Despite its undignified name, Muddy Creek is a lovely mountain stream that normally runs fast and clear on its steep descent to Cheat River. But after a week of heavy rain in NC-WV, the stream looked a bit murky yesterday. Not even the sediment washing away from the mountains dims its beauty in my eyes. And the enchanting, moss-encrusted forest along its bank holds its own late summer treasures.

From top: great blue lobelia (Lobelia siphilitica), which pairs beautifully with cardinal flower to provide late summer color in a native wildflower garden; white wood aster (Eurybia divaricata), which is the most common of the shade-loving white asters in this area; crooked-stemmed aster (Symphyotrichum prenanthoides), also known as zigzag aster, whose clasping, spatula-shaped leaves distinguish it from big-leaf aster, another woods-loving aster with lavender flowers; blue-stemmed goldenrod (Solidago caesia), whose spreading, yellow-flowered stems provide stunning late-season color in a native wildflower garden; an intensely-green collage of moss, woodland stonecrop (Sedum ternatum), Christmas fern (Polystichum acrostichoides) and heartleaf foamflower (Tiarella cordifolia), which I am trying hard to reproduce in my own native wildflower shade garden; the shaggy-maned stem of Coker's Amanita (Amanita cokeri), one of the most impressive mushrooms of Appalachia's summer forests; beech-drops (Epifagus virginiana), a parasitic plant that grows and subsists on beach tree roots; the bright red berries of false Solomon's seal (Maianthemum racemosum); yellow jewelweed (Impatiens pallida), whose explosive seed pods give the plant its other common name, pale touch-me-not; and narrow-leaved tick-trefoil (Desmodium paniculatum), also known as panicled tick-trefoil, a late summer pea whose sticky seed pods commonly hitch rides on shoes and boots.

Muddy Creek Bottoms/ThursdayDoors

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happy dog.

I think baby scott clarke should be really into catching frogs

Wash water from the first wash of some alpaca/merino skeins

It's so filthy!

if you weren't a hunger games fan before the movies came out you're missing out on these iconic fan videos that inspired me and my best friends to go out in the woods and climb trees and smear ketchup all over our faces while video taping each other with our barbie camcorders

missing the forest hours. if u couldnt tell

7/13/23 - Point of Rocks, Maryland, morning

like, my guy you just lost a whole ass PERSON 

The Virginia iron furnace near Albright, West Virginia is one of a handful of water-powered blast furnaces still standing; they were constructed to smelt pig iron, a key ingredient in steel, in the early days of America's industrial area. Iron ore and limestone from the local mountains were poured onto burning charcoal from the top of the furnace, and molten iron ran out the bottom. The temperature of the charcoal was maintained by a bellows powered by a waterwheel, which was turned by water diverted from adjacent Muddy Creek. Built in 1854, the furnace ran until the end of the 19th Century, and was eventually acquired and preserved by the Daughters of the American Revolution. The structure has since been added to the National Register of Historic Places. In addition to its historical significance and beautiful setting next to Muddy Creek, the furnace also apparently serves as a clandestine meeting place for those seeking a more personal form of recreation (seriously, people will do it anywhere).

omg. tevas season soon

please, picture me in the trees 🌳

boardwalks through the woods. my beloved

Muddy Creek Fall at Swallow Falls State Park in Western Maryland. by Kevin B. Moore