Shooting stars

Today, the trail was brimming. A cool front moved through the area and everyone piled out of their houses and onto the W&OD. Tonight though. Tonight will see quiet darkness for a few hours, then a show! The Perseid meteor shower should begin at about 11 and continue until dawn.

Hidden treasure: A side trail to a creek near mile 11, look closely in the dappled shade and you will see Cardinal Flower in bloom.

Meteor image from Southdown Planetarium. Cardinal Flower photo courtesy Southern Indiana University.

Little Friend

It was 87 F for my commute this morning. Over 100 F yesterday and didn't bother to cool down much I guess. Still, I would rather be out on the trail among the statuesque Joe Pye and stalwart Queen Anne's Lace than standing in a crowded stuffy train car or, worse, lugging a ton of steel around to get me where I want to be.

Today I saw a little friend. A honeybee. It was crawling on the trail at about mile 6 and I remarked to myself on how long it has been since I have seen one. I wished it strength and good pollinating and a healthy hive as I rode by. The rise and fall of the honeybees will be written in the deep cores when future paleontologists puzzle out the secrets of the Anthropocene.

Photo is copywrite Mark Cassino, courtesy FCPS.

Sundrops

The construction under the Sycamore Street bridge in Banneker Park looks to be almost complete. The trail in early August is showing signs of our severe drought: even the ragweed --- soon to be in bloom --- is hanging its leaves. The bunnies at mile 4 are venturing closer to the trail for tender growth. Four-mile Run is very low.

The trail is also showing signs of the high levels of CO2 in the air. Vines are rampant: Chocolate Vine (you wish! no, not real chocolate) at mile 10.5, Kudzu at the Gallows Road intersection, wild grapes over everything, prickly mile-a-minute vine cloaking even the hardy bamboo in spots. These are all encouraged to grow more aggressively by the greenhouse gas that is trapping heat in our atmosphere. Code Orange indeed!

On a positive note: the Sundrops are blooming mornings now. Striking flowers in the primrose family. Photo is from http://outingclub.wlu.edu/guidebook/wildflowers/

I ride to eat

The W&OD Trail Report has provided insights into the wonders of nature along the trail and reported on activity on the trail. This item begins reporting about food along the trail. One of the true reasons that I ride a bike is so I can rationalize the calories I take in. So why not share the information of where the best tasting calories are lurking?

This idea of food reporting came to me as I read the Washington Post on Wednesday. As you may know, the Post publishes a Food Section each Wednesday. Every other week Greg Kitsock writes a column devoted to beer. Kitsock in this week's edition reported on the change of ownership of the Old Dominion Brewing Co. He ended the column with:

"And there is no question that the Old Dominion crew can produce memorable beers. Recently, the brewers made a superb, limited-edition porter, deep ruby-red and full of mocha flavors with licorice and herbal notes.

The problem is, the porter is available only in the brewery pub, a 40 minute drive from Washington. Will beer geeks continue to make that trek?"

Greg, the brewery pub is a couple of hundred yards from the W&OD Trail. If the beer geeks won't make the trek then there is just more for the trail users to enjoy.

Piney Branch detour: Good news/Bad news

The good news about the Piney Branch bridge detour is that a lot of progress is being made by the construction crew working to shore up the existing bridge supports. I hope the work will be finished soon. The bad news is that there has been a lot of construction traffic on the gravel detour route, and the trail is getting soft, especially near the metal bridge. Be extra careful when riding through the detour.

Night Critters

Tonight I rode home after dark, due to a meeting I had to attend. No hazards or trail issues to report, but it was a lovely night, with lots of fireflies, katydids, and frogs out there. Keep your eyes peeled for deer if out at night, as well as the occasional rabbit which you might startle. And don't be surprised to find bats swooping and weaving just overhead!

Lotus flowers in full bloom! (Reston)

The Lotus flowers in the pond adjacent to the Trail & Old Reston Ave are in glorious full bloom!

