The Photography of Dr. Jeff Harper

The River North Esk, Angus, Scotland.  A remarkable river cutting though some strange geology and some of the most beautiful forest scenery ever.

Just outside of the pretty village of Edzell, where a bridge crosses the North Esk River, which denotes the boundary between the shires of Angus and Aberdeenshire, is a blue door.  Her begins the Blue Door Nature Trail.

 The Blue Door trail follows along the North Esk River through a magnificent old forest.

The trail itself is made of crushed acorns . . . it is very easy walking.  Mountain bikes prohibited.

There are many views from the trail down to the North Esk River.

So much natural beauty.

The geology revealed by the North Esk was very complex.  Striped, layered formations laying horizontally across the river.  This is known as the Deerhope Formation and is a sequence, up to 155 m thick, of cross-stratified sandstones, including one major conglomeratic interval.

Then I came upon this forest scene.  Magic. Where are the Hobbits?

We will go back and hike up to the waterfall and standing stone columns.  This is perhaps one of the most beautiful nature trail I have ever walked outside of Oregon.  Impressive.

Scotland is full of wonder.