Into the woods

Yes, I did it.

K, it was the Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest, and the huge poplars were worth the effort.  I did hug this one, the first that extended above the normal canopy to the sky.

And my biggest gratitude is that my body stretched itself beyond what I thought was possible, and I didn't have severe reactions...I was able to breathe (panting all the way) and walk slowly up the side of a mountain for a half mile.  And I didn't cough at all during the walk. My friend, Tim, patiently followed along, and we talked and took photos whenever we felt like it.

Tim passing one of the removed Hemlocks which had died from Wooly Adelgid blight

 Anyone else would have found it easy, but for my lungs, it was a constant push, and even in the longer hot and humid descent, no cough!

Many felled hemlocks along the way

 I may be able to go back out and walk around the marvelous trails (the easy ones of course) of these Appalachian Mountains.

Hugging a big tree, and not the biggest I'm told, but I didn't go all the way to the top of the trail.

There's not much clear area to look up to the tops of these Poplar giants

Dead Hemlocks still standing

I'll share some other of the lovely sites that we encountered on our walk tomorrow.

Today's Quote:
(yes, I'm in a poetry mode this week, so will be sharing some poems)

Nothing Gold Can Stay
by Robert Frost

 Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.

Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.

Then leaf subsides to leaf.

So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.

Nothing gold can stay.