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The PPA announced winners for the their photography contest. I didn’t win, but I was beaten out by some great pictures. Below are some, follow the link for all. My Quaker peeps should know that Jaime Cromartie is a member of Atlantic City Area meeting, so at least one of the family made it!

A Flickr user name Oceanpeg just left a comment on one of my recent pictures to let me know that the Pinelands Preservation Alliance is holding a photo contest! I’m a big fan of the PPA and try to get to a few of their events every year but didn’t see this in part because the announcement is only a PDF on their site. Here’s the relevant information about the contest, download the PDF for full rules. The three pictures here are the ones I just submitted.

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Pinelands Preservation Alliance 20th Anniversary Pinelands Photo Contest

Pinelands Preservations Alliance (PPA) is the only non-profit organization whose sole mission is to preserve and protect the natural resources of the New Jersey Pinelands. PPA is 20 years old this year and you can help us celebrate!

Have you ever paddled your way through cedar-colored water, hunted or fished, hiked on sugar sand, helped clean up the woods, waters or roadways, in the Pine Barrens? If so you probably have captured these moments in a photograph. We want you to enter them in our 20th Anniversary Pinelands Photo Contest.

Who can enter?

• Anyone 18 years or older (no contest judges or PPA staff or their families)
• Under the age of 18 all submissions must be made by a parent or guardian

What to enter:
One photograph, taken within the last two years, in any or all, of the categories below:

• Enjoying the New Jersey Pinelands (hiking, picnicking, watching the world go by, etc)
• Protecting the New Jersey Pinelands (clean-ups, trail projects, etc)
• Nature & Wildlife of the New Jersey Pinelands (deer, birds, orchids, frogs, etc)

How to enter:
You can submit photos from May 15th to June 15th.

1. All images must be submitted electronically in JPG format and no larger than 1024x1024 pixel and 2MB in JPG format.
2. Please only submit one image per email.
3. Email your submission to photocontest@pinelandsalliance.org
4. Include the category you are entering in the subject line.
5. Include your name, address, phone number and email address with each submission.
6. Tell us when and where the picture was taken and feel free to include up to 3 sentences about the photograph.
7. You can enter scans of negatives, transparencies, or photographic prints; the picture need not be taken with a digital camera.
8. We can’t accept CDs or prints.

Get the full rules in this two-page contest PDF flyer and find out more about the good work of the Pinelands Preservation Alliance through their website.

Spring Trail: Remains of Atsion Fire, 10/08.

A huge and I mean huge bird: A turkey vulture I think, though I’ve rarely seen one this big. It stirred in the tree branches along the ground near us, then flew with wide wingspan up to this tree. Remains of Atsion Fire, 10/08.

Earth, Fire, Water: Remains of Atsion Fire of 10/08, photographed seven months later.

Oddly quiet: Remains of Atsion Fire, 10/08.

Regeneration: The green in the back is regrowth from a fire about ten years ago. Remains of Atsion Fire, 10/08.

Bloodied stumps?: The pine barren’s distinctive “tea colored” water give the charred trunks a ghastly air. Remains of Atsion Fire, 10/08.

Celebrated Spring with a 24 mi-or-so rt bike ride thru pine barren back roads this morning w/35 pound weight (aka Francis) along. Fun.

Pitcher plant: Beware insects! One of the Pine Barren’s carnivorous plants

Yesterday the kids and I took a road trip to Apple Pie Hill, a summit of loose gravel that towers over the South Jersey pinelands from a dizzying height of 208 feet above sea level. A fire watch tower on the summit adds another few dozen feet, enough to get a visitor over the treetops. On a clear day it’s said you can see the skylines of Atlantic City and Philadelphia. Fortunately for me it was an quintessentially beautifully fall day—clear and crisp. It was easy to spot the cities, both thirty-two miles away (mostly to the south and mostly to the east respectively) and here’s blowups of the two resultant photos:


More pictures, from left: Sand road to the hill, the fire tower, the view down through the steps of the tower (the kids were left in the car), two year old Francis eager but thwarted attempt to repeat Papa’s climb up tower. Click individual photos for enlarged and geotagged versions. More photos of this and out stopover at Atsion later in the day on yesterday’s Flickr page.

For those interested in repeating our journey, here’s a map showing our route up and back. I was mostly winging it, depending on these directions from NJPineslandsandDownJersey.com starting from nearby Chatsworth NJ, self-styled “Capital of the Pine Barrens.”



View Larger Map (via Quaker Ranter Martin Kelley)

Trip to Pine Barren’s famous Apple Pie Hill: Looking down through the tower’s staircase

Trip to Pine Barren’s famous Apple Pie Hill: Theo chickened out on climbing the tower (smart) but Francis and Elmo were game (and were stopped)

Trip to Pine Barren’s famous Apple Pie Hill: You can look out across the entire width of the state of New Jersey from Apple Pie Hill’s fire tower. Both cities sit thirty-two miles from the hill.

Trip to Pine Barren’s famous Apple Pie Hill: Lunch was in order after the adventure.