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MD’s Rocky Gap State Park: Habeeb Lake and the Canyon

October 22, 2025/in Updates /by Steve Jones

On the morning of August 2, 2025, my son Matt, Alabama grandson Jack (17), and I hiked to the Canyon Overlook at Maryland’s Rocky Gap State Park. We then visited the Habeeb Lake spillway and returned to the parking lot along the Lakeshore Trail. We enjoyed Nature’s beauty, magic, wonder, and awe hidden in plain sight along the trails. I dutifully captured the bounty with photographs, brief videos, observations, and reflections.

Habeeb Lake

I’ll begin with the 243-acre lake, which post-dated my high school era visits to what is now Maryland’s Rocky Gap State Park.

The spillway cuts through its own geologic history written in sandstone strata. The view west from the dam shows the beginning of the canyon and the southern toe-slope of Evitts Mountain.

I recorded a 59-second video from the footbridge crossing the spillway.

The life-circle is rounding. I visited the park when I was 17. Matt visited with me when he was 17. Now he is there at age 48 with me and his sister’s 17-year-old son. They are a core element of what I consider Nature’s beauty, magic, wonder, and awe. The image of them and the lake speaks volumes to me on life and living.

Life is great; God is good!

Rocky Gap Canyon

I walked with friends to the canyon 57 summers ago (age 17), with no signage, just a crude path through the woods. All that has changed, but the canyon has not; it is still a marvelous natural gift.

The southern toe of Evitts Mountain, where Jack and I hiked four days prior, extends downhill from right to left. Rocky Gap Run flows past Evitts’ toe.

I reecorded this 59-second video of the gap.

I never tire of rocky crags and surrounding forests, whether back in Alabama or within the Appalachians into Pennsylvania, New York, and beyond.

The physical landscape remains constant. Rough and weathered sedimentary geology, trees rooted on steep hillsides, and ecosystems that change subtly over shorter segments, yet tremendously over the entire 2,190-mile Appalachian Trail.

Trees and Shrubs: Echoes from Decades Past

Table mountain pine’s range does not extend to Alabama. I encountered it often when I served as a forester’s aid on western Maryland’s Green Ridge State Forest between junior and senior undergraduate years. I found it mostly on xeric stony sites in ridge and valley Allegany County. Its form is gnarly, seldom growing straight and tall. Its needles are coarse and spiny. It finds anchorage in shallow soils.

Contrarily, white pine, whose range barely extends into northeast Alabama, grows well in western Maryland. Among the eastern US pine species, white pine is my favorite, especially on rich sites from the Smokey Mountains north intoPennsylvania, New York, and New England. Its history intertwine significantly with the birth of our nation.

The strength and size of Eastern White Pine is so renowned, it may have been a bigger factor in the start of the Revolutionary War than tea and taxes. King George I assumed ownership of the tallest Eastern White Pines in the forests of New England, appointing a legion of surveyors to mark their choices with a symbol of three hatchet slashes known as The King’s Broad Arrow. This indicated that they were for use by the British Royal Navy only. They were shipped back to Britain.

Already rankled over the issue of taxation on tea, many colonists whose livelihoods depended on Eastern White Pines disregarded the mark and harvested the trees anyway. When six mills in New Hampshire were searched for trees bearing The King’s Broad Arrow, the owners were charged with disobeying the King’s law, and many townspeople rioted in protest.

Some historians believe that this conflict was a key in bringing about the American Revolution and the first real acts of rebellion against British rule. The Eastern White Pine was such a potent symbol for colonists that it became the emblem emblazoned upon the first colonial flag. (Northeatern Lumber Manufacturers Association online)

Paraphrasing Aldo Leopold, I love pine trees, but I am in love with white pine!

I recorded this 58-second video highlighting white pine and hemlock.

Hemlock thrives in lower slope forests of Rocky Gap and vicinty.

Rhododrendron and mountail laurel likewise transported me to those halcyon days.

Black huckleberry evoked strong memories.

Black gum (aka sour gum and black tupelo) grows commonly from northern Pennsylvania deep into Alabama. The photo at left demonstrates the species’ tendency for lateral branches to extend at right angles to the bole. An insect injury on the leaf at right has discolored the leaf spot to its distinctive autumn red.

As is so often the case, I could have traipsed this forest for hours, discovering the riches hidden in plain sight.

Special Features

I like naturally expressive tree faces. A physical injury began the process, opening a portal for internal decay. A woodpecker excavating a nesting hollow. A squirrel gnawing edges to enlarge the opening. Both tree are actively callousing the edges in attempt to close the openings. The tree at left has successfully closed the left upper opening. The other tree has almost buttoned the lower hole.

Each of these red oaks can tell a story of your choosing. At left, I see two eyes, one covered by a patch; the other eye wide in surprise or amazement. Its mouth could not be more expressive! The one-eyed oak at right is fearful…deeply concerned. I categorize both inviduals as tree form oddities or curiosities. Our forests are rich with wonder, awe, and mystery.

