Finally, I got a day to myself to go on a photo-walk!
On my drive out to my sister’s last night to drop off Madison, I got a chance to do some drive-by scouting of the various areas along the Brandywine Creek that I wanted to try the following day.
Later in that night, I spent some time using Google Earth to further explore my options, and also figured out a potential route to the Quarry!
I spent the morning getting work related things out-of-the-way, and finally just after noon, I was walking out the door.
Pow! – The heat and humidity smacked me in the face!
I should have known better – Earlier, when I had been checking Facebook, several friends had already been posting that the weather outside was really bad.
But I did not expect this…
20/20 Vision – On Wednesday morning, when we first looked out the windows, we though we saw fog, but in reality, it was the thick humidity of a new day!
The drive to Marsh Creek Speedway was not that bad, but that because I had ALL the windows down!
At the Speedway… The heat hit me again – Now there was no breeze… and I was closer to water…
I parked the car; gathered my gear; and found the closest entrance into the creek and waded in… I was already wet from the day…
Even the flowing creek water was warmer than normal…
This was a HOT DAY!
As I moved up creek, I noticed a parked car above me, by no easy path up, so I continued.
After about 150 feet, I found something that looked like a path and followed it up, until I reached a surprising dirt vehicle road.
I headed in the direction of the car, and finally came to an open area, where a light blue car was parked, along with a beach chair and a large thermos container.
Then I noticed an older women dressed in a Security Guard’s uniform, backing out of the car, on the edges of nowhere.
This was odd…
We both said hello, and started to talk about how hot it was.
Turns out she is about to retire at the beginning of August, and she was within her last few days of sitting in the heat!
After some time, I asked her which of the trails lead to the Quarry.
She pointed to one trail, and said that it was the main entrance, but because it was Private Property, there was no access.
She then pointed back down the dirt road I had just emerged from, and said that if I head back far enough, there was a trail that went off to the right.
She also warned that there had been a lot of snakes reported, and there was a Mountain Biking team using the trails in preparation for an event.
We chatted a little more, and I started back down the vehicle trail.
I passed the spot from where I started, and continued walking till I reached the split in the road, and headed right.
The trail started up a hill, and just seemed to continue. After a while, it leveled off a bit, and turn into a young growth area, with no trees thicker then 3 inches.
Then it was back to the woods, and up more hill, and soon begin to see the fence that will be at my side for the rest of my trip.
Finally, I reached a corner, where I stopped and rested, and during my rest, I noticed that there is a gated opening, which a small vehicle might be able to get through.
I also noticed, that someone or some group of people already tried to gain access through this particular gate.
Question – Have you ever knowing crossed a ‘fence’ to obtain an image?
Looking at the gap, I did contemplate trying to crawl under, but with the excessive heat and agility not in my favor, I decided not to pursue this avenue.
After my break, I started back up the hill and finally reached the trail head.
From my previous nights investigations, I knew that this trail led into the main part of Marsh Creek State Park.
As I rested, I listened into the woods for any sounds that might be the mountain biking group, or anything else.
Looking up into canopy of green leaves, I was rather amused to notice, as I drank my water and rested, a group birds circling my location.
I captured a few more images, drank some more water, realized I was three-quarters empty, and started to head back down the hill.
The walk back down the hill was rather uneventful – I did not even see a snake my entire hike!
At the car, I removed my vest, which was already several shades darker from wetness and my tripod, and placed them both in the back of my car, hoping that the air generated by my open windows while driving, might dry the vest off, as I headed to my next location.
With the keys in the ignition, I started the car, rolled down the windows, retracted the sunroof, and aired out the car for several minutes…
Looking at my thermometer in my dashboard, it read 101°F…
and the car had been sitting in the shade…
Off to my next point-of-interest (POI) along the Brandywine on Creek Road!
Updates
2012 July 18 – Nearly a year later, and the temperature is nearly the same… Also in reading my web logs, I have noticed a number of hits that asked the following question:
“Who owns the Quarry in Glenmoore?”
and according to the picture I took last year, as noted in this blog, the quarry is owned by Philadelphia Suburban Water Company in Bryn Mawr, PA, which can be seen in this extreme close-up of the fence.
Notes
- All Images were bracket multi-exposure captures into Canon CR2 RAW format
- Images were then converted to Adobe Digital Negatives (DNG)
- HDR Post Processing was done with Adobe Photoshop CS5
- Web images (jpg) were created with Adobe Lightroom 3.4.1
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