The NEW Post Your Campsite/gear/knife/hiking/anything Outdoorsy Pic Thread!

[HikingMano]

Ah, yeah, that would make sense, given the seasonal differences in level.

And I had no doubt you'd be able to contribute a little more insight, given your interest in paleontology

[Galeocerdoshark]

Thx, HM.

Friday, I received my university diploma. I finshed my Master in Corporate Communications, cum laude!
To celebrate, my girlfriend and I decided to go for a hike in the Ardennes - High Fens region. The day before (and the night before) it had rained in the region, so everything was pretty damp on arrival. We decided to go for a 10km hike along the Hoëgne river. This strolls down very nice, through the quartsite rocks, developing rapids, pools and in general just a beautiful landscape. 10km was a bit short, but we had the opportunity to add a couple of km to the trip by doing some detours, and so we did. The hike was eventually about 14km long.
Here are some of the pics.

The river knows many forms. Sometimes developping rapids, then some pools, sometimes being shallow, then again rather deep...

















Some scenery









At a given point, we took a detour. Dangerous access, the sign said. imokwiththat.jpg
A small trail, about 30cm across went up a steep hill, upto a vantage point looking down to the valley and the 'regular' trail













Vantage point scenery:





The other company, apart from my girlfriend ;-) (out of focus)





There was still some light left, so we decided to get in the car, drive 60km and go for a quick fossil hunt in that area (I knew there were Devonian fossil to be found at that spot) and go for another small walk in the area.
We only found two partial Spirifer brachiopodes from the local Devonian outcrop, but we had a good time! On the left you can see the actual Spirifer, on the right you see the negative.





Along the trail, we found a dead slowworm on which a beetle was feasting...







Another one of the critters






I hope you guys enjoyed the pics!

Jerry

[OwenM]

Looks like a nice area.
Congratulations on your Masters

[HikingMano]

Jerry, congratulations! Good stuff, are you now off to the working world?

Great way to celebrate That area is super lush. I love all the moss. Very cool shot of the Spirifer and negative picture as well, awesome. And thanks for the info on the Ardennes and Slowworm.

Is that chicken of the woods in your picture (yellow fungi)? I just saw some today myself, if it is. Went on a hike today with my GF and her dad, fun. I hope to post some pics later.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

[mewolf1]

Nice pics, and thanks for posting. Please tell me you harvested the Mushrooms.

[Galeocerdoshark]

Looks like a nice area.
Congratulations on your Masters

Thank you!

Jerry, congratulations! Good stuff, are you now off to the working world?

Great way to celebrate That area is super lush. I love all the moss. Very cool shot of the Spirifer and negative picture as well, awesome. And thanks for the info on the Ardennes and Slowworm.

Is that chicken of the woods in your picture (yellow fungi)? I just saw some today myself, if it is. Went on a hike today with my GF and her dad, fun. I hope to post some pics later.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Thanks! The regular university traject would end here, but I just signed in for another year (Masters-after-Masters) at another university, considering International relations and diplomacy.

I'm not sure on the mushrooms... Not really a fungi expert. I don't know if your chicken stuff occurs here?

Nice pics, and thanks for posting. Please tell me you harvested the Mushrooms.

Thank you for the compliments. I did not harvest the 'shrooms though. Partly because I wasn't sure what it was, and partly because it was such a beautiful sight, that I did not want to disturb that for other hikers (and there were some) on the trail.

[HikingMano]

Nice, I applaud your ambition, Jerry

I think that is Chicken of the Woods, looks like it to me anyway. Quick wiki look-up yields a demonstration pic of a species within that genus in Belgium, lucky

There are a couple of pics of the ones I saw yesterday, below. Possibly a different species, but same genus. The rest are pics from this past weekend, just random nature walk and hike stuff.


A few from Steven's Creek Shoreline Nature Study Area:

Gopher Snake.


Pelican





Pics from Castle Rock SP (messed with camera settings a bit, so pardon quality):













NWA Sierra Scout and Syph007 Custom SAK










Tafoni structures.

[Galeocerdoshark]

HM, thanks for the compliment and the info on the chicken 'shrooms. Very informative.

Nice pics as usual! I really love pictures that show some exposed rock. They always do it for me... On a sidenote, you're really going full on custom with your outdoor knives these days, sweet.

[HikingMano]

Haha, I guess so. I just need a custom version of the Leatherman Style CS I carry for the scissors (previously Micra).

