A red beauty growing along the Gorge Trail
It is 9:30 am on a July morning Robert H. Treman Park, Ithaca, Tompkins County, Ithaca, New York,
Mystery Mushroom
Category: travel
Gallery Waterfall
From the Greenlandian Age
During this, the Greenlandian age, what we call Enfield Creek found a crack, widened it to form a gallery through a hill. This waterfall is emblematic of the process.
Here we see the north gallery wall, thin layers of sedimentary water-worn rock, the resistant limestone, characteristic right-angle faults worn away unevenly by flowing water.
It is 9:30 am on a July morning Robert H. Treman Park, Ithaca, Tompkins County, Ithaca, New York,
Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills
A Gorge Trail Summer Standout
Use it to make a refreshing summertime tea.
Monarda didyma is also known as crimson beebalm, scarlet beebalm, scarlet monarda, Eau-de-Cologne plant, Oswego tea, or bergamot. A wildflower native to the Finger Lakes, Crimson beebalm is extensively grown as an ornamental plant, both within and outside its native range; it is naturalized further west in the United States and also in parts of Europe and Asia.
It grows best in full sun, but tolerates light shade and thrives in any moist, but well-drained soil. As suggested by membership in the Lamiaceae (mint) family, Beebalm, as an aromatic herb, has a long history of use as a medicinal plant by many Native Americans, including the Blackfoot. The Blackfoot people recognized this plant’s strong antiseptic action and used poultices of the plant for skin infections and minor wounds.
An herbal tea made from the plant was also used to treat mouth and throat infections caused by dental caries and gingivitis. Beebalm is a natural source of the antiseptic thymol, the primary active ingredient in modern commercial mouthwash formulas. The Winnebago used an herbal tea made from beebalm as a general stimulant. It was also used as a carminative herb by Native Americans to treat excessive flatulence. As a matter of local interest, Iroquois of Oswego, New York, made the leaves into a tea, giving the plant one of its common names.
It is 9:30 am on a July morning Robert H. Treman Park, Ithaca, Tompkins County, Ithaca, New York,
References
Wikipedia, “Monarda didyma”
“The Botanical Garden, Vol II” Roger Phillips and Martyn Rix, Firefly Books, 2002. Page 284
Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills
Newlywed View II
Under the Spell of Treman Gorge
View shared by generations of newlyweds standing on a stone bridge across Enfield Creek. I favor yesterday’s view, peering down into the flume plunging underneath is disconcerting. Readers: What do you think? Please post response as a comment. Thank You.
We are looking back on the place where Treman Gorge Trail from the Old Mill enters a narrow gallery looking here northwest along Enfield Creek.
It is 9:30 am on a July morning Robert H. Treman Park, Ithaca, Tompkins County, Ithaca, New York,
Here is another photograph featuring the ephemeral winter theme, “The Cave.”
Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills
Newlywed View I
Under the Spell of Treman Gorge
View shared by generations of newlyweds standing on a stone bridge across Enfield Creek.
We are looking back on the place where Treman Gorge Trail from the Old Mill enters a narrow gallery looking here northwest along Enfield Creek.
It is 9:30 am on a July morning Robert H. Treman Park, Ithaca, Tompkins County, Ithaca, New York,
Here is another photograph featuring the ephemeral winter theme, “The Cave.”
Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills
Entranced
Under the Spell of Treman Gorge
First timers to Enfield Gorge realize it is special when a corner is turned and this faces them.
Treman Gorge Trail from the Old Mill enters a narrow gallery looking here southeast along Enfield Creek, passing over a stone footbridge.
It is 9:30 am on a July morning Robert H. Treman Park, Ithaca, Tompkins County, Ithaca, New York,
Here is another photograph featuring the ephemeral winter theme, “The Cave.”
Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills
Oak Creek Reflections
early one still morning
The fault of Oak Creek changes direction, here it turns east/west through Schnebly Hill Formation red sandstone for which Sedona is famous.
West Fork (108) Trail, Sedona, Yavapai County, Arizona
“Hello” from Oak Creek Canyon, “Photo by Pam Wills”
Click this link for my Fine Art Photography gallery. You can find Oak Creek Mandala in the Arizona gallery. The gallery description gives more information about the site.
Click this link for another Arizona post, “Cochise Dawn.”
Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills
Sandstone Gallery
early one still morning
The fault of Oak Creek changes direction, here it forms a north/south gallery through Schnebly Hill Formation red sandstone for which Sedona is famous.
West Fork (108) Trail, Sedona, Yavapai County, Arizona
“Hello” from Oak Creek Canyon, “Photo by Pam Wills”
Click this link for my Fine Art Photography gallery. You can find Oak Creek Mandala in the Arizona gallery. The gallery description gives more information about the site.
Click this link for another Arizona post, “Cochise Dawn.”
Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills
Big Bend
A tripod and Neutral Density filter
Winter 2020 I posted “Winter People Watching” featuring the Sony F828 and candid street photography.
What I love about this place, a unique feature, is the size and different vantage points making it possible to view the same place from different angles. November 2019, readers were shown “The Bend,” a place with Taughannock gorge makes a 90 degree turn, changing from a southeastern to an eastern flow. Here are photographs from spot overlooked by that post.
Here the camera faces away from the sun, the graduated neutral density filter allowing me to capture the cloudless blue sky, a little milky the way it is here February with a hint of spring.
This little one is studying the information placard with rapt attention, learning how the African continent, pushing against North America, across the eaons, formed the right angle fractures mirrored by this dramatic change in Taughannock Gorge. For the Big Bend photographs I was standing behind them, along the stream bed.
Here is a broader slice of that sky.
Can you see the tiny figures of hikers, dwarfed by the frozen cliff?
Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills
A Little Water Fall…
…and Gorge Cliffs
Purling of the water beneath this foot high waterfall was enhanced by reducing ISO to 100, tamping down the aperture to f/22 resulting in an shutter speed of 1/10th second. I set the graduated Neutral Density filter to shade the left side.
On the cliffs ahead is where the observation platform is cut into the rock. It has a great view of the waterfall, in some ways the experience of the falls is enhanced, compared to hiking the 3/4 mile path and standing below.
A marvelous forest grows on talus from the high gorge walls.
A sign on a disused pier warns waders to leave the creek bed. Ahead the gorge walls tower above the creek. Rocks dislodge and crash down unexpectedly, crushing foolish waders. It is appalling to see, in warmer months, people walking below those cliffs gathering the fallen rocks to make delicately balanced cairns.
Michael Stephen Wills Photography 