Over the weekend of the 4th I visited this beautiful valley for the first time. It lies at the eastern foot of the Allegheny Front just north of Durbin. What a gorgeous place! BIG spruce, hemlock, yellow birch, and hawthorns in the meadows! A lovely little river. Trout rising without caution. Walls of rhododendron in bloom everywhere. There is an old railroad rail to trail that runs the entire length of the valley of perhaps 25 miles. From here I went to the Laurel Fork Wilderness, but there was no comparison. Perhaps in 100-200 years the Laurel Fork Valley will be as beautiful. This is the first of several images I will post from this valley.

Massive red spruce, Picea rubens, and behind it on the right (different bark texture) is an even more massive hemlock, Tsuga canadensis.

Sigma DP3 Merrill, Sigma Photo Pro, Lr 5, Ps CS6.