March Workdays ~ "GalaxIng" Moments in Early Spring

I have always enjoyed the rich earthy green

of the galax foliage

And the rich earthy red of galax foliage

 And somewhere in between one might notice the
red/green/burgundy/verde all in the same patch

 The tenderest and smallest of leaves
begins a brilliant red with soft and rounded edges

FRESH TRAIL ALERT!!!

Our Watauga County Task force under the leadership of John Lanman  

 And our Ashe County Task Force friends under the leadership of Jim Hallsey

 Have been cutting fresh trail for the next section to be opened on the Watauga Mountains to Sea Trail.

 And that sure was a happy thing to discover on my recent walk about.

 In early spring, after the thawing,
the trail lays fresh and smells like winter earth warming.

 This sweet curve was cut by our volunteers last weekend.
John says: 

We had 8 workers a week ago and 9 last Saturday. 

We did 400-450 feet of trail each day.  

 

HUGE THANKS
for your good work goes out to:

John Lanman, Jim Hallsey, Marieta Warnstedt, Bruce Wisely,

Wylie Berry, Bob West, Gloria Marquez,

Keith Roberts, Gerry Staninger, Michael Franklin,

Steven Mierisch, Don Bergey.

 The winter always drops the most fascinating lichens and mosses from high up in the trees.

 I have never learned what to call these formations.

 But this one I shall call "Dragonhead filamentus".

 And thus arrives the end of the trail work for this posting. Isn't it interesting to look ahead and see where the work day ended and the next work will begin ~ ~ ~

In the next four photos notice the difference in three years of work. All of these shots are within a few thousand feet of each other on the same section of trail.

I like how the trail naturalizes over time. 

 Above is our most recent cut, barely two weeks old

 Above is the work done in the fall of last year

 This obstacle was avoided by the crew last fall.

This section was developed two years ago during the fall by volunteers and work crew

And this section was develpoped three years ago during the First Big Dig.

To all of our volunteers who work to open new MST trail

I offer the warmth of this heart.

HOW GALAXING!