#PhotoMonday

Bald Cypress and Boat Dock
Jones Lake State Park
Elizabethtown, NC

#Nature #NaturePhotography #Landscape #LandscapePhotography#Travel #TravelNC #JonesLakeSP

#ThickTrunkTuesday

Continuing my hike around the Carolina Bay, I entered an empty picnic area to see a spectacular Live Oak tree spreading wide over tables, with a great view of the lake. Definitely ate under that.

Jones Lake State Park
Elizabethtown, NC

🧵 #JonesLakeSP #Travel #Nature #Landscape #NaturePhotography #LandscapePhotography #TravelPhotography #TravelNC #Tree #Trees

#BlueMonday

Looking across this large oval lake at sunrise, the horizon is farther away in the center, leaving the shores on the left and right looking taller.

(open to see horizontal pic mirror image)

Jones Lake
Jones Lake State Park
Elizabethtown, NC

🧵 #JonesLakeSP #Travel #Nature #Landscape #NaturePhotography #LandscapePhotography #TravelPhotography #TravelNC

#SilentSunday

(open for horizontal pick)

Check out rest of the #JonesLakeSP 🧵 ☝️ and more here on Pixtagram:

https://pixtagram.social/p/joewynne/763368913050847046

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Leaving the roasting sandhills, I hiked into a welcome shady area, the "wet pine flatwoods". There are actually puddles!

🌲 More shrubs here, like Carolina Sheep Laurel. It features in a book I'm writing. Will have to return next Spring to see their flowers.

🍄 In the moist ground, though, are some interesting sights.

🧵 #JonesLakeSP #Mosstodon #FungiFriday #Mushtodon #FootpathFriday #Travel #Nature #NaturePhotography #FridayVibes

Around these Bays, there are several distinct natural communities, all seen on one trail. The first one is known as "xeric sandhill scrub", which is just a fancy name for "desert".

☀️ After the rain, the temperature vaulted to 84F/28C with high humidity. Was this November?

🌲 The only trees that can survive in this sand and heat are Longleaf Pine and Turkey Oak. More history and science in alt.

I did not see any Reindeer.

🧵 #JonesLakeSP #TravelThursday #Travel #LichenSubscribe #Nature

There are lakes and ponds like this all around here, more than anywhere else along the U.S. east coast.

They are called Carolina Bays. The result of complex interactions between unique underground strata in the coastal sandhills and prevailing winds, they hold rainwater and generate multiple natural communities. The trail I took went through all of them.

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#LandscapePhotography #Nature #NaturePhotography

Once the rain was out of the way, it was beautifully sunny, although the initial humidity was stupifying.

So I started on the trail to walk around an oval lake. But not just any type of lake. Mysteriously, this one has no visible inflow of any kind. No creek, river, or stream.

Even more weird, there is another just like it on the trail. They are at the top of the map. Look how they are even oriented the same direction! But there's more...

🧵 #JonesLakeSP #TravelNC #Travel

Waiting for the rain to stop before heading to the trail. Maybe the light showers overnight caused the family nearby to leave only hours after they arrived and set up camp. A huge tent.

Breakfast is my homemade almond and cranberry granola.

Small birds are getting noisy and flitting about the thick brush.

During a break in the rain, I found some berries.

🧵 #JonesLakeSP #TravelNC #Travel #Berries #Nature #NaturePhotography