I do, in fact, have many cultivars of day lilies. And they’re all blooming right now.

I have a couple other things blooming as well.

Balloon Flower (Platycodon grandiflorus)

I HAVE A RASPBERRY!

Gerbera daisies. I didn’t get an orange flower this year, which is too bad, because they’re my favorite.

Here are some of the flowers we saw blooming at Coopers Rock.

Rhododendron are blooming in some areas of the forest:

OMG! It’s a YIP YIP!

Location: Coopers Rock
Trails: Henry Clay Iron Furnace Trail, Mont Chateau Trail to Cheat Lake
Distance: 5.3 miles
Elevation: 1371 feet

Henry Clay Iron Furnace Trail (one way)
Distance: 0.9 miles
Elevation: 267 feet

Mont Chateau Trail to Cheat Lake (one way)
Distance: 1.4 miles
Elevation: 739 feet

The best park of the hike was switching from boots to water shoes and hiking in the creek. We managed 0.6 miles in about an hour, which was pretty good, since it was a lot of trying to figure out how to move get up rocks or around deep pools.

The balanced rocks are still there!

Map of complete hike

Thursday, on our way back from the Mountain State Arts and Craft Fair at Ripley, we stopped at North Bend State Park for a brief hike.

Location: North Bend State Park
Trails: Overhanging Rock Trail, Extra Mile Trail, Oil Well Access Trail to North Bend Rail Trail
Distance: 2.4 miles
Elevation: 375 feet

It’s a rail trail, so it’s quite flat (for WV).

The Extra Mile trail is a paved and has handrails on both sides, for visual and mobility limited visitors. (Amusingly, we saw this at the END of the trail, so came up with many theories as to why there were railings on both sides of the paved trail.)

It links to the North Bend Rail trail, at Tunnel 13 and the bridge over Bonds Creek.

Tunnel 13, South Entrance

Tunnel 13, North Entrance

Remains of train platform:

Map of hike

Here’s what’s blooming around my house right now

Why yes! Lots of day lilies!

I love the variety of day lilies. I know they’re relatively subtle color changes, but they fascinate me.

Almost no flowers on our hike yesterday, so I stooped to photographing fungi.

Just doesn’t have the same ring to it as Sunday Flower Pr0n, but Sunday, the day lilies weren’t yet blooming.

I love my day lilies.

I also have pots of Gerbera daisies this year, because I think they’re pretty.

Location: Coopers Rock State Forest
Trails: Rhododendron Trail, Mont Chateau Trail, Ridge Trail, Rock City Trail
Distance: 5.4 miles
Elevation: 1259 feet

Sunday we took a nice long hike at Coopers Rock. We hike most of the way down to the lake, but I’d spent a very long time playing in the stream, so decided to turn around so we wouldn’t have to climb an additional 100 feet.

Towards the end of Mont Chateau trail (or rather, before we turned around) we came across this waterfall, which I would love to figure out how to hike down to without injuring myself.

But the best part was spent in the creek. I brought a pair of water shoes, so when we got down to the area I liked so much previously, I rolled up my pants, switched my boots for the water shoes and clambered around in the stream.

It was cold.

But it also felt really good on my bad ankle, so I wasn’t complaining at all.

The stream was gorgeous, and running quite high, as we’ve had rain rain rain rain rain.

I have my Rebel XSi back (I’d loaned it to my parents for their trip to Alaska) and as much I find it so much easier (and less nerve racking) to carry the XSi, the pictures aren’t quite as sharp as my other camera.

But I’m not taking my good camera into a stream. So I’ll just have to live with it. :)

And then I came across a scene that made my day.

You could not have seen that from the bridge. You had to get down and hike in (or alongside) the stream.

Thank you, to whoever left that transient art. It’s marvelous.

GPS Map of Hike

Last year I started thinking about all the fresh berries I can get at the Farmer’s Market, and how I often have trouble using them all.

“You know what would be awesome?” I said to myself. “Using them to make homemade ice cream!”
“Self,” I said, “That is a genius idea.”

This was our first attempt at making ice cream. I made strawberry ice cream, from Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Ice Cream & Dessert Book.

Ingredients for the ice cream were: heavy cream, sugar, CreamLine whole milk (which we can get locally! In GLASS BOTTLES!). The strawberry puree was: strawberries, sugar, lemon juice.

Mash the strawberries with the lemon juice and sugar:

Whisk the sugar into the heavy cream, then add in the whole milk.

I strained the strawberries, and added the juice in after the whole milk.

Pour into the running ice cream maker:

The recipe, helpfully, says, “about two minutes before the ice cream is done, add in the strawberry puree. I just guessed.

Is it done yet? Is it done yet?

Looks done to me!

YUMMY!

Next up, lemon frozen yogurt.

Location: Tomlinson Run State Park
Trails: Fuse Trail, Dynamite Shack Trail, Beech Trail
Distance: 1.7 miles
Elevation: 423 feet

Here is one of the views.

And here is the stuff I found really interesting:

EVERYTHING is not permitted!

I almost forgot, you have to cross a stream at one point, which, considering how much it’s rained (and rained and rained) wasn’t easy going.

There isn’t much blooming right now except my Stella d’Oro day lilies, but they’re making up for the lack elsewhere.

Buttercups (Ranunculus asiaticus) at Tomlinson Run State Park

Stella d’Oro daylilies

Lemon thyme (Thymus x citriodorus ‘Variegata’) is one of my favorite herbs. I adore the way it looks and the way it smells.

Location: Lost River State Park
Trails: White Oak Trail
Distance: 2.2 miles
Elevation Change: 640 feet

There were several miscalculations made on Saturday: how long it would take to get to Lost River State Park and how much food we’d want to bring.

The end result was that I ended up getting too hungry, my blood sugar dropped, and I felt off for much of the rest of day. It happens, but it’s frustrating, because it was a gorgeous day for hiking.

Lost River State Park would be a great park to take kids: lots of playgrounds and swimming pool. I wish we’d have hiked more, but it was a longer drive than we were interested in for the hiking.

GPS Map of White Oak Trail

Saturday we went to Lost River State Park, which we hadn’t been to before, as it’s in the eastern part of the state.

It was a pleasant day, and in addition to the timber rattlesnake, I saw some lovely flowers.

Yellow Star Grass Hypoxis hirsuta (?)

Mountain Laurel Kalmia latifolia

Venus’ Looking Glass Triodanis perfoliata (?)

Four-leaved Milkweed Asclepias quadrifolia

Rough Bedstraw Galium asprellum (?)

There is always something blooming at my house, from spring to fall. It took a bit of work initially, but it’s wonderful once I got everything together.

Here’s what’s blooming around my house right now:

Daylily: Hemerocallis flava Lemon Lily

These came from Michael’s grandmother. They only bloom once, but are one of the first daylilies to bloom; I planted them by the driveway so we’d always catch their blooms and think of Grandma.

Daylily: Hemerocallis ‘Stella De Oro’

This is the first Stella De Oro daylily bloom in my garden this year–there will be many more. Stella De Oros will rebloom, so most likely I’ll have a flower or two through September.

Flowering Broom Cytisus Scoparius Burkwoodii

Peony

Lilac: Syringa vulgaris

The lilac at the bottom of the yard bloomed at the start of May–this one starts blooming after the other is dine.