These photos were taken on Wednesday morning, 11July. On previous years you could see most of the pond from the trail -- however, this year the underbrush has been allowed to grow high, & it's only possible to get a short glimpse from the trail itself. You need to get off the Trail & follow the short path over to the pond for the full view -- well worth it!

Gravel on trail in Reston

Watch for sand and gravel in the north lane of the trail under the Sallie Mae bridge at mile 17.5. This section of trail is very close to the unpaved parallel trail and there is no barrier for the loose gravel when there is a heavy rain. It happens frequently and the situation was reported to the park authority quite a while back. They will eventually come out and sweep it clear, but a long term solution is needed. It's a difficult section to fix. In the meantime, it's advisable not to go into that lane at full speed because the sand/gravel is deep.

Sky blue morning

The lush summer is here on the W&OD. If you like abundant moisture in your air, you are at home.

For my morning commute I enjoyed the heavy air, rich with the fragrance of mimosa and the lulling repetition of catbird calls. There was chicory all along the trail. Sky blue. Staring at and tracking the rising sun. It is a morning flower (top photo). Deep rooted and gritty. By afternoon the flowers have given up trying to understand solar physics and closed for the day (bottom photo).

Chicory seeds are loved by Goldfinches. The plant is a European native with many food and beverage uses. New to me was this one: "While modern farmers might use reapers to cut their chicory, there was a time long ago when only a golden sickle or a knife made from the horn of a stag could be used to cut the plant, which was harvested on certain special days, not as food for livestock but as an aphrodisiac for man." (J. Sanders. 2003. The Secrets of Wildflowers)

I did not see anyone with a stag-horn knife on the trail today.

Piney Branch bridge repair

It's been a year since the bridge over the Piney Branch washed out and repairs are finally underway. As you see from the photo, the streambed is dry beneath the bridge where the work is being done to shore up the old stone footings. They water is being diverted by a pump that runs continuously. It may be a while before the bridge is repaired, but at least there's hope that the end of the unpaved detour is in sight.

Beware: Glass at Rt. 29 intersection

I guess I crowed about my brand new "flat proof" kevlar-banded tires too soon. When I went to get my bike out for the ride home last night the rear tire was flat as a pancake. Why is it always the rear tire? Anyway, I wheeled it into an out-of-the-way spot and we eyed each other warily for a moment. Then I went through my little tool bag and got out two plastic tire levers and a patch kit. I managed to disengage the brake and, after some exceptionally black and greasy maneuvers, got the wheel off the bike. Then I spent 15 minutes or so trying to get the tire off the rim, I even got an assist from another biologist who rides in. He couldn't budge it either but we did answer the question that has plagued philosphers for centuries: How many PhD's does it take to change a bike tire? [answer: more than two!]. Finally I gave up, piled the carcass back in the bike cage, walked to the metro and provided amusement to bored commuters by attempting to clean the black stuff off my hands with a tube of lotion and a used napkin.

Back home, my sweetheart gallantly offered rescue, explaining that I just didn't have enough experience for this kind of skilled job. We drove to my office, got the bike, brought it home, and he attempted to fix it using only the tire levers that I had used. They didn't work for him either! He declared them useless, trashed them, and fixed my tire with HIS tire levers, which due to his immense generosity, are now MY new tire levers. My patch kit was also questionable, so he put a new tube in the tire after carefully removing the shard of glass that caused the flat.

My hero!!

Lesson #1 - don't bother with cheap plastic tire levers.
Lesson #2 - be sure to have a hero waiting in the wings.

Memorial

It is Memorial Day weekend and we have spent 80 miles of time on the W&OD trail. We are training for a long tour and appreciate the auto-free beauty of the trail for these many miles. We saw a tiny box turtle out near Leesburg, and a pair of chipmunks chased each other on the Reston plateau. Bird song followed us everywhere, and a bluebird darted across in front of us near Ashburn. The wildflowers are transitioning to their summer glory. As the multiflora rosa and blackberries fade, the elderberry is near peak. Mountain laurel and goatsbeard are out now, and in the quiet corners you can find the small but perfect Deptford pink and Venus' looking glass. Goatsbeard photo (left) courtesy Washington Dept. of Fish and Wildlife. Box turtle photo courtesy Steven Pinker, Harvard University.

