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Chester County Creeks Downingtown HDR Nature Pennsylvania Photo Journal Photography Tone Mapping Weather

Post Hurricane Irene Nature Walks

About an hour ago, we finally got our power back!

We lost it Saturday night around 10:32pm during “Dr. Who”… I mean Hurricane Irene.

I was monitoring my various networks, watching for things related to the storm that was all around us.

The TV was nothing but an Emergency Broadcast transmissions for tornado warnings all over the area.

The first alert was described as strong storm, with possible circular rotation for areas to the south, starting in New Castle and heading towards Kennett Square.

About 5 minutes later, there was another warning that included the King of Prussia area.

We are right in the middle, and needless to say, I was a little nervous.

At 10:31pm, I posted to Facebook that our lights were browning…

Then the Power was gone…

I turned on the radio and listened as I paced the house, moving from the front to the back, and occasionally into the garage to look out into the night from one of the opened doors.

Sometime around 3:30am, I finally laid down and continued to listen to the radio before I falling asleep.

I was woken up by my wife, as she prepared snacks for the kids, who were upstairs watching a movie on the iPad.

They were happy.

Walking around the house, I surveyed out all the windows to see what the outside looked like, and how many branches would I be picking up later.

I also watched for cars to gauge how the roads were, and as I saw more, I wanted to go out to see for myself, and so did Madison.

We got down to Kerr Park around 11:30, and saw several other people already exploring what Irene had left.

Kerr Park 003 - Small Bridge
Kerr Park 003 – Small Bridge

After parking, both Madison and I walked across the water-logged grass, and headed toward the Brandywine creek, which was well over it’s banks.

Kerr Park 013 - Flooding
Kerr Park 013 – Flooding

The small little stream and bridge in the middle of the park were covered with several inches of water.

Kerr Park - Fallen Tree - Hurricane Irene
Kerr Park – Fallen Tree

One could also see that one of the older trees and fallen over during the heavy winds from the night before.

Madison on top of fallen tree root ball
Madison on top of fallen tree root ball

After walking around some more, we headed back to the car, and off to the Dam along Struble Trail.

Kerr Park 096 - Trees and Flooding
Kerr Park 096 – Trees and Flooding

When we got to the small little parking area, there was another family already investigating the dam and all the water that was flowing over it.

Struble Trail Dam 01 - Downingtown
Struble Trail Dam 01 – Downingtown

We finished taking our pictures, walked back to the car, and on to home.

Once there, Logan was now ready to see the outside world also, so we jumped into the car, and headed to the Dowlin Forge Road entrance to the Struble Trail.

I was actually a little surprised to see as many folks walking the trail, but considering that the power was still out, what better way to spend a Sunday afternoon!

As Logan and headed West, we found our little trail that leads down to the edge of the Brandywine, but were confronted with a large puddle from earlier flooding. Logan jumped on my back for a piggy-back ride across and we continued on.

It was loud and many of the ‘normal’ creek-bed features, were covered in several inches of deep water.

I wanted to find the “Creek Claw“, but with all the water, I knew that it was not going to be, but I was able to find the “Hobbit House” tree.

110828 Struble Trail - Hobbit House Tree
Struble Trail – Hobbit House Tree

As I took several different angles, I reminded Logan that when the water was lower, he was able to stand inside.

He looked at me with disbelief, and then went back to lightsabering the tree branches.

We continued down the dirt trail, and back up to the main paved trail.

On the way back to the car, we only saw one tree laying across the trail, which was a surprise.

Fallen tree across Struble Trail
Fallen tree across Struble Trail

From the parking lot, we drove along Creek Road (Rt. 282) back into Downingtown, and on to Kerr Park for a quick stop, and no camera.

As we walked around, I pointed out where the water had been earlier and told him I would show him the pictures later, once we had power again.

– Andrew
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Categories
Blogging Chester County Downingtown Flickr Google Earth Google Maps Location Marsh Creek State Park Nature Photography Tone Mapping

Father’s Day 2011 – Daddy’s Day

Feather Light
Feather Light

It’s Dad’s Day and I don’t need to do anything!

Well, within reason.

After all I have two kids…

But that is the best part!

