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| Ramblers huddled together to keep warm |
On this very cold morning, 28 Ramblers
assembled for the last ramble of 2014.
Paige brought us some very tasty pumpkin bread to get us going. Thank you, Paige!
Click here to see Don Hunter’s photo album for today’s ramble. (All the
photos in this blog post are from Don’s album.)
30 Ramblers appeared today for what started out as a the
coldest ramble of the season, but the chill was easily ignored as we saw many
fascinating things.
Click here
to see Don Hunter’s photo album for today’s ramble. (All the photos in this
blog are from Don’s album.)
Today’s reading: Bob
Ambrose recited one of his new poetic creations, “The
Ache at the Edge of Autumn.” (Visit Bob’s website to read more
of his wonderful poems
Today’s
route: Leaving the bus stop in the
upper parking lot we sauntered through the middle section of the parking lot
looking at trees, making our way over to the head of the Orange Trail. We went down the Orange Trail to the Hepatica
Bridge and took the Orange Trail spur up to the flower gardens and in to the
Visitor Center.
The parking lot would seem to be a poor place to experience
nature but the unmaintained strips that separate the asphalt parking areas have
lots of easily accessible trees and shrubs. Because they are exposed to more
light than those in the wooded areas they can retain their leaves longer. So we
took some time to look at the vegetation growing in these strips of land.
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| Ramblers, awed by the color of Sourwood & Tuliptree |
The most prominent saplings were decorated with radiant red
leaves, but they were strangely unfamiliar. The leaf shape hinted at Sourwood, but they were not as long as
those seen on the mature trees in the forest. They could have been Black Gum,
which also glows with red in the autumn, but the leaves are not eye-shaped
enough and they lacked to two “horns” that are often seen on Black
Gum. The most puzzling aspect was the bark — where were the deep ridges that
is characteristic of Sourwood? As it turns out those ridges develop much later
in life; the young Sourwood has smooth bark! So how are we certain that it was
a Sourwood? We found an old inflorescence — irrefutable proof — no other tree
in our area has a similar cluster of flowers
Next to the Sourwood is a young sapling Tuliptree (AKA Yellow poplar, Tulip poplar). In the forest
Tuliptrees grow straight up, looking like giant cylindrical towers, but this
sapling was curved, leaning out towards the parking area where the light was
more intense, showing us that the form of the species in the woods is due to
the more even distribution of light.
There were two very large, white mushrooms emerging from the ground here. Unfortunately none of us
were able to identify them. The undersurface of the large cap had gills and
someone wanted to know where the spores were produced. Spores are produced from
the surface of the gills, always on the underside of the mushroom. This allows
the microscopic spores to drop downward where they are caught and transported
away by the gentlest of breezes. The gills greatly expand the spore-producing
surface, so a mushroom can produce literally, as Carl Sagan would say, “billions
and billions” spores.
One shrub still had green leaves and that should have been
the tip off, but we were all thinking of native plants and this didn’t look
like any in the Garden that might be considered evergreen. Lili called us to
our senses — it wasn’t a native in the strict sense. It is native to the
coastal plain but does well here in the piedmont. As soon as Lili told us what
it was we found the confirmation, tiny, waxy berries attached to the twigs and
stems. You know what I’m talking about, don’t you? Wax myrtle. (It used to be called Myrica cerifera, but is now is sometimes known as Morella cerifera.) The name derives from
the waxy berries. In colonial times they were gathered and boiled, the wax
floating to the top where it could be skimmed off and used to make candles.
Someone asked “Didn’t it take an enormous number of berries to make a
candle?” Yes, it did. But what other choices did early colonists have?
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|
| Hop hornbean leaf with some doubly serrate teeth |
Young Hop hornbeams
grow here and you can see that their bark has not yet developed the flaky, cat
scratch appearance that is so characteristic of the mature tree. Scattered
among the Hop hornbeam saplings are a few Winged
elms. If you look carefully you can find the corky
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| Winged Elm leaf with
triply serrate teeth |
ridges on a few of the
twigs and the remnants of those ridges also appear as irregular bumps on the
bark of the trunk. At this young age both species resemble one another but if
you look closely at the leaves you will see that the winged elm has triply
serrate edges while the hop hornbeam has single to doubly serrate margins.
