Douthat State Park - East Side Hike

Yesterday the Monday Morning Hikers hiked along Beard's Mountain on the east side of Douthat State Park: Beard's Gap Trail to Mountain Side Trail to Ross Camp Trail to Wilson Creek Trail back to start. With 43 miles of hiking trails in the park, it's one of our standard destinations.

Crossing the stream along Beard's Gap Trail.

View of Douthat Lake and Middle Mountain from Mountain Side Trail.

Crossing a stream along Mountain Side Trail.

At the 6th stream crossing along Mountain Side Trail (at the top of the elusive Ross Camp Trail), a huge chestnut oak had fallen along the stream bed. Making our way through the fallen crown was difficult for two reasons: (1) finding a way through the maze of branches in the crown, and (2) never knowing exactly where was solid ground and where might you drop a foot or two into the stream bed.

Spotted Wintergreen (Chimaphila maculata). The green leaves are visible throughout the winter on the forest floor (hence the name). It does not have a minty "wintergreen" odor.

Goat's Rue (Tephrosia virginiana).

One of my favorite wildflowers: Indian Pipe (Monotropa uniflora) emerges from the forest floor in the summer - especially after a soaking rain. I wrote a whole blog post about Indian Pipe back in 2016.

We also saw two spectacular fungi. This is the Jack O' Lantern Mushroom, that reportedly glows in the dark if it is dark enough. I've tried, but never seen the glow.

Sulphur Shelf Fungus is common and eye-catching.

Cranberry Glades

The Cranberry Glades near Marlinton, WV, are an interesting place to visit at any time of the year. The Field Ecology Governor's School visits every year in late June. They are only a small detour on our recent regular trips to Pittsburgh, so we've seen some interesting contrasts as the seasons change.

The Cranberry Glades Botanical Area has a half-mile long boardwalk through two glades, as well as the shrubs and the bog forest. On May 9, the boardwalk was dusted with snow from unseasonably late cold weather.

A month later (June 6) it's clearly late spring/early summer.

By late June (June 28, 2018 in this case) the boardwalk is overgrown - mostly with cinnamon ferns.

Round Glade on May 9.

Round Glade on June 6. Every year the glade has more and more shrubs as the bog fills in and gets drier.

The boardwalk crosses Yew Creek several times. This was taken on May 9.

Yew Creek on June 6. The water is typically tea-colored with tannins from bog vegetation.

Cinnamon ferns were unfurling and their spore stalks were just beginning to mature. (The "cinnamon" name was given because the mature spore stalk takes on a dark brown cinnamon color.)

A red eft on the boardwalk. This is the terrestial juvenile stage of the red-spotted newt, which is aquatic.

Pitcher plants were just beginning to grow new leaves (pitchers).

By the end of June they will have many more new pitchers, as well as their distinctive flowers. (Photo from June 30, 2016)

Mount Pleasant Hike - Wildflowers

Yesterday our hiking group hiked the Henry Lanum Loop Trail at Mount Pleasant in Amherst County. This is a not-too-difficult trail with stunning views and lots of interesting wildflowers. At 4,000 feet, this area was still in early-to-mid spring, about 4 weeks behind the valleys.

Rhododendron were in full bloom, although they were mostly at the top of the tall shrubs and difficult to see. This is most likely Rhododendron catawbiense, since that is large and blooms early.

We also saw an occasional pink azalea (Rhododendron periclymenoides, formerly R. nudiflorum). It is also known as "pinxterflower".

White Clintonia (Clintonia umbelullata)

A closer look at the Clintonia flower.

Jack-in-the-Pulpits (Arisaema triphyllum) were difficult to see, but really quite common. The leaf and the flower are on separate stalks.

More Jack-in-the-Pulpit.

Hickory leaves were emerging from their large buds. Looking around the forest, my best guess is that this is Shagbark Hickory (Carya ovata).

Mountain Anemone (Anemone lancifolia)

Wood Betony (Pediularis canadensis), also known as Lousewort. Most often this striking flower is all-yellow, and according to Wildflowers of North Carolina, it is uncommon.

Zebra Swallowtail (Eurytides marcellus) sipping nectar from a blueberry flower (Vaccinium spp.) on the east summit of Mt Pleasant. Zebra Swallowtail caterpillars eat only pawpaw leaves. So if you see zebra swallowtails, look for pawpaws nearby!

Saving the best for last - Pink Lady's Slippers (Cypripedium acaule). We saw a lot of these orchids on our return up Pompey Mountain. (As one critic said, this is the most uphill "down the mountain" trail I've ever been on.) Stanley Bentley writes in Native Orchids of the Southern Appalachian Mountains, "Not only do certain native orchids have a fondness for one another, but other wildflowers are often closely associated with certain orchids. When you are in territory where you see Clinton's lilies [Clintonia], lily of the valley, or Indian cucumber-root, you are in pink lady's slipper territory." We checked all three of those companions here.

Pink Lady's Slipper

Head-on and side views of the Pink Lady's Slipper flower. Bumblebees pollinate these flowers by entering through the front slit, and then exiting through a small hole at the top of the flower.

Mount Pleasant Hike - Views

Yesterday our hiking group hiked the Henry Lanun Loop Trail at Mount Pleasant in Amherst County. This is a not-too-difficult trail with stunning views and lots of interesting wildflowers.

The east side of Pompey Mountain had numerous small streams to cross.

The summit of Mt Pleasant has rocky outcrops at the northwest and southeast ends. This is the outcrop at the west end.

The view from the west summit is about 180°. This is a small portion of the view looking southwest.

The rocks at the east summit are easier to get to and move around on. The tops of the peaks clearly have fewer leaves on the trees than the lower elevations do.

Looking to east and the agricultural lands of the piedmont.

We liked the way these large boulders were stacked - and how it looked as if the tree was holding them in place. They also reminded us of the rock niches where early Buddhist monks in Sri Lanka took shelter.