Flowers – Richard Rathe's Reflections

Total Eclipse & Snake Road 2024

The Eclipse

Last week I traveled with my Sister Diana to Southern Illinois hoping to experience the Total Solar Eclipse. We were not disappointed! We had mostly blue skies that day with some high stratus clouds. Nothing can really prepare you for the moment of totality. We could suddenly see “stars” (actually the planets Venus and Jupiter) in the odd twilight. It got perceptively cooler and the wind changed direction.

Two things stand out in the photo above. The first is the Sun’s Corona, which is only visible to the naked eye during an eclipse. The second is the little bright spot near the bottom. This was a constant feature throughout and on higher resolution photos appears to be a Solar Prominence (a plume of hot gas streaming from the surface).

The Snake Road

I read about the “Snake Road” a year ago and intended to got there at some point. The Eclipse was over by 2:15pm so we had the time and decided to find it. The area is called the LaRue Pine Hills Natural Area and consists of a crumbling limestone cliff above a flat river valley. The cliffs face the afternoon sun and offer many nooks and crannies for snakes to hole-up for the winter. Hundreds of Snakes cross the road below the cliffs in the Spring and Fall, which is closed to traffic at those times. [Photo Gallery]

We were there at the right time of year, but the wrong time of day to see snakes. Luckily we did see a Green Tree Snake before we started to climb the cliff.

We left the road on a side trail where we saw several different types of wildflowers in bloom as we ascended to the ridge line.

Somewhere near the “top” we paused to take in this spectacular view! The blue flowers in the foreground are Cleft Phlox.

A small bird in the dense undergrowth caught my eye. This turned out to be a Ruby-Crowned Kinglet which allowed me several minutes to take pictures. First time I’ve seen its “crown” in the wild!

We then descended into a long ravine behind the cliffs bedecked with wildflowers and ferns.

While not yet in bloom, the distinctive leaves of Bloodroot were everywhere, including this hollow log.

These emerging Jack-in-the-Pulpit reminded us of tube worms on a coral reef.

Finally we came down to the frontage road and had a pleasant walk back to the car.

Chaco Canyon 2023

After braving the nearly washed out road from the north I arrived around 9am. I had to “walk” my Prius diagonally over piles of gravel and exposed rock faces. This was my third attempt over twenty years to visit this important site. (The first two failed because the roads were completely washed out!) [Full Gallery]

The map below shows the basic layout of the park (click to enlarge). Most of the sites are easy walking distance from the main loop drive.

Chaco Canyon Map source:nps.gov — *Chaco Canyon Map (source:nps.gov*)

A short walk from the Vistors Center is the small un-excavated ruins of Una Vida. The prominent Fajada Butte is seen in the distance. This is the location of the famous “Sun Dagger” astronomical feature presumed to mark the summer solstice.

A short scramble above that are impressive Petroglyphs inscribed into the cliff face.

The focal point of the entire park is Pueblo Bonito, a huge stone edifice that contained over six hundred rooms and dozens of circular ceremonial structures called “Kivas”. (source:nps sign)

The walls nearest the cliff were crushed by a rock slide after the structure was abandoned. The rounded walls are the remains of various kivas.

One quadrant has been restored so visitors may explore a warren of small rooms. Notice the very low doors and what remains of wooden timbers holding up the floors above. The stone in the foreground was used to grind corn. The consensus is these rooms were not residential but related to the ritual use of the site.

The nearby ruins of Chetro Ketl features a Great Kiva 62 feet in diameter. Notice the two seated visitors for scale!

The remains of Chacoan Stairways can be seen in several places behind the ruins. These are no mere “Moki Steps” but wide grand staircases leading to cerimonial roads throughout the area.

Several flowering plants were abundant due to recent rainfall. This particularly showy example is Emory’s Globemallow.

The Pueblo Alto Trail starts above the Kin Kletso ruins. I attempted this late in the day after finding out there were no more campsites available that night. The trail went straight up into a huge crack in the rock!

