an online version of Shenandoah Overlook, the Park’s Visitor Guide, click here. To make reservations to stay in Shenandoah National Park this year, click here.

Did You Know?
Shenandoah National Park has over 500 miles of trails. Over 30 percent of the trails are in designated wilderness. 101 miles are part of the Appalachian Trail.

Winchester, VA – February 7 – the first Sunday of this month – many area churches, especially those that charter Scouting units, will be recognizing Scout Sunday and will be including Scouts in their services.

The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) designates the Sunday that falls before February 8 (which is Scouting Anniversary Day) as “Scout Sunday.” This is the primary date to recognize the contributions of young people and adults in Scouting.

BSA is a century old
The event takes on even greater significance this year as the Boy Scouts of America will be celebrating its 100th Anniversary on February 8, 2010. “A Scout is Reverent” is the overall theme of the celebration.

As you notice your young men and Scout leaders wearing their uniforms this Sunday, it’s an appropriate time to remember all the good that Scouting has done to help produce many of our nation’s finest leaders, as well as instilled important values in youth all over the world.

The Shenandoah Area Council of the BSA is especially appreciative for the support of local business and churches in helping meet the funding needs of local BSA programs. The Council encourages people to contact BSA Alumni to invite them to participate in the 100th Anniversary activities throughout 2010.

Special screening of “Follow Me, Boys” at Alamo Drafthouse
On February 8th, 2010, the local Shenandoah Area Council (SAC) Boy Scout units will be celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the founding of the Boy Scouts in a somewhat unusual way – at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema. The celebration will include both a special 100th Birthday Program followed by the showing of the all-time great, 1960’s Walt Disney movie on Scouting, “Follow, Me, Boys!”

This film, starting Fred MacMurray as a small Midwestern town Scoutmaster, captures the spirit and adventure experienced by young men through the Scouting program.

Scouts and their Scoutmasters from Scout troops from all over the local area will be participating in uniform and every seat in the two Alamo theatres hosting the event have been sold out in advance.

Stuart Williams, SAC Scout Executive recently stated, “We are thrilled with the response for our 100th Birthday celebration and hope this event will instill even more deeply in the hearts and minds of those participating the tremendous significance of the Scouting
program over these many years.”

This kick-off event is one of many 100th Anniversary events that will be occurring over the coming year. It is hoped that many Scouting Alumni will join in the celebrations. If you would like more information about the schedule of local 100th Anniversary BSA events, please contact the Scout office at (540) 662-2551, or visit their website.

(NOTE TO THE MEDIA: Key leaders of the Shenandoah Area Council, including Stuart Williams, Scout Executive, Paige Manuel, President of the Executive Board, Ben Mathis, Chairman of the 100th Anniversary Committee, and several Eagle Scouts and Scout leader are planning to meet with the Press at 5:45 pm in the Lobby of the Alamo Theatre on Feb. 8.

They will be making some brief comments about the 100th celebration and then provide time for the Press to conduct interviews with several Eagle Scouts and Scout leaders. Reporters are welcome to come into the theatre to further talk with scouts about what the 100th means to them and also observe the special 100th Birthday Ceremony.

Shenandoah National Park, Va – Beginning March 1, 2010, Shenandoah National Park will institute an Outside Firewood Ban in an attempt to slow the spread of the Emerald Ash Borer.

The Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) is a destructive invasive exotic beetle that feeds on ash trees. As of 2009, the EAB is responsible for the deaths of tens of millions of ash trees throughout the Midwest and in some eastern states. Currently, the closest documented EAB infestation is in Fairfax County, Virginia, only 55 miles east of Shenandoah’s northern boundary.

Foresters across the state are working to control the spread of this
devastating insect through quarantines, bans, and public education.
The EAB is often spread by the movement of infested firewood. Over the last several years, EAB infested firewood has been found at campgrounds, hunting camps, NASCAR events, rest stops, and picnic areas throughout the Midwest and Eastern U.S. The park’s campgrounds and picnic areas are the most likely areas for EAB introduction into Shenandoah National Park.

Because of the seriousness of a potential infestation, park managers are implementing the firewood ban effective March 1, 2010. The regulation will require that visitors not bring any firewood (or wood scraps) into the park. Visitors may gather dead and downed firewood in the park or purchase wood at Park Camp Stores. The park’s vendor’s sources have been approved and are being monitored for EAB. Additionally, visitors are encouraged to use charcoal
for cooking fires.

White ash trees, comprising approximately 4 percent of the park’s overall forest, are found in 16 forest communities that together cover 65% of the park’s acreage. Given what is known about EAB infestations, an outbreak in Shenandoah National Park could lead to a total loss of white ash in the park and surrounding areas. Shenandoah’s managers want to avoid the same widespread devastation to the ash population that the woolly adelgid has wrought on the Eastern Hemlock.