While we were looking for the “wings” on the
winged elm Andie noticed that a Leaf-footed
bug had fallen on my jacket. It was so cold it could barely
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| Leaf-footed bug; mouth parts are held under the head. |
move, so we
could get a good look at it. The name derives from the large, leaf-like
expansions of it hind feet. No one knows the function of these structures, but
often exaggerated traits in animals are due to sexual selection. (Think of the
peacock’s tail, or the antlers of deer, moose and elk.) Why don’t we have the
answer to this question? Too many insects, not enough entomologists. If you
look carefully at Don’s photo of this bug you can see one of the
characteristics that identifies a true bug: the piercing, sucking mouthpart. It
is a needle-like structure seen below the head and pointing backward. This
mouth part allows bugs to pierce through plant tissues and suck out their
juices. And some bug species are predatory, using this type of mouth part to
pierce the skin of other insects and suck out their body fluids(or blood in the
case of vertebrate victims)
.
Down on the Orange trail we stopped to look at an American Beech. One easily seen feature
identifies this tree: the long, pointed, cigar-shaped buds at the ends of the
twigs or the base of the leaves. The beech retains its leaves throughout winter
and makes a wonderful sight when the early morning sun makes them glow to life in
an otherwise drab, dormant forest. Other local species that retain their leaves
in winter are Hop hornbeam, the oaks and chalk maple, but only the Beech and Hop hornbeam produce a radiant
glow in the morning sun. (Look for this on the approach to the lower parking
lot when you come to the Garden during winter.)
The forest at the upper end of the Orange trail still has a
large number of Pine trees and many of the hardwoods are young and not yet tall
enough to reach the canopy. This is an early stage in forest succession. This area was in cultivation prior to the
creation of the State Botanical Garden. When the agricultural fields were left
undisturbed they were occupied by grasses and herbaceous plants. The first
trees to occupy the abandoned farm land were the pines and they became the
dominant canopy species. But pine seedlings do not thrive in shade and so the
hardwoods start to occupy the understory. As the pines die they will be
replaced by the young hardwoods that you see growing here now. The understory
plants are, at present, few and far between. This is undoubtedly due to the
heavy grazing by deer in the garden.
Some of the shrubs we see along the Orange trail are in the blueberry
family, Sparkleberry (also known as
Farkleberry) and High bush Blueberry.
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| Oyster mushrooms |
Don noticed a clump of Oyster mushrooms growing at the base
of a hickory tree.
And, as if we didn’t already know it, we saw a reliable sign
of autumn: the first leaves of the Cranefly
Orchid, Tipularia. This unusual
plant produces a single accordion-pleated leaf, green on top and purple on the
bottom, in the
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| Tipularia leaves |
fall. The leaf will spend the winter taking advantage of the
sunlight that is no longer blocked by the leaves of the tree canopy overhead.
It is able, through photosynthesis, to manufacture sugar that is stored in its
underground corm. Come spring, the Tipularia leaf dies back and, in mid-summer,
a flowering stalk carrying a dozen or more blossoms appears, sans leaf. Sometimes the old spent flowering
stalk may be seen at this time of year next to the newly emerged leaf. (This website has pictures of
Tipularia flowers as well as some
natural history information.
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|
| Looking at Silver bell tree |
Further down the trail we were puzzled by a tree that we
should have known. It had simple, alternate leaves that were roughly round in
shape and had toothed margins. We all scratched our heads until someone had the
good sense to look higher up and saw the striped bark characteristic of the Silver bell. This individual was
growing in an atypically dry environment; normally Silver bell grows nearer to
streams or in riverine bottom lands.
We also noted the bark of mature Black cherry, which
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| Black Cherry bark |
Emily describes as looking like “smashed,
burnt potato chips.”
All along many of the trails in the Garden you will find Christmas fern; it’s the most common
fern in the Garden. The identifying feature is the shape of the leaflet
(pinnule in fern-speak) — it looks like a Christmas stocking — there is a
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| Christmas fern sporangia |
little toe projecting to the side at the base. When Christmas ferns produce
spores the terminal pinnules develop sporangia
on their under surfaces. These small structures house the developing spores and
release them when they mature. Like the spores of mushrooms, they are carried
away by air currents and, if they are lucky, will land in a favorable location
and ultimately produce a new fern. I’ve been curious to see when these fertile
fronds are produced and, so far, my impression is that you can find them in
every month of the year. (New Year’s Resolution: record when fertile fronds are
seen.)
