Last night I completed another section on the snail trail:
I really like this pattern (on the left) that is another from the selection of blackwork fill-in patterns I’ve been using. Now I’ll be filling in the other two sections to mirror these. I’ll need to complete one section a day to finish this piece by the end of the month.
Yesterday we walked the Dutch Gap Conservation Area Trail at the site of the 1611 settlement of Henricus. There’s an historical interpretation center there, but it’s closed on Mondays so we didn’t visit that part of the park. We were there mainly to walk and enjoy the outdoors anyway.
This park is along a portion of the James River where two loops of the river were bypassed by a canal dug by Union troops during the Civil War.
There are hiking and biking trails as well as a water trail that can be traveled by canoe or kayak.
Here are some pictures I took:
All along the walk we were surrounded by butterflies and dragonflies. We were serenaded by birds all around. The dragonflies were in a myriad of colors: blue, bright green, black and white, red-orange, glistening gold.
The park is a wildfowl refuge and includes a heron rookery. We saw several great blue herons and egrets. There are also many kinds of warblers in the park. Although we didn’t see any we definitely heard them.
Mishka, who can keep up with us on mountain bikes in New Mexico, wilted in the Virginia heat and humidity over the 4.5 mile walk. She wanted to slow down and rest in the shade whenever she could.
Near the end of the walk we spotted this amazing sculptural tree trunk. There are leaves and branches at the very top, forest canopy height. The trunk looks large enough to make comfortable seating for one or two.
Although the weather was quite warm and humid, it was a great walk with some beautiful sites. It would be fun to return and do the water trail and visit the historical site.
