Novembert 3, 2013 - Foliage Flight Western Maryland
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Since I would be busy for the next two weeks and unable to fly, today's flight was dedicated to foliage observation. The foliage was probably as close to peak as I was going to get. I checked the foliage report and things looked good to the west in the mountains and northwest to Pennsylvania. I had to work in the morning so it was a late afternoon flight.
Just after takeoff at Essex Skypark.
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The funny thing was that the most colorful foliage I would see all day was right here on the north side of Essex Skypark!
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Miller's Island, just across the Back River from the Skypark, was equally good.
Unfortunately it was slightly overcast here so I didn't get to see it really lit up. But it was still good.
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Heading west across Baltimore, Towson stood out in the afternoon sun.
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| Heading due west, I was into the sun. The broken layer of clouds helped but occasionally the sun was very bright. |
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| Looking down at the winding Potomac River and a railroad tracking curving through the mountains. |
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| Looking north from Cumberland. |
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Looking southeast at Cumberland Airport. I was here last week but didn't have a chance to go down low and enjoy the foliage. Which wasn't at peak anyways.
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Now I'm heading east with the sun behind me and lighting things up ahead.
I followed the winding Potomac River east. Below, a long train half in and half out of a tunnel.
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And the other side,.
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| I get rained on a little bit. |
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| On the other side of the rain cloud is sunlight. And a rainbow to the left. |
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| The sun really lights this area up. |
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Lots of light and shadows.
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| Then I saw the best rainbow I've ever seen in my life. This picture only captures one third of the rainbow which literally made a big upside down U in front of me. Amazing. |
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I emerged from the mountains into the big northern Shenandoah Valley area.
Below is a good shot of the Antietam Battlefield from the Civil War. The visitor's center is in the center.
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| A great shot of the Sunken Road, where the fighting was especially fierce. |
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| Continuing on, I came to the Potomac River again. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia crossed the river around here both for the Antietam and Gettysburg campaigns. |
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| Approaching Harper's Ferry. |
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Just about to fly over Harper's Ferry, something I did many times back in my soaring days.
Good flight. Got my foliage fix for the year.
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