No. 12. A Season of Nor’Easters
Category: Schuylkill River
No. 40. The Red Chair Challenge
At the end of 2015 the members of the Art Plus Gallery in West Reading, PA, completely renovated the gallery. Among the changes was the purchase of a distinctive red chair to allow customers to view the gallery’s extensive online offerings on a tablet computer. Members of the coop decided to challenge each other to creatively depict the red chair. The challenge is a kind of silly, but kind of fun branding exercise.
During the summer months, the Kernsville Dam became a popular site for youth, many from out-of-state, to surf the dam. Following a drowning death and a plague of litter, the road leading to the dam has been closed with a barrier. State and Tilden Township Police enforce trespassing regulations.
No. 35. Walking with the Dragonflies
A few weeks ago Martha and I participated in a Walk to observe and learn about dragonflies and damselflies. The walk was a joint presentation of the Mengel Natural History Society and the Baird Ornithological Club, of which Ken Lebo, the group leader, is a member along with Tony “Doc” Schoch and Mike Slater, president of the BOC and nature columnist for the “Berks Country” weekly supplement to the Reading Eagle. Here is Kolleen Long’s account of the Hike in the Hamburg Item. She took better notes and did better follow up research than I did. Here are a few pictures I made during the excursion. I learned two things. First, there are a lot more species of dragonflies than I knew existed. Second, many of them are very difficult to photograph, some never perch.
No. 32. Dam Sliding Double-Take
I was surprised when I first learned, earlier this summer, about young people sliding down the Kernsville Dam. A YouTube video about the sliders went viral not long ago attracting hundreds of young people from all over the East Coast to The Peace Rock (see some of my pictures) and the Kernsville Dam. Nevertheless, I decided to have some photo fun to capture the action. Further attention was drawn to The Rock by a drowning (nearly an annual event) in the rapidly moving current in the river below in July.
When I was in high school in the early 1960s we often swam about a mile upstream at what is now called the Peace Rock, frequently jumping off the 40-foot outcropping into a deep channel of the Schuylkill river below. I never heard of anyone dam sliding. Then again, in those years the boat ramp just upstream from the dam was active and water skiing was common. The lake really isn’t fit for that kind of activity today.
The Rock has become a public nuisance. Roads are blocked by illegally parked cars. There is no parking along a narrow mountain road and there are no facilities. Mountains of trash and human waste piled up. Recently volunteers organized by Blue Mountain Wildlife collected 75 bags of trash in an effort to clean up the area. Read about it here.
State police have announced they will tow and ticket cars and arrest trespassers. See the Hamburg Item.
December 2015, From My Imaging 365 Archives
