Second day of SWP and I am hiking up Curry Mountain Trail to Lumber Ridge Trail and down Meigs Creek Trail. It sounds like a lot but is only 8.8 miles and we have all day to do it. We are led by soft spoken Todd and sidekick "the Sedgemaster" John. Being at the back of the group, I can not hear anything. We hike upward at "botany pace". Lots of Dwarf Crested Iris.
Pipe Vine in bloom
Several of us decide to hike on our own for a while. We can't hear the trail commentary anyway. One gal from Pennsylvania - Kennett Square, tells me that Vietnamese farmers in Ohio have taken over the button mushroom trade from Kennett Square. So, now it only grows specialty mushrooms - oyster, portabello, cremini, maitaki, shiitaki etc. We also talk about Ash trees. A quarter of the trees in PA are Ash and they are all going to die. Dead Ash can not be cut since they pose too much risk to foresters. They are brittle and fall/break in unpredictable ways.
We eat a very quick lunch at the first trail junction and then head off on the Lumber Ridge Trail. My friend Sandy and another gal push ahead of the group at a faster pace.
We see a lot of grape vines in the area. Note the photo above and how the vines have killed their host trees.
John shows us a magic trick with a Dogwood leaf. The leaf looks separate but it actually attached by thin strands.
There are brilliant patches of Iris here. It is only 1.9 miles to the next junction but it takes a lot of time. When we finally arrive, Sandy is waiting for us but the other gal has gone ahead. I change into my creek crossing shoes as there are 18 crossing ahead.
This beetle must like the glossy hemlock shelf fungus. With all the dead Hemlocks along this drainage, there is plenty of shelf fungus.
Painted Trillium does not always show up, but I did see a few along the creek. With my creek crossing shoes I decide early on to get ahead of the group. I know it will be slow going for many. The first few crossings are rock hops but will take 20+ people a while to cross. Sandy is with me and we soon distance the group.
Dog Hobble at creekside
By about the 5th or 6th crossing, there is no rock hopping. You just have to get wet. I get wet up to my thigh but Sandy being shorter, gets to waist deep. I try to keep track of the crossings so I'll know when to get back into boots but I lose count at some point.
Finally, we steer clear of the river and can get back into boots. There is still over a mile to the trailhead. We decide to hike out and see if we can get a ride back to our vehicles. When we get to the trailhead, we catch up with the other member of our group. Sandy asks a few folks at the Sinks if we can get a ride and after a few minutes she gets a ride for us. We leave a note on the shuttle van and head out.
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