Riding home we saw the lively celebration of Viva Vienna, and we thought of the reason for Memorial Day.

A New Wheel

Commute this morning was my first outing on my brand new rear wheel. There were many bicycles on the W&OD today. Faster ones. Shinier ones. Fancier ones. But none had a wheel quite like mine. It has 36 spokes and a sleek black rim enchanted with resilient strength. My old [cracked] wheel now adorns the Wall of Worn-out Bicycle Parts.

Nature was overflowing onto the trail today: Two baby bunnies and a racing Chipmunk near the intersection with Custis Trail. A Baltimore Oriole at ~mile 5. And Yellow Flag iris along Four-Mile Run through Falls Church. The Yellow Flag is a wildflower native to Europe and can be invasive here, but it is lovely nonetheless. Oriole photo courtesy Arlington County Public Schools. Iris photo courtesy University of Connecticut.

Bike to Work Day 2007

Streams of the sleek and the sturdy flowed along the W&OD this morning. The overcast skies didn't stop anyone from having a wonderful time passing cars creeping along in traffic.

Stop to smell the roses at about mile 7.

Rhapsody in Pollen

Summertime.... and the weather is windy

Pollen is flyin', and the temp'rature's high


One of these mornin's, I'm gonna rise up singin'


"Git outta my eyeballs, you're makin' them dry..."


With apologies to DuBose Heyward and Ira Gershwin. Mixed pollen photo courtesy Iowa State University.

Biophilia

I am reveling in this spring. Taking each day and turning it to the light. Pulling the welcome warmth from the rising sun. Today, the trail was bulging with riders and walkers and strollers and bladers and chipmunks and catbirds. Watch the glass at mile 21.

A jaunt from Vienna to Herndon with friends was a wagon train of 'on your left's and the lean sound of speed bikes passing and passing us. In our wake, the buttercups and wild geraniums (pictured) swayed in the breeze. Wild azalea and wild cherry are about over --- although the tent caterpillars are just peaking in the cherry trees. Be sure to watch for the glorious mountain laurel just bursting into bloom at the crest of the hill west of Hunter Mill Road.

Multiflora rosa and blackberry perfumed the moist air for our morning ride. Riding back through Vienna I saw Cathy Delgado making final preparations for the dedication of the new Vienna Town Green next to the trail. She was instrumental in bringing this urban jewel to fruition, and we all owe her a debt of gratitude.

Late today I was able to get back out for a ride with my son, and we left the trail in the Difficult Run valley. We were transported to a land before time: a bottomland swamp forest dense with enormous skunk cabbage, blooming Jack-in-the-pulpit and mammoth tulip poplar trees. While we ate a picnic supper at streamside, we watched a swarm of midges gaily dancing above us. I explained to him that they were all males, swooping and darting, waiting for a female to enter the swarm and then rise with her chosen mate above the remaining males below. He suggested that the technical term for the remaining males should be "losers." We watched this ballet with great interest until the sky began to darken, and then we explored the stream for a while until it started to rain.

Back on the trail we looked west through the light rain to where the setting sun was a rich red dipping below the clouds. Then we headed east toward home, nodding to the deer watching from the shadows and racing each other in breathless sprints that he somehow always won.

Biophilia is love of nature.

Breezy Byway

The wind was strong and fickle today. Mostly from the north, but gusting from the northeast and northwest just enough to give me a tippy adrenalin jolt every now and then. The leaves have filled in since last weekend, and many of the early spring wildflowers are over. Trees are still blooming though, including a few late Dogwood, the lacy white Viburnum, the lovely creamy Black Locust (tasty scattered on a salad if from a clean, car-free area), the regal purple Empress of India tree, and of course the various oaks and other hardwoods. The pollen was pretty dense --- helped in its mission to find other tree flowers by the high winds.