I seldom explore Nature without detecting magic in plain sight, prompting deep thought and mirthful musings, igniting a burst of wild imagination. Albert Einstein, the preeminent theoretical physicist of the twentieth century elevated imagination above laborious scientific rumination:

Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.

The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination.

Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.

I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.

Pinchusion moss embraces a back oak base, bringing to mind a neck scarf on a breezy winter morn.

Orange jelly or orange witch’s butter (Dacrymyces chrysospermus) is a species of jelly fungus that grows on dead pine wood. Trail crews bucked the fallen pine to clear the trail, I’m estimating within the past two years. Already the fungus has infected the wood and is now producing spores to secure the future, a goal embraced by all organisms.

We saw two timber rattlesnakes sunning near the dam, this one more exposed than the other, a yellowish variety. The beautiful individual, sporting nine rattle buttons, kept its head behind a rock. I wanted a better image, yet not enough to stumble over the stones for a full-length image!

Such is the case with many subjects of my Nature exploration and photography…we must be satisfied with what she reveals. I know she unveils little to nothing if we do not venture into her realm. A fishing enthusiast friend reminded me often that there is one way to guarantee not catching a fish — stay home! My photo of a snake with hidden head, although not complete, came with a full-bodied set of memories. A first (and second) rattlesnake sighting nearby for my son and grandson. The depth of their awe and amazement, awakening some admitted level of primal fear. Their reaction to hearing the second one vigorously rattle an alert. My thrill in being there with them.

John Muir long ago captured the thrill:

In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks.

Thoughts and Reflections

I offer these observations:

I never tire of rocky crags and surrounding forests, whether back in Alabama or within the Appalachians into Pennsylvania, New York, and beyond. (Steve Jones)
In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks. (John Muir)
I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious. (Albert Einstein)

Inhale and absorb Nature’s elixir. May Nature Inspire, Inform, and Reward you!

Note: All blog post images created & photographed by Stephen B. Jones unless otherwise noted. Please circulate images with photo credit: “©2025 Steve Jones, Great Blue Heron LLC. All Rights Reserved.”

I am available for Nature-Inspired Speaking, Writing, and Consulting — contact me at steve.jones.0524@gmail.com

Subscribe to my free weekly photo essays (like this one) at: http://eepurl.com/cKLJdL

Reminder of my Personal and Professional Purpose, Passion, and Cause

If only more of us viewed our precious environment through the filters I employ. If only my mission and vision could be multiplied untold orders of magnitude:

Mission: Employ writing and speaking to educate, inspire, and enable readers and listeners to understand, appreciate, and enjoy Nature… and accept and practice Earth Stewardship.

Vision:

People of all ages will pay greater attention to and engage more regularly with Nature… and will accept and practice informed and responsible Earth Stewardship.
They will see their relationship to our natural world with new eyes… and will understand more clearly their Earth home.

Tagline/Motto: Steve (Great Blue Heron) encourages and seeks a better tomorrow through Nature-Inspired Living!

Steve’s Four Books

I wrote my books Nature Based Leadership (2016), Nature-Inspired Learning and Leading (2017), Weaned Seals and Snowy Summits: Stories of Passion for Place and Everyday Nature (2019; co-authored with Dr. Jennifer Wilhoit), and Dutton Land & Cattle: A Land Legacy Story (2023) to encourage all citizens to recognize and appreciate that every lesson for living, learning, serving, and leading is either written indelibly in or is powerfully inspired by Nature. All four of my books present compilations of personal experiences expressing my deep passion for Nature. All four books offer observations and reflections on my relationship with the natural world… and the broader implications for society. Order any from your local indie bookstore, or find them on IndieBound or other online sources such as Amazon and LifeRich.

I began writing books and Posts for several reasons:

I love hiking and exploring Nature
I see images I want to (and do) capture with my trusty iPhone camera
I enjoy explaining those images — an educator at heart
I don’t play golf!
I do love writing — it’s the hobby I never needed when my career consumed me
Judy suggested my writing is in large measure my legacy to our two kids, our five grandkids, and all the unborn generations beyond
And finally, perhaps my books and Blogs could reach beyond family and touch a few other lives… sow some seeds for the future

Observations from the Narrows in Western Maryland: A Step back to My Roots!

September 10, 2025/in Updates /by Steve Jones

I grew up in Cumberland, Maryland, one of the transportation gateways to and over the Appalachian Mountains, a portal to the Ohio frontier and beyond. The Potomac River Valley rises over 600 feet from Washington, D.C.’s tidewater to Cumberland. I visited my hometown in late July 2025. My two Alabama grandsons, Jack (17) and Sam (11), accompanied us. On July 28, we three sauntered two miles through the Narrows along the Great Allegheny Passage (GAP), a 144-mile Rails-to-Trails that stretches from Cumberland to Pittsburgh, PA. I offer photos, brief videos, reflections, and observations on the intersection of human and natural history, overlain by my personal musings.

This view is downstream from the western terminus of the C&O Canal. Years ago, I biked from this point on the foreground gravel trail, the 184.5-mile towpath to Georgetown. Flood control construction in the 1950s erased the canal and towpath infrastructure at this location, leaving the gravel path along the levee for beginning the trek to Washington. West Virginia, across the river, rises to the right.