The Orange trail has two erosional features that grow larger with each passing year. One is
the intermittent channel that carries runoff and comes down from the left. The
other is the gully to the right, which is the origin of the Orange trail creek.
This gully is an example of headward erosion. It is caused by seepage of ground
water that emerges from its base. This ground water carries away soil as it
seeps out, causing the ground above to slump. Over time the very large gully
you see here has developed.
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| Southern Grape fern |
Further along, Avis, she of the ever sharp eyes, discovered
a Southern grape fern with fertile
frond. Avis amused herself and others by flicking the fertile frond and
producing a cloud of spores. But, unlike a Bic, after two flicks it was done.
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|
| Wooly galls on Water Oak |
Someone found an unusual structure on a Water oak leaf. It
is called a gall and is formed when,
in this case, an insect lays an egg in the midrib of the leaf. The plant reacts
by producing the abnormal growth that we see here in Don’s photo. When the egg
inside hatches the larval insect feeds on the tissue of the gall and is
protected from many predators or parasites by the gall structure.
I originally thought this was a Wool sower gall, but, after
getting home and looking at my reference books, I’ve decided that it is a Wooly gall. Wool sower galls appear on
oak stems, are spherical and covered with pink and tan fuzz. The galls we found are on the leaf
mid-rib and are just tan in color. The Wooly gall is caused by a type of small
wasp.
The gall is made of plant tissues and is produced by the
reaction of the plant to either the presence of the egg, or something else that
the insect transmits with the egg when it is laid. The growth that results is
always typical of the species of insect that causes it. How these
species-specific growths are produced is one of the mysteries of galls. It is
known that many bacteria and fungi that can infect plants produce oddly shaped
growth responses, but these are usually amorphous and ill-formed. Gall
producing insects of one species cause repeatable, organized responses on the
part of the plant. You can identify the insect by the structure of the gall it
produces. No one, to my knowledge, knows how that precision of growth pattern
is produced. This website
has photos and information about the galls caused by a variety of different
organisms.
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| Delicate fern moss |
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|
| Delicate fern moss closeup |
Further down the trail we found a fallen, dead tree trunk on
which a large mat of Delicate fern moss
was growing. Someone asked if the mosses were decomposing the tree. The answer
is no. They may be getting some nutrients from the decomposing tree, but the
bulk of their nutrition comes from rainfall and dust. And, of course, they make
sugar from carbon dioxide in the air and water. From that sugar they manufacture
the cell walls that collectively make up the bodies of the moss. Those mosses
that grow on soil do derive some nutrients from the soil, but others that grow
on logs, tree trunks or rocks are just using the substrate for support. Here is a wonderful online resource for
moss ecology, but it presupposes a lot of background in biology.
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|
| Broad Beech fern |
Continuing along the trail we picked up leaves from the
ground and found those of Northern Red oak and Red maple. There was a Winged
elm with some of the corky wings visible against the sky high in the tree. The
usual vines were encountered: Climbing Hydrangia,
Poison Ivy and Muscadine grapes. Near streamside we see the Musclewood trees and somone found a Red mulberry. There were numerous Broad beech ferns, just beginning to senesce, and, on one of them,
a Daddy longlegs.
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| Daddy longlegs on Broad beech fern |
The Daddy longlegs (also known as Harvestmen) is not
an insect — count the legs. All harvestmen have 8 legs, not 6 as in insects. Spiders also
have 8 legs, but Daddy longlegs aren’t spiders either. There are many kinds of
Arthropods (animals with an exoskeleton and jointed legs): crustaceans,
insects, spiders, millipedes, centipedes and harvestmen, to name the most
common groups. Daddy longlegs, despite what you might have heard, are not
venomous. That is an urban legend. They feed on decaying vegetation and animal
matter. They have a segmented body, like all other arthropods, but it is not
divided into cleanly separate parts as in other arthropods. The little round
body rolls head, thorax and abdomen together, as you can see in Don’s photo.
