Saturday, August 04, 2012

A Walk Through The Woods




A few weeks ago my husband and I visited Shanty Hollow Lake. We wanted to get out of the house for a bit and knew that this particular lake had a hiking trail through the woods and is located only a few miles from our home.



The lake also has a boat ramp and is a popular fishing spot with the locals.
The view of the lake from the boat ramp is quite pretty.






The Trail is not well maintained but usually has enough visitors that it is not difficult to hike.

The scenery along the trail is quite pretty with several large rock formations and views of the water in certain sections along the way.








Recent storms had caused fallen trees along the path, but someone had pushed dirt up to the trees on one side which allowed us to use the trees as steps to get across and continue along the trail.




As we ventured further down the trail we came upon an area of butterflies. They were almost swarming in this area. I wasn't able to get a clear photograph of the swarm, but did manage to capture a few in one shot. I am not sure just what was attracting them to this spot. However, the area is on a slight hill and below it there is a swampy area.










Maybe it is something in the vegetation of the swamp that attracts them. 



It is very thick on one side of the area and thins out on the other. 




I wasn't the fondest of this area, looked too much like a place snakes would inhabit. The recent rains had caused the trail ahead to be partially covered with this nasty water and I did not want to investigate any further. I would rather not disturb those swampy critters. 
By this point I was ready to head back.

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19 comments:

  1. Your photos were the only way I could walk through the woods today. Thanks.

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  2. I love this place. Seems to be a great place to take a relaxing walk.

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  3. Very nice shots! However, my last walk through the woods netted me a very bad case of chigger bites, eventually necessitating a doctor visit and a round of prednisone. So - your walk in the woods was very enjoyable - and I escaped with no bites! Great!

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  4. Sounds like a brilliant place to hike through!

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  5. Love the greenery.

    My Shadow Shots
    Your comment is always appreciated.
    Have a blessed Sunday.

    Rose

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  6. A gorgeous walk! So love that gathering of butterflies! So very strange!

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  7. A lovely walk - and what a luck find those butterflies were :)

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  8. Looks like a fun day! The photos are beautiful and those butterflies must have been such a surprise. You would have lost me at the thought of snakes too!

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  9. Beautiful trail. It should have been fun and exciting to capture all these lovely shots, especially the ones with butterflies.

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  10. what a beautiful place to walk and photograph. the butterflies are lovely. thanks for bringing us along!!!

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  11. The butterflies are so pretty. Yes, the critters would make me a bit nervous too!
    Looks like such a neat place though.

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  12. Look at all those butterflies! Wow -- and the whole walk was beautiful ... probably a good thing you came to that kind of scary area at the end or you might still be walking@ Thanks for sharing.

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  13. What a beautiful place to walk!
    The butterflies apparently get needed minerals from the soil.

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  14. looks like a great place to hike. Nice scenary and great butterflies. A nice day. :)

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  15. I could use a walk through the shadowy woods about now. How refreshing!

    Day’s End Shadows

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  16. Wow....I could so go there and enjoy the day. It looks oh so very beautiful. Those butterflies were something...it was like they were posing for you.

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  17. Looks like a nice outing, but I wouldn't care for that swampy water either.

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  18. Those butterflies look like the one that I collected an egg of and am raising. They are swallowtails and they "puddle" for nutrients in the mud. If you look at my blog at the top, I have "raising a spicebush caterpillar" with photos..Michelle ramblingwoods.com

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  19. What a great place to wander! You captured the butterflies wonderfully!

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