saturday in the woods

Saturday started a little late since I didn't want to get out of bed in the morning but after slicing up some veggies--celery, carrots, bell pepper and onions--and braising some stew beef I tossed them into my crockpot and then headed out to do some easy hiking in Duke Forest.

This picture here is a good illustration of the pithy comment "that's just water under the dam" 'cause you can see the water doing just that. Going under the dam right beneath my feet. As you can probably guess, this isn't a very big structure but it still holds back a fair amount of water.

The picture below is a half mile or so downstream of the dam. Today was an amazingly pretty day to be out in the woods in this area--as you can tell in that picture. It was windy out in the open but just breezy in the woods and the temperature was around 62f with a lot of sun. Lovely. The Fall colors are muted but they were never all that strong this year. In the NC mountains they had a good display, but not here. But there's enough color to really make for a lovely hike.
And after the hike I went to Wal-mart to pick up a few things, then back to my house to eat that stew. Yum. The house smelled soooo good when I walked back in.

Comments

carmilevy said…
I can almost feel the glassiness of the water. What a peaceful place to be!

I couldn't get outside today because of all the wind and the rain. So I cooked up some indoor photo fun instead.
1:27 AM
Catherine said…
Very nice - I hiked up to the top of a hill today, but it was farmland all the way, barely a tree in sight.
Michele sent me
4:57 AM
srp said…
Hello.
I think your wooded stream is gorgeous and you have much more color than we have here on the coast. I had to drive NW to Williamsburg to get much color at all. I think this is a different type of fall. A few of the trees turned with the first cold spell and this wind has helped them shed their leaves. Now the others will probably turn. So, instead of overall grand flaming color at the same time we're getting this two pronged Autumn. Not the best for pictures, but it has ushered in a bit cooler weather than usually seen in October.

That stew sounds marvelous!
7:27 AM
Anonymous said…
Crockpot's like having a home staff. :)

Dam. Gorgeous photos.
1:21 PM
tiff said…
Isn't it cool that even in the Triangle there are these pretty peaceful places to be? I'm consistently amazed. I'll have to get out to Duke Forest someday - look lovely.
3:43 PM
srp said…
Here from Michele.

Is it "water under the dam" or "water under the bridge"? I was trying to picture exactly what it looked like from another angle.

It is getting dark.... oh, no! I really hate Standard Time although that extra hour was fine last night.
5:07 PM
Panthergirl said…
How beautiful!! How can you go from a scene like that to Walmart?? Seems like going from heaven to hell! ;)

Nice pics, Dave!

Here via michele.
5:25 PM
Carli N. Wendell said…
It'd be cool to have a stream. I have the Hudson River, but it is not the same thing by a long shot. Michele sent me.
11:57 PM
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