Salt Marsh Prairie

A salt marsh savanna

 

The vast salt marshes of the Low Country gave a name to the city of Savannah. Seemingly endless expanses of salt grass stretch from horizon to horizon, dotted with distant hummocks – small islets of pine, live oak and palmetto. These spartina marshes range all along the Atlantic coast from Newfoundland to Florida, but there are more here than anywhere else – covering 600 square miles in South Carolina alone.

 

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Chestertown, Maryland

Betsy on the hard

 

Tucking tail for Chestertown was the right thing on several counts. Best part is it turned one adventure into two. It’s a cool little town, and I would have missed it if I hadn’t got run off the river.

 

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Sprung

 

 

 

All through the hot summer, the wisteria we planted ten years ago shades the front porch in cool filtered light. You can nap on the swing in a wide tunnel of green. Every Spring it squeezes out a few more blooms, with scent sweet as honeysuckle.

Can’t wait for that first nap.

 

 

fone post

 

 

Hiking in the New Year

 

Some time ago, we fell into a tradition of taking a hike on New Years Day, if the weather is good. We skip the whole drunken party deal, opting for sore muscles instead of a sore head. Seems to work out better.

This year Apple Orchard Mountain got the nod, and by noon we were hiking down from the highest point on the Blue Ridge Parkway to Apple Orchard falls, one of the nicest in Virginia. You hike downhill along the stream, following cascades all the way, and about 1000 feet below you get to the main falls. It’s hard to capture scale in photos, but the main section drops over 200 feet.

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