Today's SWP hike is led by Doris Gove. The planned route is from Big Creek to the firetower and back. The climb up is a massive 4240' in elevation gain. After crossing Big Creek and walking in the shadow of a wall of rock face, we enter some bottomlands. Obviously, inhabited at one time, the area reveals many relics from the recent past. Most notable is the 35' chimney on the banks of Big Creek. The Crestmont Lumber Company built this lodge years ago. The chimney has a mortarless look to it, with rocks jutting out in all directions, as below.
Young, tall and straight Poplar Tuliptrees populate the bottomland.
The first stage of our hike was peppered with wildflower stops. The display was as good as it gets. Purple Phacelia was thicker than I have ever experienced it.
After we made it through the first 2 miles, the trail entered a drier area and the wildflowers were left behind. We did see 2 lone Painted Trilliums here. As the hike wore on, 4 of the the original 10 dropped out. At the 4 mile mark I called it quits. I sat on a Chestnut log and ate a leisurely lunch, watching Teresa and Doris drudge by on there way to the top.
The largest Persimmon Tree I have ever seen.
Yellow Mandarin keeping a Sweet White Trillium company in one of the many rich areas along this trail.
No comments:
Post a Comment