Do you ever have that restless feeling when you don't want to stay at home with the routine things that need to be done? Do you feel like you need a change of pace, even if it is just for a short while? That's what I call Go Fever. And I had a case of that this morning. I told Ward what I was feeling, and he was game for an outing. We decided to check out a cave that we had recently heard about that was only 40 minutes away. We headed for Camel's Den Cave in Patapsco Valley State Park.
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| Patapsco Valley State Park is a large park running 32 miles along the Patapsco River. The cave was a short walk from the Daniels parking area. |
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| The trail started next to the Patapsco River (looks like a small pond here). |
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| The trails were generally sandy and surrounded by Japanese stilt grass. |
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| Japanese stiltgrass was introduced to this country over 100 years ago in some packaging material. It has become invasive since then. |
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| We had to cross two streams on the way to the cave. Luckily, neither of us fell on the slippery rocks. |
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| Camel's Den Cave. It is a tectonic cave, meaning it was formed by tectonic forces, unlike most caves, which are formed by the dissolution of rock (such as limestone). It was small by most cave standards, only going about 20' back from the entrance. |
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| On the way back to the car, we saw a great blue heron. |
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| Ward wanted to see the Daniels Dam, just down the road. The dam was built originally in 1833 and was used to power mills in the area. |
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The mills have long since closed, and the dam is no longer needed. The Dept. of Natural Resources has just begun a study on removing the dam to improve fish passage. Three other dams upstream have already been removed.*
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| The town of Daniels was a company town for a cotton mill. The mill was active from the 1830s to the 1960s. Hurricane Agnes in 1972 wiped out the town, and this church on the hill above the dam was the only surviving structure. |
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| We hiked to the top of the hill to get a better look at the church. |
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| There was a nice view from the top. |
We made it back to the car just as it started to rain. We were stuck in road construction traffic on the way home, but it was all good because I had packed snacks. All in all, it was an excellent cure for my Go Fever.
Until next time...
* The DNR sign put an apostrophe in the Daniels name, but that's incorrect.
I will now start to call it go fever – I just thought it was related to wanderlust. I couldn’t tell the size of by your photo – it looks like it’s about 3 feet deep. But I do like hearing about your adventure.
ReplyDeleteThe water where we had to cross the streams was under a foot. It was difficult to cross because I was trying to do and not get my feet wet.
DeleteI love that term Go Fever. I suffer from it often. Unneeded dams, no longer servicing purpose, are being removed around here too. At least one, maybe two, on the Calapooia alone. I'm all for it, if the dam is useless. Also removes hazards for recreationists on the river, many of whom never check the waterway for such hazards before entry.
ReplyDeleteMy sisters and I call it go fever. I don't remember when we started to use the term.
DeleteI think they'll remove the dam, but they've just started a year long study of what problems removing it could cause as well as the benefits.
I am going to call it go fever from now on also. Day trips are fun!
ReplyDeleteNo matter where you live, there are always plenty of things to see and do for an afternoon or a day, especially if you are willing to think outside of the box.
DeleteA perfect name for that itchy feet feeling! You certainly picked an interesting place to visit.
ReplyDeleteWe also visited the nearby town of Granite, looking for some historic things we didn't find. Maybe we'll go back there when the next bout of go fever strikes.
DeleteTo be quite honest, I rarely have "go fever", although I do like the term! Maybe if I had someone to drive me places, it might be more fun. But, for the most part, I'm the one who has to drive and I usually rather stay home! But, I do enjoy it when you go places and share pictures of the places you visit. I'm an armchair traveler, I guess. :D
ReplyDeleteI think if I had to drive in LA, I'd stay home more, too. I am very lucky that Ward likes to drive. Well, actually, he doesn't like to drive in city traffic, either, which we have to do sometimes.
DeleteI occasionaly have go fever but they usually died down. I guess I'm more of a homebody.
ReplyDeleteThis looked like a nice outing, the trees, the landscapes, the dam, etc. Seeing in photos is almost as good as going there. Thanks for sharing pics.
Have a lovely day.
I consider myself a homebody, too, because I'm not so interested in social outings. But I do like to get out some to see different things.
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