BackWoods Drifter

I never really thought about the feeding habits of a turtle until  saw this one chowing down on this mushroom. There were a few things I thought simultaneously… so that’s at least one thing a turtle eats, I wondered if the turtle happened upon the mushroom by pure luck, and I thought if he could eat it then it was probably safe to eat. But I wasn’t too sure about the latter thought. I also thought it would be a cool photo.

Although I have been neglecting this blog I haven’t been neglecting my other passions. I have been hiking regularly with my camera. I have never gone hiking and come back without numerous photos. As a matter of fact I’d probably be lost without my camera in the woods. I guess you could call me an indiscriminate photographer. I’ll take a photo of anything that catches my attention. Case in point… this is one of the photos I took yesterday.

Click for larger image.

I have been camping a couple of times both of which were uneventful. I’m in the process of planning an extended trip to the mountains in bear country. I’m on a mission to get some good bear photos and hopefully not get eaten in the process. While scouting yesterday I found two sets of prints one from a lone bear of a decent size and the other set from a cub and its mother. So the chances are good that I will run into a bear… or two.

I have two main tents I use for camping. The first one is a cabin tent good for extended trips and impervious to the weather conditions.

Click for larger image.

The other is quite a bit smaller and very dependent on my confidence in the weather. A light rain it can handle okay but I wouldn’t want to be caught in severe weather with this tent. I usually take it when I intend to stay for only a night or two at the most.

Click for larger image.

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In my last post, seemingly a lifetime ago, I mentioned starting a new website dedicated to fossils and fossil hunting. That website has been online almost since then but it has been in the neglected category along with this one. It seems the only site I have been able to maintain is the Endmtr.com site. That blog is not maintained for my enjoyment or as a hobby. It is a story that absolutely needs to be told. If you haven’t visited it or don’t know what mountaintop removal coal mining is all about I encourage you to visit the blog and learn about it.

As far as the fossil site you can find it here – http://fossilized.wvbackwoodsdrifter.com/.
Until next time…

I was back in the woods today in the hopes of finding my first morel of the season. I think for a little while that search is going to prove fruitless. The nights are still a little too cold in this area for the morel or any mushroom for that matter.

Instead of wasting the day I went looking for something that is not dependent on the weather – fossils. In my last post I mentioned a good place to find fossils was where a mountain had been cut for a train track. I thought I would first show you what I was talking about.

This is a good place to look for fossils because when they initially cleared this ridge the cut was pretty deep into the strata and now with the passing of time loose rocks have fallen down into the ravine.

My fossil hunt was a bit more productive. The next two photos are fossils that are attached to pretty good size stones so I just took a couple of photos and left them where the are. The first photo shows a fossil that I already have a couple of in my collection. It is as of yet unidentified. The second photo shows a part of what I believe to be a Lepidodendron fossil. I have numerous fossils of that variety.

Although those two fossils were too big to bring home, I didn’t come home empty handed. The fossils I did bring back are without a doubt the most common ones I find. They are root pieces from the Sigillaria tree which is a relative of the Lepidodendron both from the Carboniferous period (approx. 360 million years old).

Fossil hunting is another hobby I enjoy a lot. One would only need look around my home to find evidence of that. I find fossils both mysterious and fascinating. Finding them is only part of the fun and the easiest part, attempting to identify them is somewhat frustrating but enjoyable none the less.

Fossil hunting has become such a good hobby for me that I have created a sub-domain off of this one entitled Fossilized. I created it quite a while back but I haven’t gotten it off the ground yet simply because I wasn’t entirely sure it was a hobby I was going to stick with. Now I find that much like ginseng and morel hunting when I’m in an area where I’m likely to find fossils I will take the time to look and if they are small enough for me to carry I will bring them home.

It seems like fossil hunting is fairly easy as long as you know where to look and you are able to identify patterns and shapes where normally you would find only chaos.

In the next couple of weeks I do intend to bring the Fossilized website fully online and with research and hopefully a little bit of insight from visitors I can put a name to the large amount of fossils I have that remain unidentified.

Until then…

I love to go to the mountains looking for and digging ramps (wild leek). Over the past week or so I have made numerous trips hiking into the woods to check on the progress of ramp growth.

Ramps are one of the first plants to make an appearance in spring followed closely by mayapple. So when I find myself with a bad case of spring fever I usually catch some warmer days and head to the woods in the hopes of spotting either plant.

I’m in a new area this year so being unfamiliar with this neck of the woods I enlisted the help of a friend in my search for ramps. If someone likes the taste of ramps like I do, they usually don’t have to live in an area long to know where the ramps are. Once I have found the first little patch I can keep a close watch on them to gauge the growth so I know when to do some serious hunting and digging.

My friend took me straight to where he knew a little patch was growing and moving some leaves aside I was very happy to see these small plants. In this area they are called rooster spurs at this early stage because they are somewhat shaped like a spur on a rooster.

These plants are still quite small but no matter, I was happy to see them.

Well that was the ramps part of this post… and now the rocks.

A couple of years ago I picked up a new hobby – fossil hunting. I’m just fascinated by a rock that at one time was something alive. I find it very difficult to wrap my mind around the age of some of the fossils I have found. Think a time before the dinosaurs.

I have recently found my largest fossil yet. I found it where a mountain had been cut for a train track. The tracks are long gone which makes it a great area to hunt for fossils.

I know nothing about this fossil besides it was obviously the fork in a tree at one time.

My fossil collection continues to grow. I have found that when I am in an area where I am likely to find fossils I can’t help but look. Now if I can just find a good source to help identify some of the fossils I have maybe I can quit calling it a glorified rock collection.

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Just an FYI – the portion of this rooster foot indicated by the “b” is the spur.

It is finally showing signs of spring here in West Virginia. We had snow on the ground from Dec. 18 up until just a few days ago. I don’t remember a winter as harsh as this one and I lived in the Cleveland area for a number of years. That’s saying a lot.

To say I have had a case of cabin fever would be a gross understatement. With the temps now warming into the upper 50′s I have already taken my camping gear out of cold storage and am more than ready to hit the backwoods for a nature reunion… of sorts.

As has been the case since I started this blog, the winters are bad for blogging. It is especially hard for me to write about the outdoors when I’m staring at four walls and watching the snow pile up. Trips to the mountains in sub-freezing temps are few and far between for me. Most of my outings even in the spring and summer months are done alone and can be moderately dangerous. Hiking in the mountains during winter adds and extra level or two of danger so when I do venture out in the cold I normally stay pretty close to home.

The last couple of days I have gone on extended hikes checking for and anxiously awaiting the first sign of ramps (wild leek). I have heard from sources that ramps are already making an appearance in other parts of the state but I think this area will lag behind somewhat because of the late snow melt.

Because of the extremely wet winter I do predict a good year for ramps, morels, and ginseng. Only time will tell how that prediction plays out. I’ll be sure to keep you informed.

On another front – the battle for the mountains rages on. My blog at endmtr.com hasn’t slowed down. That blog is now in its third year and has had more visitors than this blog and the blog at boltmountain.com combined. Mountaintop removal coal mining has destroyed over 500 of our beautiful mountains and buried nearly 2000 miles of headwater streams. If you can understand my passion for hiking, camping, and hunting mushrooms and herbs then you should have no problem understanding my commitment to ending the practice of blowing up the mountains for coal, a non-renewable resource.

Welcome… or welcome back to the BackWoods Drifter.