*Cliff Rim Trail Above Kin Kletso Ruins*

As I was ascending I noticed one boulder that was different then all the others. It had Fossils! Mostly cross-sections I thought. Here is what some online geologist friends speculated…

“Mostly cross-sections of fossil shells, mostly bivalves & I think a gastropod.”

“…the large white mass consists of opaque secondary calcite that precipitated in an empty shell post-deposition, in contrast to the others that filled with silt or lime mud shortly after death.”

I climbed about two hundred feet to the stone rim.

There were helpful signs along the way, including this one calling attention to several man-made basins pecked out of the rock where water would sometimes flow.

I finally got to the overlook where you could survey Pueblo Bonito in all its glory!

At that point I had to turn back and start my downward climb… (Alternate Video)

Note: The trail went through a huge crack in the rock face. I used a Theta S 360 Camera to capture my descent. At one point I was also fighting a 20+ mph headwind! It looks very steep at the end… IT WAS!

I ate dinner as the setting sun lit the virga falling from late afternoon clouds.

What I missed…

I did not have time for the seven mile hike to see the Supernova & Comet Pictographs near the Penasco Blanco ruins (picture shown here from Wiki Commons). The “starburst” figure may document the 1054 CE Crab Nebula Supernova.

Supernova & Comet Pictographs source:wikicommons — *Supernova Pictograph (source:wiki_commons*)

I left the park at dusk via the south entrance road. Fortunately this route was in better shape and the main hazards were multiple tall cattle grates that threatened to high center my car.

More Photos…

Okefenokee Canoe Trip 2021

I last traveled to the Okefenokee in 2004, and I had been hoping to return sooner. My return was delayed in part by a multi-year drought and Major Fires in 2011. This year the water was high thanks to record rainfall in the late summer.

We left our car at the Suwannee Canal entrance and took advantage of a convenient shuttle service to get our canoe and gear up to Kingfisher Landing (about 30 miles north). From there we made our way south via a combination of canals, streams, prairies, sills, and ponds. Click below for an annotated video of our trip…

We started by following the Green Trail along a winding series of small canals until we reached our first campsite on the Bluff Lake Chickee. We got there with plenty of time to fix an early dinner and relax.

There are several species of carnivorous plants in the swamp, including three pitcher plants. We saw many examples of two of these: the Parrot Pitcher Plant and the Hooded Pitcher Plant. There were many standing dead trees with charred trunks left over from fires a decade ago, but the loss was not total. There were many older living trees interspersed with the dead, and lots of young Bald Cypress trees coming up underneath.

Yellow and Purple Bladderworts were blooming in abundance, occasional white Fragrant Waterlilies, and we even saw one Hooded Pitcher Plant putting up a flower!

After a brief time on the connecting Blue Trail we picked up the Purple Trail that loops out into the Chase Prairie and our next chickee.

These prairies are a mix of open water, marsh, and small islands with trees. The Round Top Chickee boasts a 360º view of this robust ecology. We saw more birds here including Sandhill Cranes and Egrets. We heard Barred Owls calling all around us in the evening. We got a bit of rain during the night so the morning was grey and damp.

There was a small box for a trail journal on this chickee, but all we found were notes written on toilet paper rolls railing about “Nancy Pelosi”?!

Turns out they were referring to the resident six foot gator who hung about the chickee the entire time we were there. This is likely because earlier visitors had fed it (a very BAD idea!). Gators that remain too close to humans usually lose their lives! Sad.

After the overnight drizzle we packed up in the grey dawn and continued on the Purple Trail to the next big intersection. The sun came out as we turned east on the Orange Trail. This is a major canal flowing to the west that got larger and larger as we approached the visitor center. We had lunch on the Coffee Bay platform just before the rain started. About a mile from the take-out it started to pour. By the time we had the gear all packed the late afternoon sun broke through.