When I was woken up, I was presented with Father’s Day cards, and a special banner that Amy, Madison and Logan had worked on just for me!

What a nice way to start the day!

From there, I was allowed to watch my Sunday morning programs with a hot cup of coffee and an omelet in peace!

So far so good!

And peace was a relative term…

I could hear the kids up stairs running back and forth in the upstairs hallway, screaming and giggling…

It was also not hard to realize, they needed to get out and burn off some of the energy that is perpetual when the two of them are together!

Since it was Daddy’s Day, I got to say where we were going! Yeah!!

I did not have to compromise or negotiate, especially when the kids heard that Mommy was going to come with us!

Marsh Creek Reservoir looking North (Panorama 01)
Marsh Creek Reservoir looking North (Panorama 01)

My plan was slowly taking shape!
(Insert “Mad Scientist” Laughter)

Now the hard part… Where?

I wanted to try some place that I have not been to before, but keep it close by.

I knew because of the heat and humidity, I wanted to be near water.

Based on that, I looked up Marsh Creek State Park.

Am I suggesting that I have never been to MCSP before? – NO

Along the trail (20110619 Marsh Creek 107)
Along the trail (20110619 Marsh Creek 107)

I have been to the Pool and Water Park area on the east side several time, and I have been Mountain Biking before in the south-west part near the Brandywine before, but I did not think anyone but me would be interested in that adventure.

So I had to figure out some place new, so I took to Google Earth to fly around a little to scope out a trail, and in doing so, I remembered the damn in the southern park.

So I gather up the troops, jumped into the car, and headed out, and about 30 minutes later, we were parked and heading down the trail.

There are many small coves that surround the lake, and as we approached the first one, there were some folks fishing and a dog that was having a grand time in the water.

Not to be out done, Logan and Madison pleaded with us to be allowed to go in the water and play with the dog.

Who am I to say “No”?!

We let them play for a little bit, and then called for them to join us on the rest of the walk, and all we got was “Awww…”, but finally we were off again!

I should have figured that as soon as we were on “open” trail, Logan would be running down the trail, and the parents calling out to him to slow down and be careful! Soon to be followed by his sister, trading back and forth who would be our guide, calling out rocks and roots so we would not fall.

Very cute, but after the first 50 “obstacles ‘… Well, what do you say as a parent…

We finally got to the over-flow drain, and the kids were having fun walking on the grate, looking down into the rushing water as it fell in, but Amy was a little more apprehensive about the whole situation.

Butterfly on the Damn (20110619 Marsh Creek 095)
Butterfly on the Damn

Then we crossed over the main damn, where we were pasted by several Mountain Bikers as they headed to the trails on the far side. I reminded both kids, that we needed to work on getting them off of training wheels so that we could start doing the same thing.

At the edge of the meadow, we stopped and rested, saw a Red-Winged Black bird, and agreed that it was time to head back.

Tree Stump and Ferns (20110619 Marsh Creek 110)
Tree Stump and Ferns (20110619 Marsh Creek 110)

On the trip back, Madison made sure that we all knew she was the guide, but after some time, she relinquished her lead, and Logan scampered to the front.

As we returned the swimming cove from earlier, both the kids just ran into the water without evening asking, and happy played until it was time to leave once again.

On the car trip home, there were talks of baths and then fun that we had on our Father’s Day Nature Walk.

– Andrew

Andrew (SDC) - View my 'Marsh Creek ('11 Father's Day)' set on Flickriver

Additional Information

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Categories
Blogging Chester County Nature West Chester

Stroud Reserve by Madison

110501 Stroud Preserve 075 tm
110501 Stroud Preserve 075 tm

I would like to welcome my newest Blogger, Madison!

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Logan, Daddy and I wanted to go for a walk, and Daddy happened to bring up Stroud Preserve. When we got there we saw a horse and a bunch of yellow fields like in the picture to the left. We went on a horse trail up really high,I was really scared. If you were to look down you would see a  part of Brandywine creek and lots of trees. When we were done that trail we went home.

