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Disco Dancing Deer
7AM
As I
drove to the first ranger program, I stopped at Crescent Rock Overlook to enjoy the early morning view. I noticed several white-tailed deer along the north entry drive that were behaving in a very interesting
manner. They were browsing the plants beside the drive.
Suddenly one
would begin jumping around wildly, jumping sideways, twisting their head around at a strange angle. They behaved like disco dancers, or perhaps break-dancers. First
one, then another, twitched, leaped, and kicked high with hind legs. They reached high with their heads and front legs as
if standing on their hind legs to reach high leaves on trees. They did this without
being under a tree.
Suddenly
one would stand still and browse on some plants about one or two feet high. Just
as suddenly, that deer would jerk its head to one side, tilted to its body and leap sideways.
Was it a strong biting taste that inspired this loco behavior? Were there
nasty bugs, bees, or wasps attacking them? I was not foolish enough to get out
of the car and test the air for stinging flying things.
I watched
for about fifteen minutes as different deer would do the same disco dance, then return to browsing as if nothing had happened. I could not see any insects flying around them that may have been annoying them.
I returned
several hours later. The deer were gone.
I got out and examined the dance floor. At first, I noticed browsed milkweed
plants, but then I saw much more heavily browsed meadow rue plants. The
meadow rue was in seed, and many of the plants had the seeds stripped off.
Here
is my journal entry that I made when I came back to examine the area where they had been browsing.
Into the Mouth of a Volcano
9AM
Ranger Shona
lead this program with such an intriguing title as "Into the Mouth of a Volcano". The
short hike south along the Appalachian Trail from Timber Hollow Overlook has a lot of geological evidence of what
happened to the land there millions of years ago. The evidence is there for you if you to see have a
trained geologist's eye, or for a ranger to point out to you. I am not sure I want to reveal the surprising things
you learn on this wonderful program. It is better to learn by attending the program. So instead, I am including only some entries I made in my journal about some of the
things of interest, leaving it up to you to actually join that program when you can.
Columnar Jointing
Spatter Cones Leave Blob Deposits
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On a different day, I had solo hiked this same stretch of trail.
I noticed this interesting characteristic in the surface of some rocks along the Appalachian Trail where the Journey
into the Mouth of a Volcano program takes place. The ranger did not discuss this item on the day I joined the program.
And I do not know if my observations are correct. But that is part of the fun of exploring. You
don't always need to know what you are seeing, as long as you see it.
Ranger Shannon
led the tour of the historic Massanutten Lodge in the Skyland developed area. This marvelous structure, built before Shenandoah
Park, was the residence for Addie Nairn Pollock. As George Pollock’s wife, she was a strong force in the development of the Skyland Resort,
and in preservation of the Limberlost forest nearby.
The Park Service
restored Massanutten Lodge to resemble the way it was during Addie's time. They
furnished the sitting room as close as possible to how Addie used it. Another
room holds a small museum. The interior of the building is only accessible on
the ranger-lead tours.
We sat in
Addie’s Sitting Room for a while and discussed what we though Addie felt like as she entertained guests in this room. We discussed how we felt, sitting in that room, under the influence of the furnishing
that met Addie’s taste.
As I sat there, I quickly began to sketch the whole room from my vantage point. Later I filled in details from memory. Here is my two page
sketch. There may be some inaccuracies, because a much of the sketch was done
later from memory.
Here is my quick sketch of the outside of the structure.
Limberlost
Ranger Shona also lead the
Limberlost walk. I did not take notes during this walk, but I have frequently taken this rewarding hike. See my
journal entry called Mystical Limberlost for my thoughts.
Twilight on the Meadow
7PM
Ranger
Stephanie led the Twilight on the Meadow program. During the walk through Big
Meadows, we stopped in an area near the vernal pond, where the land is fairly level.
It is actually bottomland that holds a good deal of moisture after rain, but this evening the soil was dry. Ranger Stephanie handed us each a pencil and a 3x5 card. She
asked us to spread out to give us some isolation from each other, then think for a while about the meadow and write down our
thoughts about the experience.
I
chose to lie down in tall grasses. Here is what I wrote at the moment and
shared with the group:
We are only about a quarter mile from Skyline Drive, with its noisy cars full of folks who don’t know how to get out
of the car. I don’t feel sorry for them just now. I am simply not aware of them as they sit in their cars wondering why so many people are way out here in
the meadow.
I am in the meadow, reclining in the matted-down grasses used by a white-tailed deer as a bed last night.
I have dropped out of sight of the other folks on this Twilight on the Meadow stroll led by Ranger Stephanie. The other
participants in this stroll are just fifty feet away from me. Yet, I cannot see them or hear them. The walls of
two-foot high grasses surrounding my place of repose are a natural insulator of sight and sound.
The things prominent to my senses are those that are close to me in my own little microcosm.
The katydid chirps are loud in my ears, but I hear only one katydid, the one that is just a foot or two from my head.
The aromas of the grass and earth that went unnoticed when I was standing are now dominating my awareness.
Later
that night, I made an entry in my journal to describe my memory of the event. I
had taught my children how to “drop out of sight” when we visited the meadow.
We used to call it that, because nobody more that a dozen feet away could see you hidden in the vegetation. I had forgotten what it was like to drop down to ground level. Now,
I must remember to do it again on my next visit to Big Meadows.
Great Fireplace in Big Meadows Lodge
9PM
I often
sat in the large sitting room in Big Meadows Lodge to relax and write in my journal at the end of a day. This day, after writing and sketching a while, I realized how much I enjoyed the great fireplace in that
room. A wooden table separated me from the fireplace directly in front of me. I spent the next two hours sketching that stone fireplace as I pondered the warm flames.
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