Trip Report – Spring in West Virginia

About two weeks ago I returned home from teaching a spring workshop in West Virginia. Our group stayed in the comfortable Canaan Valley Resort and spent four days photographing waterfalls, spring wildflowers, old barns, a number of critters, and the spectacular West Virginia landscape. Both weather and light were quite cooperative, in particular the sunrises at Lindy Point and at Bear Rock atop Dolly Sods. Due to earlier rain the waterfalls cascaded down with a thunderous roar, and folks captured a variety of compositions. Initially, I was concerned that the record-setting snowfall of the 2009 winter would have a negative impact upon spring wildflowers.  Instead, there was a profusion of wildflowers. We located several large colonies of bleeding hearts and discovered an interesting little beetle posing on the some Dutchman’s breeches.

In addition to magnificent photography, we enjoyed a number of meals in such restaurants as the Flying Pig and Hellbender Burritos (a hellbender is a giant salamander that can grow over two feet in length). Unfortunately, the Purple Fiddle was closed when we drove through Thomas, WV. Of course, we gobbled up the vegetarian pizza from Sirianni’s.

Here follow several photos from this workshop. If you would like to add such images to your portfolio, join me next year in WV. It is an opportunity to travel country roads and capture a bit of mountain majesty.

David Muse

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