– Madison
– Andrew
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Related Posts

Daddy’s Original Post from that Sunday

Categories
Blogging Chester County Downingtown HDR Nature Photo Journal Photography Streams

Norwood Road Creek with Logan

It started just like any other morning around the house.

The scramble of breakfast, then off to the bus stop and on to Day Care.

But today, there was going to be a twist.

When Logan and I got to Day Care, we were told that there were electrical issues, and the second floor was without power.

The refrigerators were down and the indoor temperature was already in the 80s, and if I left him, I might be getting a ‘pick-up’ call shortly.

110531 Norwood Road Creek hdr 01
110531 Norwood Road Creek - Follow-Up

So what to do…

After a phone call or two, it was going to be a “Boy’s Day”!

After grabbing donuts at Wawa, we headed home, and spent some time catching up on some cartoons.

As lunch time rolled around, we began to prepare for our walk, and eventually head out.

Finding parking along the road was a breeze, and from there we gathered our gear and head down to the creek, which called for some bush whacking.

Once we where down in the creek, Logan began to explore, and I was able to set up for my first shoot.

Almost…

I left my Neutral Density filters in my bag…

Thankfully, we were still close enough to the car that I could dart back and grab them!

Back at my tripod, I attached my 1.2ND, and started to frame my follow-up shot to my January picture.

In January, this was my last scene of the day, because I had started further downstream.

What made this shoot easier, was the temperature, which was totally opposite. Today, it is in the low 90s with high humidity!

After doing a series of HDR exposures, I called Logan and we started upstream. This was new territory for the both of us.

As we walked up the stream, one could look by the sides and see debris that had washed down through the months. It wasn’t that bad, but it was still sunny to see three beach balls sitting on the side of the stream.

110531 Norwood Road Creek 034 tm 01
Norwood Road Creek - Water Fall 034

I stopped a few times and set up for some small waterfall shots, which served two purposes.

The most obvious being to capture the scene, the second was to stand in the nice cool water!

We also noticed in the many pools of water filled with small little schools of fish swimming away from us as we continued walking upstream.

Logan made many attempts to crack catch them to little avail.

The creek split several times, and we continued to the left all the way up to the exposed manhole, which stood out from the creek bed a good 6 feet.

As we got closer, Logan very excitedly and insistently asked me to put him on top.

The grin on his face when he finally felt secure enough to stand, was ear to ear.

Looking at my watch, we had about a half hour before Madison got home.

I had Logan jumped from the top of the manhole cover into my arms, giggling on his flight down.

Heading downstream, we veered to the right and ventured into more new territory.

As we walked, I asked Logan if he thought Madison would also enjoy this little creek, and he nodded his head in approval.

We splash your way down the stream and finally found where we had started and headed up the little hill back to our car.

Once we were at home, we unpacked our things minutes before Madison walked in the door.

She was bombarded by Logan with “Sissy! Sissy! Guess where we went!”

 

Additional Images

As I was processing my images, the waterfall detail, struck me as a potential candidate for some additional post processing work of dropping out the color and turning it into pure black-and-white image:

110531 Norwood Road Creek 034 tm 01 bw 01a
Norwood Road Creek 034 bw 01a

Here is an additional overview shot of the same scene:

110531 Norwood Road Creek 028 tm 01
Norwood Road Creek 028 - Waterfall Overview

Thanks again for stopping by, and I hope you enjoyed what you have seen!

– Andrew
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Categories
Announcements Blogging Chester County Facebook Nature Photography

Stroud Preserve Trail – VisitPA Profile Picture

110501 Stroud Preserve 145 tm - Wooded Trail
Stroud Preserve – Wooded Trail

As I was scrolling down my Facebook wall, checking in with life, I noticed a thumbnail that looked familiar, and when I begin to read the content, I was very happily surprised!

I am very happy to announce that my trail shoot taken last weekend at Stroud Preserve in West Chester, has been selected as the Facebook Profile picture for VisitPA!

This is a great honor and I hope that you will enjoy the picture as much as I do.

If you are interested in seeing other images from that walk, they can be found on my Flickr Photostream.

You can also read my more details in photo blog entry, “Nature Walk at Stroud Preserve.”

Thanks again to the folks at VisitPA!

– Andrew
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