French Horn Players...

I just discovered, by reading the Wikipedia entry on the French Horn, that Ewan McGregor, who played ObiWan Kenobi in the Star Wars episodes 1, 2, and 3, is a horn player. So is Jon Stewart, the political satirist. The sound of the French Horn is called "heroic". Apropos. And I also learned that the instrument most referred to as the French Horn is technically a German horn. Hmmm...

Blue Ridge Tunnel -- South Entrance

It's getting harder and harder to walk, but the doctor says I must, so I'm looking for every opportunity. Do a Wikipedia search on "Blue Ridge Tunnel". The original tunnel was constructed as a railroad tunnel to the Shenandoah Valley, way back in the 1850's... well before the Civil War, and a dozen years before the invention of dynamite. The original tunnel runs almost a mile through solid rock under the Blue Ridge. When it opened, it was the longest tunnel in the U.S. It passes under Skyline Drive, the Blue Ridge Parkway, I-64 and US 250. A newer, wider tunnel was cut to the south in 1944. The original tunnel is now abandoned. For the last 15 years or so, I've wanted to hike to the original tunnel, but I didn't know exactly where to find it. Today, on the way back from the Virginia Beach ARRL convention, I was on the ham radio and heard a fellow on the air (K4LFP) who was on foot ... hiking back from the tunnel! He gave me directions, and I met him in the tiny town of Afton just as he got back to his car. He showed me the trailhead. It's not much of a trial, but you can generally make out the old railroad bed, which is overgrown now with trees and brush. Just under a mile from the parking area, bingo, there it was. The trail requires a lot of "cross-country" hiking through brush. Even with my long khaki pants, my legs are all skinned up from thorns and stickers. My hiking staff did double duty as a sort of machete, as well as a "feeler" to find the muddy spots and holes under the brush. But Al's directions were spot-on, as they say. The tunnel is flooded about a foot or two deep with crystal-clear cold water. Since it isn't maintained anymore, the cracks in the mountain are all dripping, and the dirt and leaves have slid from the mountain above the entrance and this has created a barrier which dams up the water in the tunnel. I didn't want to go wading, so I just took this picture from the entrance. There were all kinds of frogs and water fauna at the entrance. Here is a freshwater lobster, or as we call them in southern Georgia: a crayfish. He's about six inches long. After visiting the tunnel entrance, I clambered down (slid, really) about 200 feet, down the steep south slope of the mountain, where I found the entrance to the "New" Blue Ridge tunnel. This new tunnel was opened in 1944, and was a good bit wider and taller to accommodate war materiel. On the picture below, the old tunnel is to the right and up the steep slope you see on the right edge of the picture. Click on the picture below to read the inscription over the entrance to the "new" tunnel, which actually is now over 65 years old. I didn't want to go too far into the new tunnel, because unlike the original tunnel, this one is NOT abandoned. Trains run through here. Fast trains. But I did slip inside about 50 feet to take this picture of the light at the end of the tunnel. I then walked the mile back to the car along the current tracks, which run parallel to the old railbed bed, about 100 feet down the mountain to the south. And sure enough, just before I got back to the car, here comes the Amtrak, doing about 60. I'm glad I decided against venturing into the tunnel.

Little Calf Mountain Summit Hike

After returning to the car from the tunnel, I drove up to Skyline Drive and headed north to Beagle Gap, elevation 2506 feet ASL. I always feel better after I've been walking for a while, and since the doctor says walking is good for the arthritis, I like to do it as much as I can. I hiked up the Appalachian Trail going north, about a mile up to the unmarked trail which leads westerly another quarter mile to the summit of Little Calf Mountain. Gorgeous hike. The sumac is just beginning to turn color. There are lots of apple trees here, dating from 75 years ago or more, before the park was established, back when this area was mountain farmland. No idea what the two bugs are, but the blossoms are goldenrod. Achooo. These aren't blueberries, because this isn't a blueberry bush. I don't know what they are, but they are growing on a tree that's about 30 feet tall.

Below: Looking southwest towards Humpback Rocks.

Looking southeast from the meadow at the summit of Little Calf Mountain.

Notice the sign. According to Internet sources, this is elevation 2960 feet give or take a little. So the climb is just under 500 feet of vertical elevation from the parking lot at Beagle Gap.

The sumac was gorgeous crimson.

A classic monarch butterfly caterpillar, eating his milkweed.

Below: the scene from McCormick Gap Overlook, milepost 103 on Skyline Drive, a few miles south of Beagle Gap. This is looking north towards Turk Mountain.

A super Sunday afternoon hike, especially following the discovery of the Blue Ridge Tunnel.