Bolt Mountain, West Virginia

There is not much to do on the mountain today. It has been raining off and on since late last night. So I took the opportunity to play with the camera a little bit and a couple of photo enhancing programs.

I took this particular photo because I like the way water beads on plants and I wanted to see if my fairly inexpensive camera could capture the essence. The jury is still out on that one but while playing around with some software I think it created some interesting views.

I love to sit on my back porch early in the morning. It is amazing the activity from birds and animals as the sun comes up. This morning I watched these two deer play in the field for over an hour.

I had also been seeing a lot of Red-winged Blackbirds. With just a short walk in the field I found a nest.

I would say in the next week or so this nest will contain eggs. Hopefully I can continue to photograph the nest even after the new family is present. I watched the area for some time after taking the photos and the female Red-wing was right back at her work.

Adding this picture of the blackbird. To see a good photo you can visit the link above. This bird is the guardian of the nest and seems to be very reluctant to get his picture taken. It is the best I can do for now.

I would have to say out of all of the photos I have taken in the past few years this one is my favorite.

Not only is it a rare thing for a hillbilly from Bolt Mountain to be in a position to take a photo such as this one but it is an even rarer event to be a hillbilly from Bolt Mountain standing on a CSX bridge in the middle of the Potomac. I would almost guarantee you could count the number of times it has happened before on one hand.

I did get one other picture the same night which is almost as cool but it doesn’t have monuments in it. The train in both photos is an Amtrack train on an adjacent track (50 to 100 yards away) travelling in opposite directions.

It seems like for the longest time I haven’t done much writing here. Even though that is the case this blog has been the one to remain consistent. I may not have updated it much but it has always been right here.

This blog has just hit one milestone and is about to hit another. With Google’s last update this website hit a pagerank of 4. I think that is simply awesome. It is the first time I have ever had a blog with a pagerank higher than 3. The Backwoods Drifter blog probably would have achieved a 4 with the latest update as well but moving it from Blogger to it’s own domain reset the pagerank to 0.

Another milestone for this blog, it is two weeks shy of one year old.

Lately I have been attempting to come over to this blog more so than in the past. Since I’ve been fighting mountaintop removal on two other blogs, this one is becoming my means of escaping to sanity. For the most part I am going to keep MTR off this blog from now on. I do have a page here for mountaintop removal photos but as far as talking about it here, I’m not going to do it.

Big Coal River

Edwight, West Virginia

I have another hike coming up and now with the trees blooming the scenery is going to be awesome. This next hike coincides with the morel (mollymoocher) hunting season. This year should prove more productive in finding the elusive yet very tasty mushroom. Last year the weather remained dry up to and through the normal time to find the morel. Which is in the early spring and usually following a good spring rain.

Recipe -

DEEP FRIED MORELS

Fresh Morel mushrooms
Egg wash (2 eggs beaten with 1/4 c. milk)
Crumb mix (1 c. crackers, 1/2 c. corn flake crumbs)
Vegetable oil for frying
Salt to taste

Split Morel mushrooms lengthwise. Rinse in several changes of cold water and drain. While heating oil to 370-375 degrees, dip Morels into egg wash, roll in crumbs. Cook Morels 4-5 minutes, stirring and turning while cooking. When golden brown and floating, remove to rack to drain. Salt to taste. Place on paper towels.

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Warning - Morels should never be eaten raw because they contain a volatile compound that can be removed only by cooking or drying. Some “false morels” are poisonous. Also, morels have a hollow center, which can harbor insect larvae, so be sure to cut all mushrooms in half to check for bugs.

I finally got to go on my hike. It wasn’t a multi-day hike like I originally intended but it was an all day hike. Two days later I am still feeling this first hike.

I took a lot of photos covering more than one subject. If you go to the Stop MTR blog you will see photos I took of the mountaintop removal site in Clays Branch. If you go to the BackWoods drifter site you will see photos of a ramp (wild leek) patch I happened across. On this site, I have some scenery to show you.

All of these photos and the ones on the other blogs were taken from the ridge that separates Drews Creek from Clays Branch.

It’s that time. Time to dig through the closets for all the camping gear. I say that like I don’t know where it is. I’m planning my first real trip of the season into the foothills around Bolt Mountain.

I’m actually going to replace my tent this year for something more hiker friendly. I normally don’t go to the mountains to set up camp so I don’t need or want a tent that will hold the kitchen sink. I need a tent I can sleep in and one that will keep out the weather - that’s it.

I’ve been hearing a lot of coyote on the mountain and I’m going to be on a mission to get a photo of the elusive coyote. We will see who stalks who.

This post copied in part across multiple blogs.

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After two days of slaving over a hot keyboard - the new Stop MTR site is up and running - two days ahead of schedule.

So far I am extremely happy with the new home. I had trouble installing the coppermine photo gallery so after about ten hours and multiple uploads - I gave up. The site does contain a photo gallery but not up to par as what I would have liked. To balance  it out - there is also an embedded photo gallery using flash software right on the site itself.

I’ve also added a Simple Machines Forum and it is currently accepting members by approval. The forum is lacking in info at the moment but contains plenty of categories in which to add info.

I gave the new site a red theme because red means stop, danger, I’m mad as hell - you get the picture. The forum, on the other hand, is blue. I figured there will probably be some upset people there at one time or another - don’t need them seeing red.

As with most sites - the new site will be under a constant state of improvement. I encourage you to stop by there and see what we are talking about.

STOP Mountaintop Removal

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My friend Dennie was in this weekend and we saw one animal the entire time in the mountains, a doe.

Can you see her?

It seems I just have the hardest time getting to this blog to post. The main reason for that is because I have taken on a huge battle and find my time used up rather quickly. The battle against (MTR) mountaintop removal coal mining. If you are not aware of this devastating practice - I encourage you to follow the link.

Massey Energy has come to Bolt Mountain and I will be telling the story and showing photos on this blog from their method of mining coal.

In other news - I’ve put a new photo gallery online and in it you will find all photos from previous posts on this site as well as a ton of photos that never made it to the blog. The photos contained in the gallery are from all over West Virginia and support this blog, the BackWoods drifter blog, and the Stop MTR blog.

Three of the albums contained in the gallery - Mountaintop Removal, Acid Mine Drainage, Valley fills - are there for education and awareness of the devastating impacts of mountaintop removal coal mining.

BackWoods Drifter Photo Gallery

I will display these photos larger as soon as I get a decent album up and running.

Photo © JSB

Photo © JSB