On my recent travels I got a taste of the West Virginia and Maryland Appalachians. Unlike their younger, taller, mountain range cousins in the western states, these mountains wear forest all the way to their crown.
While my passenger remarked on the stratification of the rocks revealed in the cuts for the highway I concentrated on traffic with frequent glances at the larger view.
Where are the farms? A person could get lost down there. Too steep for anything but a goat. I tried not to think of myself as a confused hiker, trying to follow a creek downstream to a sign of civilization. A sprained ankle could turn life threatening.
No, I wanted the big picture. The variations of green that sweep over the hills (pardon me, mountains) for miles and miles until they meet the clear blue sky.
Thank you to Maryland for supplying the rest area with this view. You are looking at the Youghiogheny River and Reservoir. According to the sign, the water from here flows north, into Pennsylvania where it joins the Monongahela River.
How awesome to think a leaf that falls into this lake could make it’s way along the Monongahela to the Ohio passing miles and miles of wilderness, industry, and agriculture before joining the Mississippi, dodging barge traffic and at long last meeting the salt water of the Gulf of Mexico.
Because of detours, I saw a vista the miniature of the Appalachian view north of Black River Falls, WI on Saturday. On Sunday, I saw a swift glimpse of the same type of view not far from the farm where you grew up, Ellen, near Plum City, a few miles from the Mississippi. Such treasures!