Photos from my hike on the Hog Rock Train in Catoctin Mountain National Park, Maryland, USA. Overlapping trails include: wolf rock, chimney rock and Thurmont vista.
Tag Archives: nature
Alley Spring Mill Trail
I am very thankful my parents took me hiking as a kid. I enjoyed it when I was young (for example, this photo of a young me hiking at Fraser’s Hill in Malaysia) and I enjoy it now (my Mom and I visited Fraser’s Hill again a few years ago).
Recently I enjoyed visiting Alley Spring Mill and hiking the overlook trail (a 2 km loop trail) near Eminence, Missouri.
The Alley Spring Mill is in the Ozark National Scenic Riverway (part of the National Park system). The mill itself looks wonderful next to the pond and also has some interesting details inside.
Corn and wheat was loaded at the ground level of the building and moved up to the top via the tiny buckets driven by the water wheel. Then the grain was filtered and ground using the water wheel as the source of power (moving up via the mini bucket elevators and down shoots to the machines on the ground level in sequence).
Wonderful Jungle Hike at Mount Santubong, Borneo, Malaysia
My hike on Mount Santubong was an amazing experience. The hike was quite challenging; very step climbing for a long time.
The trail climbed like this for a long time. The ropes could help you climb (especially necessary if there had been rain recently as it is not only steep but slippery when went).
Quite frequently rope ladders were necessary to aid the climb.
Stone Forest, Yunnan, China
The Stone Forest in Yunnan, China is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The stone formations were created as the limestone eroded.
The Stone Forest (South China Karst) area was a shallow sea some 270 million years ago (the Permian period) when the sandstone and limestone deposits were formed. The entire Shilin National Scenic Area (昆明市石林风景区) covers an area of 400 square km.
Enjoying the Beach in Hoi An, Vietnam
I stayed a couple months in a house rental in Hoi An, Vietnam. I enjoyed it a great deal (follow the link for a map of my favorite spots in Hoi An). There isn’t much to do in Hoi An, but it is a quiet place with warm weather and good food and internet so that is enough to make me happy.
It was about a 15 minute bike ride from my house to the beach. The video shows the start in the small alley (where my house was) and onto the main road.
Guadalupe Peak Trail, Guadalupe Mountains National Park
The Guadalupe Peak Trail in Guadalupe Mountains National Park is a 8.4 mile round trip hike with an elevation gain of 2,930 feet (they estimate 6 to 8 hours).
If you can identify this beetle (or the other insects in this post) please add a comment. See more of my photos that I need help identifying.
Kuang Si Waterfalls, Laos
Tat Kuang Si park is a wonderful spot for a hike.
The water has an amazing blue color that seems almost fake in photos but is really the color of these photos. The blue is due to dissolved copper.
The Kuang Si waterfalls are about 30 km outside of Luang Prabang. You can rent a open back pickup for about $30 (really I forget I think it was about that amount though) for the trip or you can join a tour group (easy to arrange at many guest houses and travel agents all over Luang Prabang).
Circumhorizontal Arc (Fire Rainbow) in Hoi An, Vietnam
I saw my first Circumhorizontal Arcs (Fire Rainbows) display in Johor Bahru, Malaysia. A couple days ago I experienced them again in Hoi An, Vietnam.
The scene looked much more spectacular than this.
All I had with me at the time, was my iPad mini and this is the best photo I could get. Zooming in on the fire rainbow provided very poor photos. The iPad mini and iPhone (and other smart phones) have remarkably good cameras for many shots. But for a few types of shots they are very poor. Getting a good shot of this rainbow was one such case.
I biked home and got my Canon PowerShot SX60 HS and took this photo.
Close up of circumhorizontal arc (fire rainbow) in Hoi An, Vietnam with Canon
I had actually posted about the phenomenon of circumhorizontal arcs on my science blog in 2006 before I had seen them for myself.
A circumhorizontal arc (also known by the exciting name, fire rainbow) is an optical phenomenon – an ice-halo formed by plate-shaped ice crystals in high level cirrus clouds. If the cloud is at the right angle to the sun, the crystals will refract the sunlight just as when rainbow is created.
Fire rainbows can only occur when the sun is 58 degrees or higher above the horizon and when the clouds or haze contain plate-shaped ice crystals. The arc has a considerable angular extent and thus, rarely is complete. When only fragments of a cirrus cloud are in the appropriate sky and sun position, they may appear to shine with spectral colors.
Related: Curious Cat nature photos – Magical Day at Glacier-Waterton International Peace Park (USA and Canada), which also ended with a rainbow – Water Buffaloes in a field in Cambodia – Photos of clouds
Magical Day at Glacier-Waterton International Peace Park
One of the most enjoyable days of my life began at Glacier National Park (USA) and continued in the Canadian portion of the park (Waterton International Peace Park). The parks share a long border and amazing natural beauty.
Iceberg Lake Trail, Glacier National Park
This magical day was my fifth day at Glacier National Park, which had already been wonderful.
John Hunter, top of Bear’s Hump trail, Waterton International Peace Park