South Central PA Climbing

Pennsylvania is a huge state.  Residents of Philadelphia live in Philadelphia county, which is .31% of the state of Pennsylvania.  That leaves about 45,913 square feet of land left to explore.

A few weeks back, some friends and myself ventured west to pedal our mountain bikes around Rays Town Lake.  On our way out of town, we found some rocks to climb up.

Shaffer Rock – The Hermitage

Our first stop, Shaffer Rock , lies just off the Appalachian Trail in the Michaux State Forest.   Some many options here and tons of great photo opportunities.  The shots below are a sequence of Len sending it.

James Buchanan’s Birthplace State Park

If you didn’t know, now you know: America’s worst president has a state park commemorating his birthplace.  Rumor has it the route we climbed was actually climbed by young Jimmy a long, long time ago.  This is Joe sacking up before paying tribute to James Buchanan by slaying this rock face.

Some More Photos

The Benjamin Franklin Bridge

The Ben Franklin Bridge

The Ben Franklin bridge, perpetually visible.

Photograph of The Ben Franklin Bridge: My Thoughts

When I am in Philadelphia, the Ben Franklin Bridge is always in view. From my desk, I look out over Kensington, over Fishtown, and across Northern Liberties to see Pennsylvanians and New Jersians traveling to and fro.

In the mornings, my runs take me underneath the bridge. Sometimes, my running route takes me across the bridge into Camden. Other times I stretch mid-run on Race Street Pier, which served as  the vantage point for this photograph.  All the while, staring at the Ben Franklin.

To sum it up, I spend a lot of time looking at this Bridge. ‘Bout time I photographed it.

The Ben Franklin Bridge Photograph:

History of The Benjamin Franklin Bridge

The Ben Franklin Bridge has spanned the Delaware for over 80 years.  Wow.  80 years.  How old is that in bridge years?

For time sake, I’ve quickly gathered the Wiki-history of this incredible Philadelphia landmark:

“The Benjamin Franklin Bridge — known informally as the Ben Franklin Bridge and originally named the Delaware River Bridge — is a suspension bridge across the Delaware River connecting Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Camden, New Jersey. Owned and operated by the Delaware River Port Authority, it is one of four primary vehicular bridges between Philadelphia and southern New Jersey, along with the Betsy Ross, Walt Whitman, and Tacony-Palmyra Bridges.

The chief engineer of the bridge was Polish-born Ralph Modjeski, its design engineer was Leon Moisseiff, and the supervising architect was Paul Philippe Cret. At its completion on July 1, 1926, its 1,750-foot (533-meter) span made it the world’s longest suspension bridge span, a distinction it would hold until the opening of the Ambassador Bridge in 1929.”  ^{– borrowed from Wikipedia on 6/14/2013}

Map of the Ben Franklin Bridge

Friday, It’s Friday

Friday Night Ping Pong

Every Friday the VIUS team unwinds with some ping-pong.

Escaping the City

I moved away from the mountains.  For concrete.  What, the fuck, Adam?

These thought crosses my mind on occasion. LIke the time I saw a dude crap his pants on the sidewalk.  My bike tire was flat, forcing me to push the bike the four miles home.  Along the way, I pass this dude laying on the concrete covered in his own shit.  That never happened in Vermont.

After 2.5 months in the concrete jungle I had to escape or I’d freak.  So I did.  I managed to squeeze in a few pictures between 14.5 hours of driving, about 12 hours of sleeping, a few beers, 2 hours of hiking, great burritos with even better friends.  All of whom, I may add have moved out of Stowe to the cities: Boston, Burlington, New York and ‘illadelphia.  We converged on Taylor to forget the concrete and sit among the trees.

The Taylor Lodge sits along the Nebraska Notch, perched above beaver damns and the Nebraska Valley.  This lodge has some history, burning down 3 times over the past 4 or 5 decades.  I have an odd connection with this particular lodge. Frank Cain stayed here in 1963.  I know because his name Frank Cain etched his name into the wall in 1963(see below).  I lived in Frank Cain’s house this past winter.  Frank Cain presided over Burlington, VT’s urban renewal projects from 1965-1971.  He and I have slept in two of the same places: the Taylor Lodge and 1600 Weeks Hill Rd in Stowe, VT 05672. Enough about Frank Cain, here are the shots.

Folkin’

Two weeks ago, my friend Jake and I attended the Philadelphia Folk Festival.  This marked my second trip to Scwhenksville, PA for the three-day hootenanny and Jake’s first.

You can read more about the festival on Tri State Indie.  I wrote a few posts about The Folk Festival Friday, Saturday Afternoon’s Woody Guthrie Tribute and what it’s like to Folk all Saturday night at the Folk Fest.  Also,  you’ll find more photos from the fest there.

Friday night I captured a few photos that triggered the ‘wow, this is a sweet picture’ voice in my head.  Thunderstorms produced some lightning flashes behind the stage of the festival.  While the Celtic dance band, Comas picked away, I was trying to get another bolt of lightning on film (well, CCD film). I succeeded.  Here are the results:

Lightning strikes in the distance as Comas plays.

Lightning strikes in the distance as Comas plays.

Lancaster or Lancaster?

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If I am making $0 now, 50x is not that much more. Enjoy the pictures of Lancaster County, just outside Conestoga.

This one is unedited:

And this crappy photo is where I lived: Herrbrook Farm:

Lightning Bolt

Ever since I can remember using a camera I have wanted to capture a bolt of lightning.  Well, tonight I captured my first lightning bolt on ‘film.’

There was a big ole cloud floating over the farm fields of Lancaster, producing no rain and seemingly moving away from Herrbrook farm.  IT provided the perfect vantage point to set up and snap away sometime exposures.  As elusive as this was, I got this shot while testing out exposure times.  This was probably my 5th shot and halfway into my 1:15 exposure the cloud erupted. I sat there, barely able to wait for the shutter to close so I could see what the shot looked like.

Here it is what it looks like:

Farewell Methods

This gallery contains 7 photos.

Stowe has stopped turning their lifts.  But, the snow remains.  This morning, Bonnie and I hiked up to get a few extra methods in before they tore down the jump.  The snow won’t be going anywhere for a long time … Continue reading →

Mount Mansfield

Mt. Mansfield provides the back drop for my drive to work each morning.  Fittingly – the mountain is named for its face like appearance – each morning the mountain shows a different face.  Not taken in the morning, this photo just captures the mountains personality at a different time – February’s full moon.

The clarity you see in the night sky is rare in these parts. Thus, a full moon coinciding with a clear night was a treat.  The only downside: clear nights mean braving bitter cold to get the shot.  Not to worry, I had a cold beer to keep me warm.

Here are some other pictures I’ve taken of or while standing on the tallest mountain in Vermont:

Full Moon Fever

Full moons in Vermont are a special time.  The Moon’s light reflects off the snow and lights up the night.  Under a full moon’s light, you are free to do many things that you couldn’t when the moon is not full.  We choose to hike into the Notch and burn things while consuming beer.  If that sounds smart, you should see how we get the wood to burn up into the Notch (hint: it is good to know snowmakers who have ready access to snowmobiles).

These are a few time exposures I took of the fire and the full moon.  My idea was to capture the festivities taking place under the full moon.  My favorite photo of the set is the one below.  Captured as the party winded down, the moon remains while the stragglers finish off the fire and remaining beers. Enjoy.