A Trip to the Shenandoah National Park, Part IV

We must have been really tired, or maybe the stress finally let out. We slept pretty well and didn't really wake up until nearly 9:30 AM Saturday morning. There was a "Live Birds of Pray" show at the Big Meadows Amphitheater at 10 AM that I was really looking forward to attending. I was a bit upset when I thought I was going to miss it. But my husband didn't give up. So we jumped out of bed and rushed to catch the show.

It turned out we were still 7 minutes early. The ranger led a fun and educational presentation. Unfortunately one of the two owls could not perform, because his ankle bracelet broke, and they could not risk him flying loose. The remaining owl was a Screech Owl. I couldn't believe he was so tiny! Unlike the name suggested, a Screech Owl actually does not screech. The Barred Owls do. This little guy was molting, so he lost all his hair at once and looked bald. The ranger was showing a picture of how he normally should look like with the top feathers.

I don't remember exactly where she said they rescued this bird, but he was in a car accident and got head injury, so his right eye was permanently dilated. I was trying to get a picture of his front face so both of his eyes would show, but the picture didn't come out. His right eye had a significantly larger pupil. He was "talking" to the ranger from time to time during the show. I bet he was complaining, "Gees, why are you waking me up again in the middle of the day? I want to go back to sleep! It's too bright here!"

After the bird show, we decided to hike the Lewis Fall Trail. We had hiked this trail last time, and encountered a lost fawn. So we didn't mind going again. This was my husband at the Appalachian Trail marker before we started.

A little guy was crossing the road. We saw the same kind of worm four times. The first time we saw another one of these, my husband said, "Oh, see! He got ahead of you!" Then we saw an unfortunately dead one. My husband said, "He got ahead of you again and died of exhaustion."

All right, enough of that bad joke stuff. The rest of the way to the Lewis Fall was filled with beautiful trees and mountain views.

Then I spotted this fallen tree trunk, topped with a bunch of rocks. My husband thought someone just put the rocks there for fun. But my guess was that the tree roots had grabbed those rocks, and then somehow the tree trunk fell over, so the roots brought down the rocks with them. I thought the look was very peculiar, like a wild boar, or maybe even the mythical Medusa?

Oh, I remember these two trees from our last visit 6 years ago. The one in the back turned 90 degrees twice, so with the two of them combined, they looked like number "4".

We finally arrived at the Lewis Fall. There was sign stating, "Falls Can Kill. Stay on the Trail." with a drawing of a person falling down from the top of the fall. My husband made a goofy pose for the sign.

Just before we reached the Lewis Fall Observation, I noticed this hollow tree trunk. I thought it looked interesting with the grass leaf inside.

To be continued...