Water features

 There are many small springs on the property - water just comes out of the ground or out of a rock face, but then quickly disappears again. The geology of the area is so interesting. We have one defined channel with a persistent creek that for now we are calling "Muddy Toe Creek" after our family names (Mudrick & Toman). But even this creek disappears underground for some stretches! Here we are in a "dry" section of Muddy Toe Creek although there is water in the channel just upstream of us. You can tell by the width of the channel that this section of the creek gets a lot of water at some points of the year!

The southern border of our property is a private dirt road that we will have some responsibility for upkeep. That road follows Laurel Creek which is just on the other side (off our property). We are hoping to become fast friends with the neighbors across the road because our kids DEFINITELY enjoyed the swimming hole we found and the critters they saw (and caught).

Plants

 We visited the property last weekend and the flowers were out in full force! This was the kids' and Eric's first in-person visit - yes we bought the property without Eric seeing it in person. There were fiddle heads for ferns all over the ground, especially nearer to Muddy Toe Creek. 

Trillium also liked the wet areas:

In sunnier spots we found columbine, blue flag iris, violets, wild geranium, some white pea (unknown name) and yellow asters.

Asher was super stoked to find these guys - Jack in the pulpit:

I'm going to keep a journal to try to track of all the different tree species on the property (time to sharpen my eastern deciduous ID skills) but this weekend the flowering dogwood and redbud were especially evident. It was crazy to see the ways that different trees and shrubs have adapted to all the rock formations. Rhododendrons were particularly adept at growing on boulders: 

There is one section of hillslope that we have labeled "Hemlock hill" that is thick with massive Eastern Hemlock with an open understory at the top of the hill and dense tall rhododendron downslope. I don't know how old these guys are but they are impressive. Here is Dan Mudrick on Hemlock Hill:

Our most exciting find was paw paw saplings! (No pictures yet)

Evidence of Early Settlers

 I wish the rocks and trees could tell us more about the history of the land and the humans that have been here before us. We have some evidence that the land has been occupied but by who and when we don't know. There is a small cave along the Cliffs of Insanity with a spring running out of it. Climbing into the cave we find the ruins of a steel barrel - evidence that the cave was at some point likely used to make moonshine. 

For about 200 ft along the west side of Muddy Toe Creek we can find these stone alters. Most are small and free standing but one was as tall as Cadie (5'7") and probably 8 feet in diameter. Another was built on top of a boulder. Perhaps they were part of a road or used as a fence line -although they don't seem to be in a straight line. If anyone else has better ideas of what they could have been used for, I'd love to hear!

 

In some of the rock shelters along the Cliffs of Insanity, the roof and walls are charcoal black. The owner told us that he believes these shelters were used to make saltpeter for gunpowder. (The process involves burning limestone.) A quick google search brought up a number of publications that reference saltpeter production from cave shelters in Kentucky in the years leading up to the war of 1812!

In one of the blackened rock shelters, there is this larger boulder. On first inspection you would think that it fell off the cliff above hundreds of years ago, but when you look underneath it we found wood logs with ax cuts - the boulder fell on top of some man-made structure. 

Cliffs

 While the waterfalls are cool, what really attracted us to this property were the cliff faces and many rock formations throughout. Along the western property boundary is a cliff face that is probably 50-80 ft tall (we'll get better measurements soon) and nearly 1000 ft long that we have named the "Cliffs of Insanity." Across the ravine (Muddy Toe Hollow) from the cliff face there are crags with shorter faces and lots of large boulders. We are all really excited to set up some climbing routes. 

Cliffs of Insanity:

Below Eric is looking into a "head cave" that opens up into a 6' tall chamber within the Cliffs of Insanity.

Crags on the east side of Muddy Toe Hollow:

The rock face behind the trees in the picture below is actually free-standing, there is about a 1 foot gap between it and the rest of the cliff. The view from the top is amazing (see next photo).

View from the top of the rock, looking across Muddy Toe Hollow to the Cliffs of Insanity in the distance.

Waterfalls

 The previous owners named this property "Twin Falls Overlook" after the two beautiful waterfalls at the ends of two draws on the property. I have visited the largest waterfall, pictured above and in the movie below, but still haven't seen the smaller one in person. 

This is the how the sellers advertised the property, with a wintery picture of the smaller waterfall:

The waterfalls still need names! The streams are the headwaters of Muddy Toe Creek and located in the far north corner of Muddy Toe Hollow.