Also notice the two tiny eyes on top at the front; they look like a pair of
poppy seeds.
George turned over a rotting log and found a Southern two-lined salamander beneath
it. We placed it into a transparent box so everyone could examine it. The
southern Appalachians is the home of an explosive radiation of salamanders.
There are more species of lungless salamanders found there than anywhere else,
except possibly, tropical America. The lungless salamanders (plethodontids — family
Plethodontidae) breath through the lining of the mouth and the surface of the
skin. Some are largely aquatic, inhabiting streams and stream sides throughout their
lives. Others are completely terrestrial, not even returning to water to
reproduce. Their eggs are laid in moist situations, as under logs, and develop
directly into adult salamanders. Others, like the Southern two-lined salamander, are
intermediate: the adults are terrestrial, but they return to the streams to lay
eggs that develop into aquatic larvae that later metamorphose into terrestrial
adults. Many plethodontids exhibit parental care, the female remaining with the
eggs until they hatch. If the parent salamander is removed the eggs disappear
or fail to hatch.
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| Sycamore fruits |
Jane found a Sycamore
fruit that was beginning to crumble apart, giving us an opportunity to see how
the Sycamore seeds form. Sycamore flowers are either male (stamens only) or
female (pistils only) and each tree has flowers of both sexes. The collection
of flowers, an inflorescence, is shaped like a small Tootsie Pop. All the
flowers, male or female, are clustered about a spherical central ball on a
stalk. Each female flower will produce a single seed, attached to the central
ball. Surrounding each seed is cluster of bristles that will dry out when the
fruit is ripe and fragment into fluffy flotation devices that will be wafted
away in the breeze, each carrying their seed to distant places. Some will fall
into a nearby river where they will float downstream until they are stranded on
a bar or bank where they can germinate. In the photo one of the Sycamore fruits
is already fragmenting and you can see the central “Tootsie Pop”
where the seeds were anchored.
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| Hepatica leaves |
For some of us Fall, while beautiful with its gaudy leafy
decoration, is an omen of the approaching winter. We look everywhere for some
positive sign and near the bridge we found it — fresh leaves of Hepatica, newly emerged in preparation
for producing flowers early next spring. It’s something to look forward to,
isn’t it!
SUMMARY OF OBSERVED SPECIES:
|
Common Name |
Scientific Name |
|
Sourwood |
Oxydendrum arboretum |
|
Tulip tree |
Liriodendron tulipifera |
|
Large mushrooms |
? |
|
Hop hornbeam |
Ostrya virginiana |
|
Winged elm |
Ulmus alata |
|
Leaf-footed bug |
Family Coreidae; Leptoglossus sp. |
|
American beech |
Fagus grandifolia |
|
Sparkleberry |
Vaccinium arboreum |
|
Oyster mushroom |
Pleurotus ostreatus |
|
Crane fly orchid |
Tipularia discolor |
|
Silverbell tree |
Halesia carolina |
|
Black cherry |
Prunus serotina |
|
Christmas fern |
Polystichum acrostichoides |
|
Post oak |
Quercus stellata |
|
Southern grape fern |
Botrychium biternatum |
|
Wooly gall |
Family Cynipidae? |
|
Water oak |
Quercus alba |
|
Delicate fern moss |
Thuidium delicatulum |
|
Northern red oak |
Quercus rubra |
|
Climbing hydrangea |
Decumaria barbara |
|
Poison ivy |
Toxicodendron radicans |
|
Red maple |
Acer rubrum |
|
Muscadine |
Vitis rotundifoflia |
|
Musclewood |
Carpinus caroliniana |
|
bulbous shelf mushroom |
|
|
Red mulberry |
Morus rubra |
|
Southern two-lined salamander |
Eurycea cirrigera |
|
Broad beech fern |
Phegopteris hexagonoptera |
|
Daddy longlegs |
Order Opiliones |
|
American sycamore |
Platanus occidentalis |
|
Chalk maple |
Acer leucoderme |
|
Round-lobed hepatica |
Anemone americana |
Twenty-three Ramblers assembled at the
Arbor by the Lower Parking Lot for a
Ramble on Grasses led by Linda Chafin.
