A Walk In The Heat And Humidity With My Macro Lens At The Greater Hazleton Rails To Trails

July arrived like it should, in my opinion anyway, with hazy sunshine, heat and humidity. I love the Summer and I love the heat. It was already 70 degrees when I took my early morning walk Sunday. Later, I decided to stay close to home and hike on our beautiful Rails to Trails.

The temperature was in the 80’s when I arrived at the trail around 9 a.m. There were only a few cars in the parking lot on this hot first day of July. I brought my macro lens with me to hopefully photograph some of  the smaller inhabitants of our woodlands.

It didn’t talk long until I found a few honeybees busily gathering pollen from some of the many flowers now in bloom. 

I love  looking at the flowers, and pretty much everthing else,  up close through a macro lens.

I also had my 400 mm lens, hoping to see some larger wildlife too. I was hopeful, and excited, when I caught a glimpse of the scarlet tanager at the start of my walk. 

I heard a lot more birds singing  as I continued my hike on the trail but they were either high in the trees tops or deep in the brush and were not moving very far, probably because of the heat. 

There were not many folks on the trail on this hazy, hot and humid morning but I saw a few of the dedicated regulars getting their walks ans runs in despite the heat.

They were ending their hikes and runs. I made the mistake of just starting mine. It was only going to get hotter. I continued on but there was not much insect activity . I don’t think they like the heat either. I did see a few grasshoppers,

and this interesting insect dining on a fly. I am almost amazed at the many creatures that live with us and we as unaware of. 

Even common plants such as ferns,

and milkweed flower buds look so exotic and beautiful when looked at up close.

And flowers attract buterflies and I saw a few of them.

I walked out about three miles in the heat and decided to take a rest before heading back. It was hot and I was thirsty. I never take water with me on my hikes. It might be time to start. I sat in the shade on a rock while I cooled down. 

I started walking back and I was starting to feel the effects of the heat. I had walked about a half mile when I reached for my hat in my back pocket. It wasn’t there. It was a hat I got when I was in Hobart Tasmania. I loved that hat. It was decision time. I was really feeling some heat exhaustion and debated walking the extra mile to get the hat. I decided I had to and found it near the rock where I had rested. 

Now I had still had three miles to walk back to my car, having already walked an extra half mile. It was a long trudge back. I may have seen some birds and insects but I was more interested in making it back to the parking lot. then taking photographs. 

I did see one other critter braving the afternoon heat,  a deer along the trail.

I was feeling a bit disoriented as I ended my hike. I had hiked 7 miles on the trail and 2 miles earlier near my home. I love the heat and humidity of Summer but I think walking 9 miles may have been a little too much. But I will probably do it again. I love Summer.  Here is a link to some more photographs from my hike . Rails To Trails hike July 1 2018. 

I walk without flinching through the burning cathedral of the summer. My bank of wild grass is majestic and full of music. It is a fire that solitude presses against my lips. ~Violette Leduc