Shenandoah National Park is included in the fee-free weekends on June 20, July 18, and August 15.

Last week, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced that the National Park Service will offer three fee-free weekends this summer to encourage Americans seeking affordable vacations to visit our national treasures.

There are 391 national parks located across the country in 49 states. “During these tough economic times, our national parks provide opportunities for affordable vacations for families,” Salazar said at a press conference at Cuyahoga Valley National Park. “I encourage everyone to visit one of our nation’s crown jewels this summer and especially to take advantage of the three free-admission weekends.”

“National Parks also serve as powerful economic engines for local communities and we hope that promoting visitation will give a small shot in the arm to businesses in the area,” he said.

The 147 National Park Service sites across the country that charge fees for entry will waive these entrance fees during the weekends of June 20-21, July 18-19, and August 15-16, 2009.

Meanwhile, many park partners including tour operators, hotels, restaurants, gift shops, and other vendors will offer additional discounts and special promotions on those dates. More information on the fees and discounts can be found at http://www.nps.gov/findapark/feefreeparks.htm.

The entrance fees being waived at the 147 sites that usually charge for admission range from $3 to $25. The 244 other parks do not charge entrance fees. The waiver does not include other fees collected in advance or by contractors – such as fees charged for camping, reservations, tours and use of concessions.

Here in the Shenandoah Valley, the Shenandoah National Park is participating in the free-fee weekends program.

The National Park Service website provides information to help you plan your park adventures at www.nps.gov.

New National Heritage Areas
In related news, the National Park Service also recently announced that nine new National Heritage Areas (NHA) have joined the National Park Service family, including Elvis Presley’s birthplace.

On March 30, President Obama signed the Omnibus Public Lands Management Act of 2009 into law. This important pieces of legislation added nine new National Heritage Areas to the National Park Service portfolio, including the first NHA in the Alaska Region. There are now 49 National Heritage Areas across 32 states.

The new National Heritage Areas are:

Northeast Region:
Freedoms Way National Heritage Area (MA & NH)
Baltimore National Heritage Area (MD)

Southeast Region:
Mississippi Hills National Heritage Area (MS)
Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area (MS)
Muscle Shoals National Heritage Area (AL)

Midwest Region:
Northern Plains National Heritage Area (ND)

Intermountain Region:
Sangre de Cristo National Heritage Area (CO)
South Park National Heritage Area (CO)

Alaska Region:
Kenai Mountains-Turnagain Arm National Heritage Area (AK)

Over the next several years, the local coordinating entities of these National Heritage Areas will work closely with the NPS, other federal agencies, and state and local partners to carry out a grassroots planning process, culminating in a comprehensive management plan.

For more information on national heritage areas and to learn about the other 40 areas, visit www.nps.gov/history/heritageareas

Here’s a little inspiration for you this Saturday morning:

See Paulo Coehlo’s blog, and follow him on Twitter.

http://paulocoelhoblog.com/manual-for-climbing-mountains/

An excerpt: “The climb is yours, so is the responsibility, but don’t forget that the experience of others can help a lot.”

Paulo Coehlo is the author of many books, including the runaway best seller, The Alchemist. His wisdom is uncanny, and uplifting.

(Pictured is Signal Knob, near Strasburg, VA).

Here’s a great online resource for 90 “fascinating” Civil War era maps of Virginia:

Go to: http://www.ushistoricalarchive.com/cds/civil-va1.html

Also, in the Valley, two great places to get topographical and trail maps (for hiking, canoeing, bicycling, and fishing) are:

- Blue Canoe Crew, 492 N. Main Street, Woodstock, VA
(540) 459-2520
- Murray’s Fly Shop, 121 S. Main Street, Edinburg, VA
(540) 984-4212

These maps show the Appalachian Trail, the Tuscadora Trail, and the U.S. Forest and Shenandoah National Forest trails and spots of interest.

Another great resource is the Library of Congress’ “American Memory Collection” and their “A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation” Collection.

Refer to:

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/civil_war_maps/

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/lawhome.html

http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/map_item.pl (railroad map)

Two other great Civil War resources are:

- Ken Burns on PBS: http://www.pbs.org/civilwar/

- Jedediah Hotchkiss:

http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/trm010.html

provided geographic intelligence to Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee

(Photo source: Library of Congress)

JUNE 6, 2009, 4:00 AM

Our thanks to Marcy McCann out at the Shenandoah County fairgrounds for this one. The Old Dominion, one hundred mile endurance race started today in Woodstock Virginia. The original race is a Measured loop trail through the Massanutten Mountains, Shenandoah River Valley and Fort Valley Virginia, with 14 significant climbs, and 14,000 feet of gain. The course is planned as a fair test of endurance running. 100 miles cross- country in one day is a worthy challenge.