I still carry the F1 for wetter conditions or backpacking trips, so I haven't gone custom there yet. But I do plan to have someone make me a nice custom 1/8" stainless down the line geared towards better backpacking weight.

[Jerry D.]

I picked up a 1965 Coleman 200A for a few bucks this weekend. I looked in the tank and it was full of fuel! I decided to see what I could do with it today:

After a little bit of vaseline on the pump and a little oil for it, it lit right up! The seal in the cap does have a leak. I'm going to see if I can find one here locally. I'm looking forward to having another source of light while out Jeep camping as well as another old toy to play with.

[lambertiana]

Jerry - Love that Spirifer. Where I grew up all the bedrock was Devonian, and it was easy to find bedding planes that were solid brachiopod shells, some with parts of the original shell material still intact. Where I live now it is a long drive to good fossil beds (I am primarily interested in Paleozoic and Mesozoic fossils).

Some more low-quality scans of older pictures. First, Rose Lake, John Muir Wilderness




Lake Italy, John Muir Wilderness




Bear Twin Lakes, John Muir Wilderness (OUTSTANDING fishing!)

[OwenM]

Some more low-quality scans of older pictures.

I love the pics people post that obviously come from a DSLR. However impressive they may be, though, the high-tech digital images that almost seem to assault the senses with a kaleidoscope of sharply delineated color and detail sometimes remind me of the saying about "missing the forest for the trees". They don't give me the feeling of being there like these older film ones, which may not have the same "pop" or wow factor, but to me are often more pleasant to look at

[madhappy]

[HikingMano]

Good stuff, JerryD and Madhappy!

[Galeocerdoshark]

Another day of fossil hunting in the Limestone quarry. No shark teeth today, not for me nor for my fellow fossil hunters. Quite a bummer, but you never go home empty handed. Neither did I, since I took home a fossilized crab claw from the Maastrichtian (Upper Cretaceous). A day outside, is a day well spent whatsoever.

Some scenery:




The remains of a rather large sea urching, flattened during fossilization/deposition because of the pressure of the overlying rock/sediment.


Oyster mortality plate, about 1.5metres horizontally.


The crab claw. The pincer is deeper inside the limestone, it still needs some prep work. Victorinox Farmer for size reference.


The saw on the Farmer does a great job in making larger blocks of limestone into smaller, more manageable blocks.


Detail


When the wheather is rather good, the limestone is dry and everything is covered in a small layer of dust. When the heavy machinery passes by, well... you'll see:



The same region was big news today in Belgium and The Netherlands. In another limestone quarry, about 5km further as the crow flies, a large mosasaur was discovered last week by the crew of the ENCI quarry during the mining process. It's one of the largest more or less compelte specimens found to date.
This only happens once every few decades... Link to the Press Release

Enjoy guys.

@Lambertiana, great pics! As per usual. I love the worn look because of the scan, adds character

@Madhappy, great colorschemes in some of the pics. Lovely how the trees create views a painter can only dream of, of ever reproducing on canvas.

[rinos]

OK,some photos from hike in High Tatras i took with my wife,hope you enjoy,in photos as we did in walking(and climbing,and sometimes crawling )
Last year i went alone,so i made up for it...
































































Tatras tea (shooters) .



map of area,
we started at Strbske Pleso,up to Popradske Pleso(Pleso=lake),then Velicke Pleso,up trough Velicka dolina(Big valley) to Zbojnicka chata(Outlows cabin),and trough Velika and Mala Studena dolina(Big and Small Cold valley) to Skalnate Pleso,some four days of perfect weather in a mountains,got down just in time to avoid snow,and below zero temperatures.

[HikingMano]

SPECTACULAR! Thanks for sharing those beautiful pictures! Those panoramic shots are particularly lovely Kudos to your wife for making the trek with you.

Is that a rescue in progress I see? Or training?

[rinos]

Thanks, I'm really proud of her,i was ready to turn back at any moment but she kept going
It was real thing(rescue),they picked up couple that went beyond their limit,girl was pretty shocked.









Symbolical cemetery is reminder that Mountain not always welcomes visitors.

[HikingMano]

I'm glad they made it out ok

Jerry, thanks for the link "Mosasaur". I always thought those things looked awesome and wicked... Now I can put a name to it!!

[Galeocerdoshark]

Jerry, thanks for the link "Mosasaur". I always thought those things looked awesome and wicked... Now I can put a name to it!!

I think I did not mention it ITT before -sorry if I did- but I did find my first Mosasaur tooth in this limestone quarry a few months ago. I made a post about it in another thread here on BF: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/sh...3#post11118843