"Clean" natural gas pipeline scar
As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago (seems like just yesterday) I took a few days off from work, blogging and podcasting to take a hike in the woods. It was a great trip and provided a needed attitude adjustment. Sometimes urban life can get a bit trying. We saw some great scenery and reminded ourselves that the world is not really teeming with people; we often went for hours without seeing a single soul and had our campsites to ourselves for two out of the three nights we were out.
The Appalachian Trail, however, is not totally remote from people. It crosses roads, is getting awfully close to suburbs, and is often crossed by power lines or gas pipeline clearings. I thought that this picture captures pretty well a little known aspect of using natural gas – though the pipes are buried and not visible in urban environments, they are not compatible with trees and still result in the same kinds of vegetation free pathways (established and enforced through the generous application of herbicides) that are common to power lines.