Watch for the glass on the trail in Leesburg. We got some of it, but a bike that came by later flatted anyway.


The cathedral area between Leesburg and Purcellville shown in the photo was spectacular. We saw signs that warned of a battle to save the trail from a new powerline.

Falls Church - Vienna, Monday 4/30

Trail conditions are excellent overall, and lots of living things are re-emerging as the weather warms. Lots of blossoms of various types... unlike idabike, I can't help you identify them, unfortunately. Critters are also out and about... Monday evening I slowed to a stop when I saw the three fox kits cavorting right next to the trail! They are getting bigger, and clearly more independent of mom, but I have to admit, it worries me to see them right at the side of, and at one point on the trail, when people were about. Bizarre moment.. a pair of joggers went by, one after the other, within five feet of the little kits, and didn't even notice them, or apparently wonder why I was pulled over watching the underbrush. I guess they were "in the zone" or something. Me, I look around and enjoy the scenery when I ride, but I don't view it primarily as a workout, so I'm different.

Anyway, if you see the kits, please give them a wide berth... wild things need to stay wild.

One other incident of note... near the Vienna Community Center in the morning, there was a crew cutting up a fallen tree right on the path. Apparently they had moved the barricade on the east end of their work area to move a truck, and hadn't replaced it yet, so the obstruction was a suprise to me and another rider. Also a surprise was the anger of the guy with the chainsaw, who yelled at us for not stopping, saying "couldn't you see I had a chainsaw?" Well, yes, but without the barricade, it was too late by the time I saw him. And if they were so concerned about cyclists coming upon them with the saw running, why didn't they wait until they had restored the barricade? Ah well, just a series of missteps on both sides... I should have stopped and announced my presence, and they should have made sure the barricade was up while cutting.

Beavers in the valley

Westbound at dawn I cleared Vienna and was zooming down the grade toward the Difficult Run valley when I saw a pair of beavers in the creek below mile 12.5. One was pale brown, the other dark brown, and they seemed to be chatting, or perhaps courting. At any rate, after a few minutes, one swam away and the other followed.

Continuing west I saw a big herd of deer having breakfast among the Skunk Cabbage while being serenaded by the squeaky hinge call of the Red Winged Blackbirds in the marsh to the south. Farther west, an Indigo Bunting flew across my path and the Wild Azalea scented the air up on the Reston Plateau.

Out near Goose Creek about mile 30 the dogwoods and redbuds were spectacular on either side of the trail. Toothwort is blooming out there too.

Returning home I was handed a safety brochure by police at the trail in Reston. They were giving out information this weekend, and one of them said that they were going to start enforcing the safety guidelines along the trail in the near future. The Boy Scouts were clearing brush along the trail near Maple Avenue in Vienna. Be careful riding in that area, there are lots of people on and around the trail and the chain saws are making a lot of noise.

Purple Haze

The fox kits were out again last night east of Gallows. I try to watch them without turning my head their way: Tim is right, not good for them to become too accustomed to humans. But they are pretty high up on the cuteness scale.

What is that purple stuff out there? Everything! I never realized it before this spring, but lots of the purple wildflowers bloom in April. Of course the rare and priceless bi-colored birdfoot violets that I showed in my last blog. Today I reveal that on that same day I also photographed the less charismatic plain lavender birdfoot (below). Am I a violet snob? Maybe.

The common violets are out in force along the trail now too (top left). Gill-over-the-ground (top center) and Purple-dead-nettle (top right) all add to the low purple haze along the trail.

Finally, Virginia Bluebells carpet the bottomlands near Broad Run west of Rt. 28, and if you look up around mile 10 east of Cedar Lane you will see Wisteria in the trees.