June 10, 2007 A Long Hike

Last night I went with my friends Carol and Dave to Swine Creek Reservation in Geauga county for an Astronomy thingie. The area astronomy club was meeting there and a colleague from work is a member of the club and had predicted conditions that would provide exceptional viewing. The clarity was excellent and so we were able to view many deep sky objects. I found that it made little difference being there or in my yard from the standpoint of light pollution. During the summer Gildersleeve mountain and the trees block much of the light and I could make out the Milky Way just as well in my front yard as I could 20 miles farther from downtown.

Today was another beautiful day, I took a long hike covering most of Gildersleeve Mountain both the summit and the slopes to the west north and south. Most notable was a Clubtail species of dragonfly I found it in the ledges picnic area. It was an interesting little dragonfly. It was wroking a rather small territory above a grassy swale. Whenever another of it’s kind would approach it would quickly chase it away then return to its patrol. I watched it for perhaps 10 minutes trying to see more detail, both naked eye and through binoculars. In that time it never landed. Even after looking in both Rosche and in Dunkle I cold not do better than Clubtail sp.

Visibility today was again excellent. Better than 40 miles. Through binoculars I could see small boats and a freighter out on the lake. The Avon power plant shimmered in the distance. The picture on the masthead of this blog is accurate in showing downtown Cleveland, rising out of the forest. Even through binoculars few buildings are visible. The landscape is mostly covered by trees. I find this amazing. Cleveland's nickname is "The Forest City" and from here you can see why.

I cover a lot of ground, both on the summit and the forest below. At the old Stannard quarry near Chillicothe Rd. the park system has stationed some volunteers. They only have written materials and little instruction or training. Their written material is based in part upon Christopher Crary's memoir here, and little else to help them intrepret for visitors. They do not know what Poision Ivy looks like, and they say this is a common question. I show them the plant and probably give an overly technical discription of how to indentify it.

I work my way home bushwhacking through the woods. The additional weight in my pack is very heavy by the time I get cross the creek into the back yard.