Exciting News

We are in contract for land (about 34 acres) in Kentucky! We are purchasing it with friends of ours, the Mudricks, and hope to close in June when the new survey is completed. The property is 20 minutes outside of Morehead, KY and the Daniel Boone National Forest and 20 minutes in the other direction from Grayson Lake State Park. We are going to use this blog to share our photos, videos and updates while we work on the property and build a cabin. This blog is private, so only those with the link can access. Here is a topographic map and aerial image showing the property boundary. The inner polygon is a 1.5 acre pasture on the ridge where we will likely build a cabin.

Birds of Oz

Warning: no pictures of kids will be shown in this post. Feel free to skip to the next. This one is for journaling/memory purposes.

When you see Cady or Asher next, ask them to sing “Lizards of Oz” for you. We have a new repertoire of songs – most dealing with Australian wildlife. While we have seen a few lizards, the wildlife that we most often see are the birds. I’ve tried to catch many of them with our better camera but some are more shy than others. There are so many different species, I think we (even kids!) can identify over 30 and that is just the common ones that hang around by our place. We checked out the most popular guidebook for birds in Australia (aptly named “What Bird is That?” and first published in 1931) from the library and it was over 800 pages long and weighed almost a kilo. SO MANY BIRDS! Anyway, here are the ones we could catch on camera with their common and scientific names and location of the photograph.

Australian Brush-turkey, Alectura lathami, pictured in Taronga zoo, Sydney, New South Wales but they were wild - not exhibit animals!

Australian King-Parrot, Alisterus scapulars, Myrtleford, Victoria (Adult male with red head)

Australian Magpie, Cracticus tibicen, Myrtleford, Victoria

Australian Pelican, Pelecanus conspicillatus, Pictured at Taronga zoo but we also saw them in the wild in a few places including Primrose Sands, Tasmania

Australian White Ibis, Threskiornis molucca, Albury, New South Wales

Blue Faced Honeyeater, Entomyzon cyanotis, Shepparton, Victoria

Brolga, Grus rubicunda, Tidbinbilla, Australian Capital Territory

Bush Stone-curlew, Burhinus grallarius, Great Keppel, Queensland

Crested Pigeon, Ocyphaps lophotes, Myrtleford, Victoria

Crimson Rosella, Platycercus elegans, Myrtleford, Victoria (adult with red belly, juvenile with green mottled belly)

Eastern Yellow Robin, Eopsaltria australis, Booderee, Jervis Bay Territory

Emu, Dromaius novaehollandiae, Pictured at Taronga zoo but we also saw them in the wild in a few places including Tidbinbilla, Australian Capital Territory

Galah, Eolophus roseicapilla, Myrtleford, Victoria

Gang-gang Cockatoo, Callocephalon fimbriatum, Myrtleford, Victoria

Green Rosella, Platycercus caledonicus, Port Arthur, Tasmania

Indian yellow-nosed albatross, Thalassarche carter, Jervis Bay, New South Wales

Laughing Kookaburra, Dacelo novaeguineae, Myrtleford, Victoria

Little Penguin, Eudyptula minor, Bicheno, Tasmania, photo by Bicheno Penguin Tours but we were there!

Little Pied Cormorant, Microcarbo melanoleucos, Greenpatch, Jervis Bay Territory

Magpie-lark, Grallina cyanoleuca, Echuca, Victoria

Masked Lapwing, Vanellus miles, Vincentia, New South Wales (check out the yellow wing spur!)

Olive-backed Oriole, Oriolus sagittatus, Boderee, Jervis Bay Territory

Rainbow Lorikeet, Trichoglossus haematodus, Husskinson, New South Wales

Satin Bowerbird, Ptilonorhynchus violaceus, Rosewhite, Victoria (plus the bower with blue treasures that he collected to attract a female)

Silver Gull, Chroicocephalus novaehollandiae, Vincentia, New South Wales (“mine, mine, mine”)

Straw-necked Ibis, Threskiornis spinicollis, Myrtleford, Victoria

Sulfur-crested Cockatoo, Cacatua galerita, Myrtleford, Victoria

Superb Fairy-wren, Malurus cyaneus, Echuca, Victoria

White-bellied sea eagle, Haliaeetus leucogaster, Jervis Bay, New South Wales

White-faced Heron, Egretta novaehollandiae, Echuca, Victoria

Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoo, Calyptorhynchus funereus, Myrtleford, Victoria

Yellow Rosella, Platycercus elegant flaveolus, Albury, New South Wales

No picture but seen frequently:

Australian Raven, Corvus coronoides, Myrtleford, Victoria

Black Swan, Cygnus atratus, Primrose Sands, Tasmania

Pacific Black Duck, Anas superciliosa, Bright, Victoria

House Sparrow, Passer domesticus, Myrtleford, Victoria

Nankeen Kestrel, Falco cenchroides, Hume Highway, Victoria
Willie Wagtail, Rhipidura leucophrys, Myrtleford, Victoria