The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal began as a dream to wealth in the West. Operating for nearly 100 years, it was a lifeline for communities along the Potomac River as coal, lumber, and agricultural products floated down the waterway to market. (National Park Service)

Railroad commerce proved economically superior and better able to withstand river flooding, which in 1924 forced the canal’s closure.

Today the canal (A National Historic Park) endures as a pathway for discovering historical, natural, and recreational treasures.

[Dedication: I dedicate this Post to John Milford Parker, Jr. who passed away September 3, 2025. John was among the three people who accompanied me on the bicycle trip to Georgetown. We also occasionally fished, hunted, and hiked together when I returned to western Maryland to visit family. From his obituary: The hunt is over; the woods are still. May he rest in peace on God’s eternal hill.]

From the same point, Cumberland’s hilltop steeples rise where colonial Fort Cumberland once commanded the frontier transportation hub. Beyond the churches, Haystack (left) and Wills (right) Mountains tower nearly 1,000 feet above the Narrows gorge.

This 60-second video sets the stage for my trek with Jack and Sam through the Narrows.

The historic railroad station stands less than a quarter mile from the 184.5-mile canal photo point. In my younger years I biked the GAP from Pittsburgh to this endpoint. Sam explored the eastside plaza. Six and one-half decades earlier, at about Sam’s age, I watched my maternal grandfather depart the station for his final B&O Railroad train run to Pittburgh. A World War I veteran, Pap engineered both steam locomotives and diesels. I watched his departure with rapture and deep envy. Rapture because I revered Pap and loved trains. Envy because my teenage brother sat in the cab waving with Pap as they tooted farewell heading to Pittsburgh.

As the three of us completed our morning walk through the Narrows, the Western Maryland Scenic Line locomotive surprised us departing, like Pap so many decades ago, from the station outbound through the Narrows.

I recorded this 60-second video of the mighty engine departing Cumberland.

The fading train reminded me that I’m gazing at my own metaphorical sunset from a long and distant dawn, when Mom and Dad brought me to see Pap’s retirement departure. I’ve been blessed to have lived well across the decades, returning repeatedly to these Allegheney Mountains, and their Nature that has nourished and enriched my life and living. So much in my own life, and across Nature, distills to seasons, chapters, and volumes. I’ve enjoyed 74 spring surges in ecosystems and terrains where I’ve resided…from these mountains to the Adirondacks to Alabama’s southern Appalachians to New Hampshire’s Whites to the Alaska Range and more. Different sections in Earth’s physical and life library.

So much for my home-woods nostalgia. Let’s head to the Narrows. My recollection is that the Narrows GAP trail is the only paved segment of the 144-mile total length. The shrub-vegetated strip borders the trail on the highway 20-feet below, which hugs Wills Creek another 20-feet below it. The far side at the base of Wills Mountain carries two tracks of the still active Chessie System. The RR sign below signals bikers and pedestrians to carefully cross the rail ahead as the GAP crosses to the tail-slope side of the trail.

The Narrows is a natural canyon. Its geologic history is complex. Wills Creek occupies the canyon that separates Wills and Haystack. The Creek did not cut down through the continuous ridge called by the two different names. Instead, the ridge rose up during the Appalachian-building process, and the stream cut its path as the landmass uplifted. I will stop there before I venture even deeper into a science remote from my own.

I recorded this 52-second video of the Narrows near our turn-around point two miles from Cumberland.

We began our trek 15 minutes before a heavy shower forced us under the eaves of a commercial building near the trail. We dried as the skies cleared and a hot summer sun baked us.

I recorded this 57-second video offering commentary on my 74-year personal and professional story that began in these Allegheny Mountains.

The Haystack Mountain tailslope forest provides afternoon shade for the trail. Knowing the long period of coal-fired rail traffic, I wondered how many times hot cinders ignited the forest. The current stand has likely not burned since the onset of diesel locomotives.

We found a large patch of Japanes knotweed, an aggressive invasive. I reluctantly admit that the plant has particularly attractive shiny foliage.

After the shower, the boys stand dripping beside one of the benches, acknowledging a longtime GAP proponent and supporter.

I could not resist posting this snapshot as one of 15-or-so rail pedal-carts trundled toward Cumberland. The recreational vendor boards passengers at Frostburg, about a dozen miles up the GAP from Cumberland. I’ve biked the route, enjoying a nearly pedal-free coast to the Narrows and then a flat ride to the railway station. The occupants pedaled past us. In Cumberland, the passengers return to Frostburg aboard the Western Maryland Scenic Line. The vendor somehow transports the carts back to Frostburg. Perhaps a diesel engine pulled them as a train?

An historic frontier transportation and industrial hub, Cumberland now draws sustenance from its Natural beauty and recreational amenities. The place I loved as a youth, that shaped my future direction and life, has deepened and polished its Nature-luster, drawing me to its breast…nurturing me and fanning a nearly latent homing instinct. No, don’t fret…I won’t be vacating my retirement domicile, but I did feel the attraction.