August 7 Virginia Creeper in Humidity

The itinerary for today is a 23 mile ride, Straight Branch to Green Cove and back. It is threatening rain, so I want to make the ride short enough to not get into too much of the expected rain. I got drenched anyway but not from rain. It was very humid. Of course the ride up requires some energy and I was dripping after the first 6 miles. 

It was surprising that the condition of the trail was not as good as previous rides. I thought there were many more loose gravels in the trail. So many in fact, I stopped to let some air out of my tires. Normally, 55-60 psi for my 35s is ideal for riding on crushed gravel trails but this was too much for this trail. Having bicycled on the New River Trail and Greenbrier River Trail recently, I can say, they are in better shape. 

On the ride up to Green Cove, I saw a few AT hikers and one bicyclist coming down. At Green Cove, just one fellow rode through while I was taking a break. On the return, I met about 12 coming up. This was all early the morning. I started at 7:30 and finished by 10:45 so the bicycle vans had yet to disgorge their hordes of downhill riders.

August 6 Channels in the Summer

My previous visit the The Channels of Virginia was in March. I wasn't sure if I had explored the whole area. It is a maze down there with many tight passages. One of the first things I wanted to be sure to do, was to mentally note some of the first channels so I could find my way back out. No problem doing that this time. 

Other than being icy back in the March, the other big difference was the number of people in the maze. None in March and a bunch today. There were large groups. One group from an art festival in Abingdon. They were led by a Virginia Dept of Natural Resources employee. There was a youth group with matching t-shirts. And, of course, a number of families, couples and yahoos.

Some of the darker, narrow channels had folks in them which you could not see until you met somewhere in the middle. A flashlight would have come in handy.

Another tip, next time, wear my scramble daypack instead of my hiking daypack. My water bottles scraped the sides and announced my presence in an unpleasant way. It was like fingernails on a chalkboard. 

It was a very humid day. All the rock surface was dripping with moisture. Back on the surface I was afraid to walk over the channel cracks. Some required a leap from one side to the other. I thought the wet slick rocks made that tactic unsafe.

I spoke to some locals on the hike. They all said it was a real popular place and the parking lot was always full on weekends. I had to squeeze in along the roadside, just barely off the road. Sometimes groups of 100 make trek, I'm told. That is hard to believe.

These guys were along the trail near the top. Looks like C Lateritius. Some had no false gills at all. Just smooth underside.

August 5 Chicken (of the woods) Sandwich

In the east, I have seen just 2 species of Chicken. Laetiporus Sulphureus has a yellowish underside and usually appears above ground on a tree. L Cincinnatus has a white underside and appears near the base of a tree or on logs. This guy I found behind the house is L Cincinnatus. Both are edible except when on pine or conifers. I got to this one at just the right time. The margins are still tender and cut very easily with a pocket knife.

It'll last fresh in the fridge for at least a week. When cooked it darkens a bit. There is less moisture in this fungus than chanterelles which I normally find and cook. So I cooked it in some white wine until it was gone. The texture is like very tender chicken and the taste has a definite lemon flavor to it.

I tried it with hummus and pickles in a sandwich. With some hot sauce, it was delicious.