While waiting for the gates to be opened, I shot at some stars.

Sure are a lot of lights up there

On the shy side of 40 degrees the ground fog was coating everything with frost

I don't know what the dew point was but when I exhaled while looking through the viewfinder, I fogged the lens and monitor screen big time

As the Sun shown throeugh the frost

Some of the terrain was not great for hiking.

Talking wires. Makes one to ponder the messages sent on these wires.
Congratulations you have a Grandson.
War has been declared
A Peace Treaty was signed with the Axis powers.
Even in this age of wireless communication, brass pounding telegraphy and carbon filled microphones still capture a certain aura of  magic. It will always be that way until this generation is gone.

The drought  has came to the preserve

 

Fall is just around the next turn

Always a neat place to start the next day of one's life

At times the silence was complete. As the sun rose above the preserve, the noise was like a tide in the ocean, It was like Mother nature would hold her breath and listen. I found myself listening to the leaves falling from the trees.  

Lichen

Awesome colors this morning

This 55 gallon drum won't hold 55 gallons anymore. Mother Nature is reclaiming the components of the barrel little by little.

More of Mother Nature's reclamation process.
No flossing here.

This looks like some very hot metal was hogged or scored from a wheel bearing. Possibly a hot box on the train that traveled these tracks.When a bearing would seize up on a train axle, the wheel would lock up in some cases and slide on the rail causing a shower of sparks. This was a source of sparks that started many grass fires along the railroads.

Neutra looking for the water