The first week of June, by proclamation, is Endurance Run Week in Shenandoah County. In 2008 there were 22 finishers and 12 bucklers. First place was Jason Lantz, in 19 hours and 49 minutes followed by Keith Knipling in 19 hours and 56 minutes. A little over an hour later Jamey Groff finished third, at 21 hours and 23 minutes and Neal Gorman, fourth at 22:18:45.

We’ll have photos and more on this fascinating story later today, as information becomes available.

THE START

The race starts at 4 a.m. from the Shenandoah County Fairgrounds, located in Woodstock, Virginia, the County Seat.

THE FIRST SIX MILES
The first six miles of the course travel through historic Woodstock. Here, the fighting minister, Peter Muhlenberg preached his sermon then removed his robe to reveal the Revolutionary uniform and led his fellow townmen out to win liberty, saying “there is a time to pray and a time to fight.”

SIX TO THIRTY-FIVE MILES
Reaching the Shenandoah River at Burnshire Dam, the course crosses by bridge, approaches its first major ascent to Woodstock Gap on a steep gravel switchback and enters the George Washington National Forest. Descending into Fort Valley’s natural fortress, created by the encircling Massanutten Mountains, is more gradual until approx. 10 mi. upon reaching the fairly rugged 2.5 mi. Lavender Trail up and along the West ridgeline, then down to a Forest Service road winding into the Foley Loop on country roads and leading to another stretch of good country which gives way to the climb up to the 675 Overlook and continuing down to Four Points #1 at approximately 32.5. Here the course enters Duncan Hollow on trail that exacts the “just do it” attitude, but does lead to good footing for five miles on Crisman Hollow.

MORELAND GAP AND MORE
The course turns to climb Moreland Gap with good footing, reaching Edinburg Gap at 55 miles and enters Powell Mountain Trail. The next eight miles have become a heavily utilized ATV route. Ascending Opechee Peak the trail becomes rugged and steep. The last half, still rugged is not so steep. Reaching Little Fort Campground the course turns up Woodstock Mountain on forest road for five miles to Mudhole Gap. The next mile is trail as lovely as any you will ever visit, running with Little Passage Creek and through it five times.

LOGGING ROAD
The course turns onto a fine logging road leading to a turn onto a short, rocky, trail, then crossing the Valley Road, Passage Creek by bridge and into Elizabeth Furnace Picnic Area, the Second and final Medical Check at 74.95 miles. This is the only point with a cut-off time. Runners much check-out of Elizabeth Furnace by midnight. The next three miles are best left undescribed but are summed up in the phrase “Sherman Gap”. Rumor has it that the gap was not named for any great explorer but rather for the first (and possibly the last) endurance race runner to try to run up it. It is said that you can see his grave ten feet from the top, especially if you are one of the masses trying to do this part of the course in the dark.

VEACH GAP
Runners are then greeted with a steep trail run down to a gravel road, leading to the wagon road, built by Gen. Daniel Morgan during the Revolution for possible retreat of Washington’s forces, up Veach Gap and down the boulder falls on the west side. Because most runners will traverse in darkness the difficult stretch from Elizabeth Furnace to the Aid-Station located at the foot of the Veach Gap descent, this is the one part of the race where the runner, if he so chooses, may be accompanied by a safety runner. After descending the western side of Veach Gap at 86.58 miles the competitors are again on their own.

THE FINISH LINE
Crossing the Valley road the course now has good footing on country lanes to complete the circle around the Massanuttens, then turns back up and over Woodstock Mountain, across the Shenandoah and through town to the finish back at the County Fairgrounds.

- April 23 – The Outdoor Woman – This inspiring seminar addresses the reasons women often use to keep them from enjoying a good hike on one of the many local trails in Shenandoah County, or a canoe 0r kayak trip on the Shenandoah River. There will be additional presentations on organic skin products, and stress relief through massage therapy. (For Women Only)

- May 1 and 2 – Celebrate the River – The Shenandoah River is our greatest resource … It gives us life, quenches our thirst, and provides an endless flow of opportunity to admire and explore. The month of May, Blue Canoe Crew will celebrate our river through photography, history, and education. In May 1, there will be a multi-media presnetation, and on may 2, there will be a Feel Free Kayak demonstration at the Narrow Passage boat ramp on Route 11 between Woodstock and Edinburg. Children are encouraged to come, and learn, as well as adults.

- May 21 – Geocaching – Catch the wave of the hottest trend in exploration! Geocaching is a high tech hunting game played throughout the world by adventure seekers equipped with GPS devices. The basic idea if to locate hidden containers, called “geocaches,” outdoors, and then share your experiences online. Local MMA Professor Joe Babcock will walk you through the steps of getting started. (Your own GPS unit is helpful, but not necessary for the seminar.)

All three seminars are free, but reservations are required to save your spot. Each evening seminar will begin at 6 p.m. with light snacks and a social time, and will run to about 8 p.m. Call 540-459-2520, or email: bcc@shentel.net.