Over the Mountain to Trout Pond

Here we see Charlie waiting for the kennel attendant to fetch him for day boarding. I leave him there two days a week so that he can feel safe while I go to appointments or off on a day trip. On this day, he was concerned because we had to wait a few minutes and he tends to get anxious. There’s a particular chair that he likes to hop up in. I guess having a special chair is reassuring. Soon Miss Kayla appeared and he trotted off with her.

 I went off to run an errand and then crossed the mountain to see an exhibit. After that, I went to Trout Pond Recreation Area run by the Forest Service. I’ve been there before, but it was over a year ago. I saw a deer on the way in, but didn’t get a picture because I was driving, so here is a photo of a deer from a different day.

The entrance to Trout Pond was unmanned and there is a self-pay station. The rate was a dollar more than I remembered and I didn’t have the exact change so I wrote a check. I also tried the QR code, but there was no cellular signal on my phone so it didn’t work. After I filled out the provided envelope, I realized that it was stuck shut from moisture, so I wound up trimming off the end and putting my check inside and folding it up.

One of the notices said the restroom was not in service. Sometimes I think our forest service must be under-funded because their facilities always seem to have problems and are not as updated as the national park facilities.

I drove to Rockcliff Lake and it was pretty much deserted. Children are back in school now so the beach area was very quiet. I did notice that there were vehicles in the campground.

The swimming area is marked off with ropes and floats.

The lake was very clear. I could see minnows and salamanders in the water.

I saw three large snail shells on the beach, grouped together like someone had placed them there. They do not look like any snails that I saw as a child, so I wondered if they might be an invasive species. Well, I just did some looking on the Internet for snails in West Virginia, and found that these could be Chinese mystery snails, which are considered invasive, and were, in fact, the subject of an attempt to clean them out of Rockcliff Lake some years ago. Apparently they were accidentally introduced by someone dumping an aquarium. The snails are imported to keep aquariums clean. 

Well, that was a rabbit hole that I went down as I composed this post and decided to look up the snails. I’ll show you a few signs of the changing season.

Can you see the little woolly caterpillar? The ID feature on my iPad says this a is a Hickory tussock moth. 

Before I close this post, I’ll share a picture of Charlie that I filtered in Picsart. Let me add that I certainly hope all my blog friends are safe. I know that some of them were in the path of Hurricane Helene as it tore through Florida and the Carolinas. Roads were destroyed by flooding, along with buildings, and electric power is still out in many places. I appreciate all the first responders and the crews who are working to get services back to affected communities.