Don Hunter’s photo album for today’s
ramble is here.
Event
of Interest:
Doug Tallamy, author of Bringing Nature Home is speaking at the Exotic Pest
Plant Conference at the Georgia Center, Nov 12 and 13, 3:50pm. Admission is
$15.00 for each presentation.
Today’s
readings:
Today we had readings brought to us by Ed Wilde, Hugh Nourse and Linda Chafin.
Thirty-one Ramblers assembled by the
Arbor at 8:30AM this morning.
Don Hunter’s album for today’s ramble is here.
We started
with a reading by Hugh from Joni Mitchell’s song, “Big Yellow
Taxi.” She had arrived late at
night in Honolulu. The next morning she
woke up and opened the curtains hoping to see a marvelous view of the lush
island and sea. She saw a parking lot
instead. That inspired her to write the
“Big Yellow Taxi.” Hugh read
only the first stanza and the chorus:
We had another
enormous (for us) turnout this morning — 30 Ramblers gathered at the arbor for
a ramble that started out chilly and turned balmy.
We had one
recitation and two readings contributed today.
Bob Ambrose graced
us with another of his poetic creations, An Old Field Encounter. Click here for the text of his poem.
Twenty two Ramblers appeared for a ramble on this
delightfully cool fall morning.
Click
here to see Don Hunter’s photos of today’s ramble.
Today’s reading was an original poem, by Kitty Everett,
written to accompany a photograph of an unusual mushroom:
“Old Mother Nature is a tricky old
girl,
She gave this mushroom a pretty little
whirl.”
Fifteen Ramblers gathered at 8:30AM by
the Arbor on another fine fall October day.
Click here
to see Don Hunter’s album of today’s ramble.
Many Ramblers will remember Joan West, a young UGA post-doctoral
student who accompanied us for about a year before she left Athens to hike the
Pacific Crest Trail. Joan was temporarily sidetracked by injury but continued
her trek after recovering. Winter is now impending so she will take a break and
will resume hiking the PCT next year. Click here to read her blog about
her PCT experiences, as well as her helpful tips on backpacking and hiking.
Opening Reception for
Hugh and Carol Nourse photography exhibit, Wild Flowers, Wild Places:
The reception will be held in the Visitor Center, October
12, 2-4PM. The Nourses have selected 33 Images drawn from over 20 years of
photographing native plants and their habitats, mostly from Georgia and the
southeastern U.S., with a few from the western U.S. and Newfoundland. The
exhibition will display in the Visitor Center of the State Botanical Garden of
Georgia from October 12 thru November 23.
A Walking History of
the Sandy Creek Nature Center, with Dr. Walter “Walt” Cook
Nine participants, including the leader, Dr. Walter “Walt”
Cook, met at the Sandy Creek Nature Center Education and Visitor Center for a
walk, led by Dr. Cook, along several of the center’s trails. We started at 9:00 a.m. and were treated to a
history of the center, as we walked the trails, wrapping up with coffee, pie
and chocolate chip banana bread back at the Education and Visitor Center when
we were through walking. Here is a
summary of the walk, along with observations made along the way.
This report was written by Don Hunter; Click
here to see Don’s photo album of the walk.
We left the Visitor and Education Center (VEC) and headed
across the North Oconee River Greenway and entered the trail system behind the
Allen House. At the information kiosk
behind the Allen House, Dr. Cook provided some historical perspective regarding
the center, from the initial days, when a relatively small group, which
included Dr. Cook, conceived the idea of a nature center, but was not
financially able to get the idea off the ground. The City of Athens, with a parks and
recreation program, rolled the center into their parks and recreation system
and eventually, after the city and county governments were consolidated, Athens
– Clarke County to cover ownership and management of the now called Sandy Creek
Nature Center (SCNC).
Pine Ridge and Cook’s Trail:
Passing through the split rail fence behind the Allen House,
we walked a short distance on the Pine Ridge Trail and turned left onto Cook’s
Trail, named for Dr. Cook. Dr. Cook
mentioned that much of the SCNC property, particularly in the vicinity of the
Allen House, was sharecropped by the
Thurmond family, from which came Michael Thurmond, who served in the Georgia
legislature and was later elected Labor
Commissioner of the State of Georgia.
We made our way along Cook’s Trail to the “bottoms” and
along the way found several nice mushrooms, including a nice oyster mushroom,
spectacularly back lit by the still rising morning sun.
Screech Owl Trail:
The first observation after turning onto the Screech Owl
Trail was the vast, grassy bottoms. This
area was originally heavily overgrown with privet but the USDA/U. S. Forest
Service conducted a very effective privet eradication program, removing nearly
all of the privet from the bottom. The
success of the program was somewhat bittersweet as, after the privet was
eradicated, it was replaced by Japanese stilt grass, another invasive, which
presents its own set of problems. Woodlands
grass was also seen along the trail here.
Leaving the bottoms, the trail parallels a gully, once
filled with all variety of household waste and trash. This trash was dumped in the time before
garbage pickup in the area and most has been removed by volunteer efforts.
At the Kestral Trail junction, we remained on the Screech
Owl Trail, turning right towards the northern extent of the Claypit Pond and
Hwy 441. Right after turning we saw more
mushrooms, including a beautiful, white capped mushroom (unidentified).
We stopped so that Dr. Cook could describe the geological
importance of the ridges located at various points along the SCNC trail
system. The ridges are present because
they were resistant to erosion by Sandy Creek as it, over time, moved around in
the bottoms. He also discussed the
presence of invasive plants along the trail, including several species of eleagnus,
normally found on the higher ground, and privet, which is more prominent in the
wet bottoms. We saw both of the plants
together in the transitional zone between the higher ground and the creek
bottom land. A large white mulberry was
also seen at this location.
At this point we talked about the old roads in the area that
ran through the property, including one of the original roads to Commerce, then
known as Harmony Grove. We all wondered
why a town with such a beautiful name would change it to Commerce. Our only conclusion was that it was an ill
conceived effort to promote the town as
a location for business and industry.
I’ve got to say, I like Harmony Grove much better! We soon came back to the Cook’s Trail, at the
point where it leaves the SCNC to end, four miles to the north, at Sandy Creek
Park.
Cook’s Trail:
Soon after turning to the right on to the Cook’s Trail, Dr.
Cook told us of the building of the short section of boardwalk we see now on
the trail, constructed to span a short stretch of wet, black, slimy bottomland
clay. This boardwalk was funded, in
part, by the monetary prize ($200) that came with the Alec Little Award Dr.
Cook had just received. It took another
$600 to complete the boardwalk. It was
constructed, with volunteer labor, on MLK Day, before MLK Day became recognized
as a day of volunteering. He pointed out
that after the boardwalk was completed, the area was flooded with eight feet of
water, raising the boardwalk from its anchors and moving it about three feet. Thankfully, the nearby trees kept it from
floating off down the creek.
Moving on, Dr. Cook pointed out two huge pine trees,
approximately 30 inches in diameter.
They were located on one of the old boundary lines and the reason the
pines grew so large was that trees were generally allowed to grow along
boundary lines, allowing them to escape harvest.
Hooded Warbler Trail:
We turned left off of the Cook’s Trail on to the Hooded
Warbler Trail, heading back out into the bottom, once again, seeing the broad
patches of Japanese stilt grass, where once was found thick privet. He also pointed out a pine stump, the
remaining evidence of a once tremendous pine tree, at 44 inches in
diameter. At the time it was cut down,
it was not on park property but Dr. Cook didn’t think that it would be targeted
by the loggers for removal Had he known
of its fate, he would have, if possible, bought the tree to save it from the
loggers. While lamenting its demise, he
did say that, had it been saved, it would probably be on the forest floor
rotting now, nature taking its course.
Here we also saw one of the largest trees found at the
center, a massively large water oak with a huge crown. Willow oak, with its long and narrow leaves,
can be more massive than the water oaks but Dr. Cook has not seen any large
ones at the SCNC. He did point out though,
that large ones can be seen at Scull Shoals, southeast of Athens.
Pine Ridge Trail:
We took a right off of the Hooded Warbler Trail on to the
connector trail up the hill to the Pine Ridge Trail and turned left. Our first stop was a rocky patch of ground
where, in the spring, one can view trilliums growing among the rocks, as well
as toothwort growing along the trail.
The trilliums, along with some Carolina rhododendron, were transplanted
from the Savannah River Basin, at the location of Lake Thurmond, before the
reservoir was allowed to fill. This was
a joint effort by the State Botanical Garden and botanist from UGA to salvage
several plant species. The rhododendron
was planted at the Log House. Hugh
pointed out partridge berry and wondered if they came with the trilliums and
Dr. Cook indicated that these were not part of the transplanting project. Trilliums were probably originally found at
many locations at the SCNC but at some locations were a victim of cotton
farming and were plowed out of existence.
We left the littlerocky area and made our way south along
the Pine Ridge Trail to the wooden stairs down to the Claypit Pond. We stopped here, where Dr. Cook pointed out a
round poplar log post next to the stairs, with the number eight carved into its
sloping top. He told us that posts such
as this, numbering about eighteen, were used to identify observation locations,
by number, all through the SCNC trails.
Only a few remain today as reminders of the early days of the center.
Not far from the wooden stairs, Dr. Cook pointed out a large
area between the trail and the slope down to the Claypit Pond, which was
particularly devoid of invasive or undesirable plants. Some years back, a young lady from UGA,
studying botany, organized an effort she called “Plant Killer Days” to systematically
remove all of the unwanted vegetation.
It remains relatively clear to this day, although nandina is becoming
more prevalent each year, not only at this plot, but throughout the center.
From the Crossridge Trail crossing, we proceeded along the
Pine Ridge Trail on what used to be an old logging road towards Walker Hall and
the old Brick Factory, which are located on what was the first land acquisition
for the nature center. The property was
purchased with a recreation grant which required that there be two shelters,
toilets, picnic tables and other amenities on the developed property. Walker Hall was one of the required shelters
and the other was a basic, open sided shed, which technically met the
requirements of a shelter and now lies in complete disrepair on the ground at
the Crossridge Trail crossing. The
picnic tables were located at Walker Hall and the toilets were non-flushing
Swedish toilets, located in the building.
Nearing Walker Hall, we had a nice view of the Claypit Pond,
below, and found several red partridgeberry berries. Dr. Cook pointed out that you can see two
holes or “scars” on each berry where the two flowers, typical of
partridgeberrys, were located before the berry or fruit was formed. After arriving at Walker Hall, we took the
wooden stairs down to the Claypit Pond Trail.
Claypit Pond Trail:
At the bottom of the stairs, we turned right along the
Claypit Pond Trail and skirted along the south end of the Claypit Pond. We stopped at the base of the hill, below
Walker Hall, where Dr. Cook pointed out that he had salvaged several galax
plants from a location near Red Fox Run.
This location is considerably south of their normal range and the plants
would have been wiped out by the upcoming sewer line project so he requested
permission and was allowed to transplant them to this location. They returned each year for several years,
before finally dying out, to never return again. Interestingly, he pointed out that in the
same location where the galax were found, he also saw prickly pear cactus, two
plants that you would never expect to find living together.
Moving along the edge of the Claypit Pond, we saw a Southern
grape fern and a hearts-a-bursting. Not far down the trail, I noticed a suspicious
patch of lichen on a tree trunk. I gave
it a little nudge with my finger and it moved, indicating it was actually an
aphid lion, the nymph stage of a green lacewing. The nymphs stick lichen fragments on their
backs to mimic lichen patches and avoid predation by birds.
While looking over the pond, Dr. Cooks told us that in 1974,
he was flying over the property when he noticed that it was completely
encircled by a dike, something of which he was not previously aware. He later walked the dike, constructed by the
brick factory to keep Sandy Creek out when in flood, to discover that beaver
had breached the dike and had constructed their own dams. Today, there is a three-part containment
system around the pond, the dike made by man, dams constructed by beaver and
natural levees formed by flooding of Sandy Creek.
Moving along, we saw river oats and lespedeza before turning
right up some steps, heading towards the Log House
.
Log House/Brick Factory Loop:
We turned left on the loop and, right before we reached the
Log House, we took a short trip down towards the creek to look at the
rhododendron patch, created when the Savannah River rhododendrons were
transplanted earlier.
