Category: Rocks and Minerals

Vernal Pool with Vinca Vine

Ephemeral

Amphibian haven, breeding place

MichaelStephenWills2 Comments

Melting snow, spring rains, gather in hollows of the forest floor to form ephemeral pools important for the development of amphibian life.

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  • Vernal Pool with Vinca Vine
    Vernal Pool with Vinca Vine

Also named vernal pools, from the Latin word for spring or the time of the equinox. The pools are ephemeral in the sense of being temporary, disappearing in the warmer, dryer late spring and summer months, a characteristic important for amphibian live in being devoid of predatory fish.

Here the pool forms on a flat beneath the walls of Enfield Gorge. Here is another photograph featuring the ephemeral winter theme, “The Cave.”

These shots were hand held. I used a Sony Alpha 700 dslr with a variable “zoom” lens, great for framing compositions.

Robert H. Treman New York State Park.

Sources: Wikipedia, “Vernal Pool” and Merriam Webster online.

Click for a slideshow of a few photographs published recently.
  • Gully I
    Gully I
  • Gully II
    Gully II
  • Vernal Pool with Vinca Vine
    Vernal Pool with Vinca Vine

Copyright 2019 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills

Lucifer Falls, early spring evening

Sense of Scale

Humans dwarfed by the eons

MichaelStephenWills3 Comments

Lack of reference leads to a confused impression of this torrent of water. An adult human, standing on the lower rock ledges, will be dwarfed by the surroundings.

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  • Lower Lucifer Falls, early spring evening
    Lower Lucifer Falls, early spring evening

Lucifer Falls at moderate spring flood. The Gorge Trail is closed for the winter due to the danger of falling rock. The water volume can sweep an unwary hiker quickly over the brink.

The potential for fatalities is increased by black ice on the smooth slate walkways along the torrent. Can you spot the barrier blocking access to the path? I am at a secure perch at the falls overlook on the Rim Trail, opened at this season.

  • Lucifer Falls, early spring evening
    Lucifer Falls, early spring evening

These shots were hand held. I used a Sony Alpha 700 dslr with a variable “zoom” lens, great for framing compositions.

Robert H. Treman New York State Park.

Click for a slideshow of this Waterfall of the Old Mill sequence
  • Rim Trail Ascent
    Rim Trail Ascent
  • Rim Trail icicles
    Rim Trail icicles
  • Rim Trail icicles with lichen, moss and fern.
    Rim Trail icicles with lichen, moss and fern.
  • Gully I
    Gully I
  • Gully II
    Gully II

Copyright 2019 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills

Gully II

Gully vs. Ravine

I love the early spring light filtering through the hemlocks.

MichaelStephenWills2 Comments

Rim trail traverses gullies. These creases in the gorge walls were formed by small streams flowing to Enfield Creek.

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  • Gully I
    Gully I

Some passages require a wade, others have elaborate walkways with bridges. I initially wanted to call these ravines. Upon researching the term discovered while ravines are formed by erosion, the scale here is much smaller. I could rename Enfield Gorge, to Enfield Ravine.

  • Gully II
    Gully II

These shots were hand held. I used a Sony Alpha 700 dslr with a variable “zoom” lens, great for framing compositions.

Robert H. Treman New York State Park.

Click for a slideshow of this Waterfall of the Old Mill sequence
  • Rim Trail Ascent
    Rim Trail Ascent
  • Rim Trail icicles
    Rim Trail icicles
  • Rim Trail icicles with lichen, moss and fern.
    Rim Trail icicles with lichen, moss and fern.
  • Gully I
    Gully I
  • Gully II
    Gully II

Copyright 2019 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills

Rim Trail icicles with lichen, moss and fern.

Icicles!!

Key words: steep, icy

MichaelStephenWills4 Comments

Water drips steadily from seeps, places water follows hidden cracks to emerge from the darkness. In warm seasons these may be a patch of moisture enabling the growth of ferns, only becoming evident when air is cold enough to freeze slowly running water.

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  • Rim Trail icicles with lichen, moss and fern.
    Rim Trail icicles with lichen, moss and fern.

These macros capture the Moss, Fern and Lichen. These thrive in this environment.

These shots were hand held. I used a Sony Alpha 700 dslr with a variable “zoom” lens, great for framing compositions.

Robert H. Treman New York State Park.

