Wildflowers flourished where the slope turned to the north and late afternoon light spread across the small ravine created by a small stream. This early in the season White Trillium buds were forming between three green bracts.
Click photograph for a larger view. To do this from WordPress Reader, you need to first click the title of this post to open a new page.
Trillium Grandiflorium
The above photograph taken handheld with a variable zoom lens captures the plant and environment. On the forest floor is twig of hemlock, probably knocked off by squirrels feeding on the tiny cones. Oak leaves from last season frame the dark green bracts. We also see a few wintergreen leaves and the rich soil.
With the low light ISO is 2000, the f-stop of 5.6 allowed crisp details of the hemlock and wintergreen, the focus is soft on the oak leaves. Where is topography allowed sunlight, the White Trillium were a bit further along. Here is a bud opening.
Trillium Grandiflorium
Here I used a travel tripod and a macro lens with f-stop opened up to 3.2, not lens maximum, and all but the forward bract tip are in focus. A lower camera angle places surroundings in distance, allowing all to be blurred unrecognizable: the plant is the star of this shot. ISO 800 with the ample light. I was struggling with the spring breezes, having to wait for a break to take each exposure.
Copyright 2019 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills
Here the Rim Trail climbs out of the flats beneath the Cliff Stairs, away from Enfield Creek, onto the upper slopes of the gorge.
Click photograph for a larger view. To do this from WordPress Reader, you need to first click the title of this post to open a new page.
Rim Trail Ascent
Early spring snow highlights the path, threading between hemlocks. The American realistic painter Andrew Wyeth comes to mind with I see the mottled texture of this light snow. He captured some of this in landscape paintings such as “Snow Flurries.”
Here is more of this effect……
Fern, Moss, young trees, April Snow
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 Fertile Flats sequence.
Beneath the Cliff Stairs I
Beneath the Cliff Stairs II
Rim Trail Ascent
Vernal Pool with Vinca Vine
Fern, Moss, young trees, April Snow
Copyright 2019 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills
Rim trail traverses gullies. These creases in the gorge walls were formed by small streams flowing to Enfield Creek.
Click photograph for a larger view. To do this from WordPress Reader, you need to first click the title of this post to open a new page.
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
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 icicles
Rim Trail icicles with lichen, moss and fern.
Gully I
Gully II
Copyright 2019 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills
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.
Click photograph for a larger view. To do this from WordPress Reader, you need to first click the title of this post to open a new page.
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
Place where Fish Kill was harnessed to power the Old Mill
Fish Kill Waterfall at the Old Mill.
Sedimentary Walls
Icicles hang over Fish Kill
Rim Trail Ascent
Rim Trail icicles
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
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.
Click photograph for a larger view. To do this from WordPress Reader, you need to first click the title of this post to open a new page.
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
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
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.
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
Copyright 2019 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills
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.
Click photograph for a larger view. To do this from WordPress Reader, you need to first click the title of this post to open a new page.
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
Copyright 2019 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills
