Hiking 2025

It is extremely unusual for me to start my hiking season so late. In a normal year, I'm hiking year-round. But this year and part of last, I developed some problems with my right foot. I'm not healed but I have found good footwear and insoles to help minimize the pain.

Norma, Daphne, and I did a short hike at Gorman Stream Valley Park starting from the Kindler Road Trailhead.

I was really hoping to see some snakes but we saw none. But did see other interesting things. The most unusual find was an acorn plum gall.
Acorn plum galls are caused by the gall wasp, and instead of forming on leaves or stems as most galls do, they form on the scaly cups of acorns.
Acorn plum galls are solid and juicy inside, and rather heavy for their size. Pictures on the Internet show cut-open ones with a single, white grub curled up in the gall's center, slowly eating the gall's tissue as it grows. Eventually the grub will metamorphose into a pupa, and then into a tiny adult gall wasp.
- from Backyard Nature - Acorn Plum Galls Falling
We crossed a narrow creek where Norma spotted a crayfish.
We saw almost nobody on the trails. But once we got to the Middle Patuxent River, we started seeing people. A couple was out with their water-loving dog who enjoyed retrieving a stick thrown into the water. Norma, Daphne, and I made our way down to the river a little downstream of them. Daphne enjoyed running on the cool, rocky beach while I searched for arrowheads. We agreed that this is a great place to hang out even though I found no arrowheads.

Near the water, I found a sycamore tussock moth caterpillar.
I'm guessing we walked between two and three miles. It was a great day to be out. The humidity was low and it wasn't too hot, despite it being August.

On August 9, I did the shortest of strolls on Meadow Mountain Trail in Frostburg, Maryland.

Starting around late-morning, Norma and I did a hike in Patapsco Valley State Park, starting at the Landing Road Trailhead. We followed the route for the Morning Choice, Cascade Falls and Ridge Trail Loop, a lollipop route.

Where was Daphne? After a vet visit, she was told to take it easy for awhile. So we left her at home. It felt very strange hiking without her.

My right foot, which had been bothering me for over a year, was starting to feel a little better so I figured I'd do a real hike...not a difficult one but not exactly a short stroll either.

Upon arriving, all the spots near the trailhead were taken. But we did find a couple of spots further south near the powerlines.

We walked the circle part of our route heading countclockwise. We eventually came to some stone and wood ruins. There was what appeared to be a well along with two buildings that appeared too small to be homes. Both had an underground section that looked like it could have been used for storing food or providing cool air on hot days. I don't know how old these structures were but the nails didn't appear to be old.

We walked over or through a few small creeks. At the northernmost part of our hike, we stopped at one very rocky creek that feeds Cascade Falls.
The most interesting natural things we saw were fungi. There were some old chanterelles along with other types of shrooms in their prime.

We got in 5.4 miles at a leisure pace. Here is our route
Towards the end of the hike my right foot was feeling different from the left but there wasn't a lot of discomfort. Maybe next week we'll try something a little more challenging.

We went home and then I mowed the yard and cleaned the house. I was exhausted that night.

Norma and I did a local hike, at Huntington - Middle Patuxent starting at the Deep Smoke trailhead.

It didn't take long before we saw something interesting. It was a bracket fungi that was about a foot across! It was the largest I'd ever seen of this type.
We walked downhill and along the clear Middle Patuxent River.

Next, we headed uphill and across Vollmerhausen Road to Huntington Park, a place I had never been. On the other side of that, we strolled along Clocktower Lane and then picked up a side trail where we saw a button buck and a young doe.
Norma and I walked along the not-so-clear (as in slightly muddy) Little Patuxent River until we came to the Willis J. Carter Pratt Thru Truss Bridge.

From there, we picked up the Patuxent Branch Trail and walked south.

Crossing Vollmerhausen Road again, we hiked through Wincopin and then under Highway 95 back to Huntington. Somewhere near the highway, Norma found a box turtle.
A little later, I found a Kentucky flat millipede.
Close to where we started, we found a chicken of the woods mushroom which Norma took home to eat.
This circuit hike ended up being 5.5 miles long.

Back at home, I found a five-lined skink tail in our driveway.
Skinks can drop their tails as a defense mechanism called autotomy when threatened by a predator. The detached tail continues to wiggle, distracting the predator and allowing the skink to escape. This process can be voluntary or involuntary and is usually triggered by a predator grasping or pulling the tail. After a tail is dropped, a new, shorter, and less vibrant tail will regrow.
My guess is our cat, Chester, was the reason this skink lost its tail.

On September 5-7, Norma, Daphne, and I did several short hikes during our road trip to southwestern Ohio.

On September 29 to October 8, Norma, Carmen, Robin, and I did several short hikes during our trip to northern Arizona.

On October 12, Cousin Jodi and I walked along the American River starting from Sailor Bar.

I don't care much for crowds so it is unlikely you'll find me at a place like Sandy Point State Park in the summer. But in the winter, I can be one of a very small handful of visitors. After several days of strong wind gusts, we had relatively calm winds, so I figured it was a good day to take Daphne out for a stroll and get some sun.

I recently learned about adjusting the "drive mode" on my camera. Setting it to "continuous shooting" is equivalent to firing an assault rifle in full auto. In this mode, I was able to capture Daphne's ears flopping as she ran across the sand.
I saw some researchers testing out a drone catamaran. In the distance is the Sandy Point Shoal Lighthouse, built in 1883.
Here's Daphne making snow angels and looking very happy.
I think I spent more time taking pics of Daphne rather than hiking. It was really just a stroll. Here she is looking regal.
Looking ~2.5 miles north, we saw the Baltimore Harbor Light, commissioned in 1908.
On the 0.7-mile Blue Crab Trail, we saw this small concrete building. Anyone know what it was?
After a brief stop at the Nature Center, we continued our walk, passing by the park's water tower.
We had a clear view of the 4-mile long Chesapeake Bay Bridge (aka William Preston Lane Jr. Memorial Bridge).
It was a good day to get out and catch some vitamin D, even if just briefly.

Norma, Daphne, her niece, and I did a hike with a Meetup group called the Great Outdoorsy People (GOP) of Maryland. On this outing, Wayne W. led 14 people on a six-mile hike in Gunpowder Falls State Park. Our route resembled the AllTrails - Old Quarry and Little Gunpowder Loop route.

We started at the Little Gunpowder lot. It was a cold, windy day but I knew we'd spend a lot of time in a valley sheltered from the wind. Once we got moving, it didn't seem very cold.

Above a quarry, we stopped briefly at an overlook where we had a clear view of trees in the distance. We had a few moments of sun, but overall, the day was overcast.
Continuing our walk, we came to an area where there were numerous Xmas ornaments hung on the trees.
We passed one large tree with lots of burls. According to Google AI,
A burl forms on a tree as a stress response, often triggered by injury, fungal/bacterial/viral infections, or insect attacks, causing abnormal, rapid cell division and growth of dense, swirling wood. Essentially, it's the tree's way of walling off or healing damage, resulting in a unique, knotty growth filled with unsprouted buds that creates the prized, intricate grain pattern sought by woodworkers.
Here's our group at a covered bridge made for an Eagle Scout project. Wayne took the pic, opting not to be in it. We had four dogs with us.
We stopped near a small waterfall.
Here's a map of our route.
Most of the group went out for Mexican food while the Norma, her niece, and I went out to Chipotle before heading home. It was a good way to end the year.