Click for a slideshow of this Waterfall of the Old Mill sequence
  • Falls by the Old Mill, early spring
    Falls by the Old Mill, early spring
  • Place where Fish Kill was harnessed to power the Old Mill
    Place where Fish Kill was harnessed to power the Old Mill
  • Falls by the Old Mill, early spring
    Fish Kill Waterfall at the Old Mill.
  • Sedimentary Walls
    Sedimentary Walls
  • Icicles hang over Fish Kill
    Icicles hang over Fish Kill
  • Rim Trail Ascent
    Rim Trail Ascent
  • Rim Trail icicles
    Rim Trail icicles
  • Rim Trail icicles with lichen, moss and fern.
    Rim Trail icicles with lichen, moss and fern.
  • Rim Trail icicles with lichen, moss and fern.
    This macro captures the Moss, Fern and Lichen. These thrive in this environment.

Copyright 2019 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills

Rim Trail icicles

Up the Rim Trail

Key words: steep, icy

MichaelStephenWills8 Comments

It is the Gorge Trail that’s closed for the cold months, November through April. The Rim Trail remains open for those who dare icy, steep paths Unlike Gorge Trail, Rim Trail climbs above the dangerous cliffs from which rocks are wedged free by ice to fall on the trail. On an early spring day, after a sudden frost, we walked the Rim Trail to capture the moment.

Here is the steep start, climbing up from the Upper Park where a footbridge crosses Fish Kill. Kill is the old Dutch word for creek. Fish Kill mergers with Enfield Creek a few hundred feet downstream.

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  • Rim Trail Ascent
    Rim Trail Ascent

This north facing slope stays frozen into May. Here layers of the sedimentary rock shale, laid down in a shallow warm sea over 350 million years ago, are slowly pried apart. Hemlock tree roots wedge between rock layers, slowly growing. The action of ice, water expands in volume at the point of freezing, aids the process.

In places the rock face appears to be a hastily made dry stone wall, the rock layers are so disrupted by plant and frost.

  • Rim Trail icicles
    Rim Trail icicles

These shots were hand held. I used a Sony Alpha 700 dslr with a variable “zoom” lens, great for framing compositions.

Robert H. Treman New York State Park.

Click for a slideshow of this Waterfall of the Old Mill sequence
  • Falls by the Old Mill, early spring
    Falls by the Old Mill, early spring
  • The falls run free of ice. On an early spring day, after a sudden frost, we walked the Rim Trail to capture the moment.
  • The falls run free of ice. On an early spring day, after a sudden frost, we walked the Rim Trail to capture the moment.
  • Sedimentary Walls
  • New icicles formed overnight from seeps through the sedimentary walls around the Waterfall by the Old Mill. On an early spring day, after a sudden frost, we walked the Rim Trail to capture the moment.
  • Rim Trail icicles
    Rim Trail icicles

Copyright 2019 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills

Icicles hang over Fish Kill

Of Rocks and Seeps

fresh icicles

MichaelStephenWills2 Comments

New icicles formed overnight from seeps through the sedimentary walls around the Waterfall by the Old Mill. On an early spring day, after a sudden frost, we walked the Rim Trail to capture the moment.

Here icicles formed during the quick April freeze hand above Fish Kill. Kill is an old Dutch word for creek.

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  • Sedimentary Walls
    Sedimentary Walls

Here a mix of frost and lichen mottle the rock layers.

These shots were hand held. I used a Sony Alpha 700 dslr with a variable “zoom” lens, great for framing compositions.

Robert H. Treman New York State Park.

Click for a slideshow of this Waterfall of the Old Mill sequence
  • Falls by the Old Mill, early spring
    Falls by the Old Mill, early spring

Copyright 2019 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills

Falls by the Old Mill, early spring

Three Views, Falls of the Old Mill

A challenge of light

MichaelStephenWills2 Comments

A day the falls run free of ice. On an early spring day, after a sudden frost, we walked the Rim Trail to capture the moment. Here are three captures of the same waterfall, the first visitors to the upper park encounter and the most visited and photographed right off the parking area.

Fish Kill was captured at this point to provide power to grind grain. Today neither nature nor man control the flow. Kill is the old Dutch word for creek.

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  • Falls by the Old Mill, early spring
    Falls by the Old Mill, early spring

I have never counted the waterfalls from this one to the grand sweep of lower falls. The falls are uncountable because no two people could agree on how small a fall to credit.

Of these three versions, i prefer this one for the foreground inclusion of the enormous limestone blocks set to protect visitors from the drop. This scene is challenging photographically, bifurcated as it is by the bright sun over the fall brink. I prefer to shoot these falls early morning, for this reason, before the sun illuminates the area at all. Long exposures required demand a rock solid tripod, as it is just off the parking lot I use my studio Manfrotto for the work. Here all shots were handheld.

I used a Sony Alpha 700 dslr with a variable “zoom” lens, great for framing compositions.

Robert H. Treman New York State Park.

Click for a slideshow of this sequence of the Waterfall of the Old Mill

Copyright 2019 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills