We took a gorgeous hike at Canaan Valley State Park (checked that one off the list!) and although it was muddy in spots (it has rained for seemingly two months straight) it wasn’t difficult to get around the mud (ie, no impassable rhododendron).

Location: Canaan Valley State Park
Trail: Middle Ridge State Park
Distance: 2.4 miles
Elevation: 3210-3501 feet

We spent Thursday through Saturday in the Blackwater Falls / Canaan area, and it was beautiful. Our hikes were shorter than normal, mostly because many of them had people not used to hiking. (Hikers ages ranged from 4 to 90, so, not so much with the long hikes.)

Along the Blackwater Canyon trail were old coke ovens, from Thomas’ industrial days, and then Douglas Falls, which were gorgeous, and well worth the scramble down to the water.

Location: Thomas, WV
Trails: Allegheny & Blackwater Canyon Trails
Distance: 3.8 miles
Elevation: 2743-2946 feet

Bonus: Wild black raspberries.

They were very delicious.

Here’s how things looked today!

Here’s how things looked today!

These are taken coming down University (heading south).

These are taking walking south on Beverly.

Michael: I bet the rent is dirt cheap.

As I was taking pictures with my phone, I was unsurprised that this picture didn’t turn out as I wanted.

When I looked in the hole, I could see water rushing by.

This is taken at the Y, standing on University and looking down onto Beverly.

And there are today’s updates.

FINALLY we could get back out to Coopers Rock without having to hike in rain and storms.

The streams were running high, which meant I had to be careful traipsing through the water.

I was, and it was gorgeous.

Location: Coopers Rock State Forest
Trails: Rhododendron, Mont Chateau trails (plus splashing through a very cold stream)
Distance: 4.4 miles
Elevation: 874 feet

I believe that’s the most water I’ve seen coming through this stream.

And now a brief rant/whine.

I don’t dislike bicycles. In fact I have one and enjoy riding it.

However.

Some of my favorite trails at Coopers Rock are a muddy mess because of mountain bikers.

It’s been raining, so of course the trails are going to be wet in areas–especially where the trail is also part of a watershed run-off. I expect that.

The problem is that when people bike through these areas when it’s this wet, the entire trail becomes a churned up mess that is messy and ugly and not very fun to hike. There are sections of trail where the churned up mud is twice as wide as the trail, because of mountain bikers.

I don’t mind getting my feet wet (obviously), and I expect the trails to be muddy when it’s been raining as frequently as it has been. But I think it’s ridiculous that whole sections of trail are almost impassible unless you want to slog through a couple inches of mud.

As hikers, we have the ability to go off the trail, to try and avoid the nasty mess, but that’s not in the best interest of the forest.

Yes, the forest is open the everyone–that’s one of the many joys and benefits of living in WV. But I don’t see why bikers can’t use a little common courtesy and not tear up the trails when they are wet and muddy.

They’re ruining it for those of us who want to take our time and enjoy the scenery as we go past.

OK, done ranting.

Here’s some more gorgeous stream to close on.

Well, state parks and state forests, but since the state park was technically in a forest, we’ll just let it go.

Pictures are from Stonewall Resort and Coopers Rock.

The rhododendron are in bloom!

Rhododendron (Rhododendron maximum)

Are you a mushroom? No! I’m a fun-gi!

And here’s Stonewall Resort State Park

Indian Pipe (Monotropa uniflora)

Wild Bergamot / Bee Balm (Monarda fistulosa)

Spotted Wintergreen (Chimaphila maculata)

Stonewall Resort State Park is probably the best maintained park we’ve visited.

Of course, after a month of rain, there’s not much they can do about all the high water and mud, though they did try.

Location: Stonewall Jackson Resort State Park
Trails: Hevener’s Orchard, Cairns, Lakeside Trails (this map is NOT up to date, last check)
Distance: 3.9 miles
Elevation: 719 feet

(SUPER fancy blazes!)

We dubbed this trail, the Canada trail.

Hmmmm….

Nope.

I can see why you might make that mistake, but still: wrong.

Points to anyone who knows WHAT is wrong, and why Michael and I giggled this entire section of trail.

It’s still raining, which is why I didn’t wander down to see the destruction yesterday. But there was a break in the weather this evening, so I got to see what’s happened.

They’re moving quickly.

So University Avenue is going to be closed for a couple months (so they say) so they can drop the road 5 feet for a flat intersection with 3rd street.

The construction started yesterday, so today I walked down to see what has happened so far.

The placement of this sign is apparently to ensure the maximum number of cars ignoring it.

And having to turn around here.

You didn’t think I was going to obey that sign, did you?

This is, I am guessing, the section of road that will be dropped 5 feet.Yes, it is already relatively steep. No, I don’t know what they were thinking.

I am not at ALL sad to see this building go.

Current state of the intersection. I presume nothing is going to happen until that house is down.

3rd Street

Beverley. Weirdly, there is a hole in the ground here, behind that pile of gravel.

That’s just me being easily amused.

My supposition is that this is where the re-grading will start.

There you go! The current state of the University Avenue construction project!

I read more than expected this June, mostly because it wouldn’t stop raining, so very little hiking.

Bah humbug.

I seem to have read a lot of meh books this month, and finished off some anthologies I’d been reading (some for years).

The best book of the month was Salsa Nocturna by Daniel José Older, which is a collection of short stories, set in the same world, and slowly intertwined.

This was a very nice book, and I purchased his Resurrection Blues based upon it. You should really check it out.

Supernatural Fantasy

  Salsa Nocturna (2012) Daniel José Older (8.5/10)
  Pocket Apocalypse (2015) Seanan McGuire (7/10)
  Werewolf Smackdown (2010) Mario Acevedo (4/10)

Fantasy

  Magic Lost, Trouble Found (2007) Lisa Shearin (7/10)

Historical Mystery

  The Mayfair Affair (2015) Tracy Grant (8/10)

Historical Romance

  Miss Grimsley’s Oxford Career (2012) Carla Kelly (8.5/10)
  The Soldier’s Dark Secret (2015) Marguerite Kaye (7.5/10)
  Widow’s Gambit (1998) Tracy Grant (7/10)
  Lucien’s Fall (2011) Barbara Samuel (6/10)

Anthology

  Fiction River: Hex in the City (2013) edited by Kerrie L. Hughes (9/10)
  Vampires: The Recent Undead (2011) edited by Paula Guran (7/10)

So here’s how the stats came out for the month.

I read 11 books, all of which were eBooks.

Genre-wise, mostly split between fantasy and historical romance.

Fantasy: 6
Romance: 5
Anthology: 3
Mystery: 2

Gender-wise, women continued to lead the pack, and the year, with 57% of this year’s books written by women.

Female: 7
Male: 2
Anthology: 2

And that’s the month of June in books.

I love day lilies. Over the years I have picked up several different cultivars, so when they bloom, the front of my house is gorgeous. (The nicest thing about day lilies is that unlike regular lilies, they don’t have a scent. (I cannot stand the scent of regular lilies.))

Bonus: Balloon flower

Because I never met a list I didn’t want to put into Excel…

From the last post, on must buy authors, I counted the male vs female authors that I auto buy.

Male authors: 7
Female authors: 19
Joint: 1

70% of my auto buy authors are female.

So there is some more anecdotal data for you.

On SF Signal, they asked “What Authors Are on Your Must-Buy List?”.

This actually made me stop and think, because there are some authors who were auto-buys for years and years, and then they kinda dropped off. And there are other authors whose books I’d buy in an instant–if they were still writing.

So who is on my must-buy list?

First, off the top of my head:

Charles de Lint – I love his Newford stories so very very much

C.S. Harris – Both Grandmom and I adore the Sebastian St Cyr series. I love the time in which he lives, and I love Sebastian

Guy Gavriel Kay – He doesn’t just build worlds, he weaves these miraculous places that I fall into and don’t want to leave; and each book is so very different from those that came before

Ellen Kushner – Swordspoint is my go-to comfort read, and I read it again and again

Ben Aaronovitch – Do I even need to tell you how much I love this series? And how much I ADORE Kobna Holdbrook Smith?

Faith Hunter‘s Jane Yellowrock series – She also is very good at writing short stories, which is something I appreciate, but I really love Jane

Andrea Camilleri – The more recent books in the Inspector Montalbano series have been weaker, but I don’t care

Ilona Andrews Oh Kate, why haven’t I read your most recent book? Probably because I don’t want to be left hanging

Mary Roach – Have you read Mary Roach? You’ve probably heard an interview with her. She’s marvelous and loves delving into strange and marvelous topics (like what happens to our bodies after we die or what goes on in our alimentary canal)

Nina Kiriki Hoffman – I love her short stories and regularly re-read “Fistful of Sky” and keep hoping the next book she writes will recapture what I loved there.

Carrie Vaughn (especially any short story collection) despite the fact I didn’t love the last two novels, I still want things to work well for Kitty.

Donna Leon – Venice is as much a main character as Commisario Brunetti and his family and co-workers

Patricia Briggs (especially the Mercy Thompson series) – I love Mercy and how in a genre full of super-dooper kick-butt heroines, Mercy is both tough and fragile

Now, peeking at my book lists…

Rob Thurman – oh yes, very much Rob Thurman; I adore Cal and Niko so very much, and it almost hurts how much those two brothers love each other

Tracy Grant – Her historical mysteries/romances are complex works full of the past

Liz Williams – but she hasn’t put of a Detective Inspector Chen story since the whole debacle with her publisher

Sergei Lukyanenko – this is problematic, because I love the Night Watch series, but haven’t read the last book, mostly because I don’t want it to break the spell the earlier books have on me, if it isn’t as good

Jeaniene Frost – I also have the final book in the Kat & Bones series sitting unread, waiting for me; Why is there no publication date for the next Vlad book? Why?

John Burdett – oh, hey, look, there’s a new Sonchai book coming out!

Lisa Shearin – her SPI files series is so fun

Maggie Stiefvater – Oh how I am waiting the next Raven Boys book; Waiting, waiting, and yet afraid

C.C. Hunter – I find myself fascinated by this world

Seanan McGurie‘s Toby Day series

M.L. Brennan‘s Generation V series

Authors I deeply wish were still around:

Kate Ross
Agatha Christie (her Miss Marple series and any short stories)
Terry Pratchett

And finally, authors whose series I have fallen behind on or stopped reading entirely:

Steven Brust – it’s not that I gave up on this series, I just got really tired of Vlad not being able to solve the predicament he got himself into, but I AM going to get back into the series, any day now

Nicole Peeler – I read all the Jane True stories as soon as they came out, but her latest book I’ve read a couple chapters of, but can’t get into it; I haven’t given up, but I miss Jane True

Simon R. Green – yet another authors whose closing book to a series I have not yet read. It’s as if I refuse to acknowledge these series are over by refusing to read the final books. Weirdly, I only loved the Nightside series. None of the rest held my interest.

Jim Butcher – I loved the Dresden files until I suddenly and violently didn’t; I liked Harry when he was a working stiff; not so much when he suddenly became a Hero

Alan Bradley – the last book really bothered me, and I feel unsure as to whether I’ll like the direction the series is going

Diana Gabaldon – I really really love Lord John, but have zero interest in reading her Outlander series; I have no idea what this says about me