Log House:
After viewing the rhododendrons, we walked up to the front
of the Log House for a short history of the log house. It began with a nature center members field
trip to Callaway Gardens, where it was noticed that they had an old log house
on their property. After returning from
the Callaway Gardens trip, it was decided that the nature center needed a log
house, too. After a search of four
counties in the Athens area, a suitable log house was found about a mile east
of Enterprise, between Lexington and Elberton.
The cabin was in pretty good shape and the owner, a nice lady who was a
benefactor of the Forestry School, said it could be had for free it the nature
center would pay to move it. A hauler, a
Mr. Slade, was found in Marietta, who also happened to be the hauler who moved
the covered bridge over the North Oconee River in Athens to the Stone Mountain
park, and he agreed to move it for $5,000 and a deal was made.
The chimney was removed and discarded and the roof and
porches were removed. The exterior walls
were banded before hauling. The hauler was instructed to be extremely
careful in backing the old house into it’s present location, avoiding damage to
the tree now seen to the right of the house.
After the house was set on its rock pillar foundation, a party was held
to chink the logs and finish the house.
Smith Wilson made the chinking mud and everyone else took care of the
chinking. At the same time as the
chinking party, the new roof and chimney was constructed. The chimney was
constructed using rock from the old Thurmond house, which was located in the
middle of the current greenway road, near the EVC. We were reminded by Dr. Cook that the
difference between and log house and a log cabin is that the log house has a
wood floor and the log cabin has a dirt floor.
Dr. Cook also pointed out that when the log house was
originally constructed, in 1840, the lady of the house stepped in at the last
minute and informed the men that the ceiling was going to be much too low to
handle smoke from the kitchen. You can
see, today, where the initial cuts were made for ceiling joist but were not
completed, so that three more runs of log could be laid to raise the
ceiling. As an interesting side note,
Dr. Cook told us that, while in the front office of the Forestry School one day,
where he taught before retiring, he was getting a test typed up and the woman
that was doing the typing asked him where the nature center found the log
house. When he told her where they
obtained it, she informed him that it was the house that her mother was born
in. A further coincidence is that their
family name was Slade, no relation to the gentleman who moved the house.
Later on, a short addition to the cabin was added, between
the right side of the cabin and the tree.
Brick Factory:
We made our way around the loop to the Brick Factory. As we crossed the small foot bridge, we
learned that the Brick Factory burned in 1922.
It was founded by Dr. Wilson, whose name is on the Pharmacy Building on
the UGA campus. It was not a profitable
venture.
As we made our way around the ruins, he pointed out the
large ditch which was the location of the brick drying kiln. Formed bricks were loaded on little rail cars
and made their way slowly, from one end of the kiln to the other, down the 100
yard long track, at a relatively low firing temperature, so as to prevent the
bricks from cracking. The entire drying
process took 24 hours.
The Brick Factory was the center of activities for many
Halloween events at the SCNC, and Dr. Cook was a big part of these events,
dressing as the Devil, the Grim Reaper and the Creep from the Deep. It was clear that he took great pleasure in
these activities.
We headed towards the greenway, via Walker Hall, and saw a
large orb weaver web with a huge orange and brown orb weaver spider. When I approached it, it scurried up the web
to the shelter of the fascia board under the roof. I still managed to get a nice photo of the
spider, probably better than I could have gotten with her on the web. After leaving Walker Hall, we passed through
an open area which Dr. Cook said was the site of the early annual meetings of
members of the SCNC. Fires were built in
a small, open trench where hot dogs and marshmallows were roasted. Scavenger hunts were commonly held for the
youngsters attending the meetings and he told a story of having to approach a
group of what can only be called hippies, skinny dipping not far away in the
creek and had to ask them, for the time being, at least, to put their clothes
back on, until the children were no longer present.
North Oconee River Greenway:
We left the Walker Hall area and headed back to the Education
and Visitor Center, seeing several things of interest, including horse sugar
shrubs, Asiatic dayflowers, several orb weaver spiders. We arrived back at the Education and Visitor
Center and enjoyed some nice conversation, cake, pie and coffee before everyone
headed home.
Observations:
|
Oyster mushrooms |
Pleurotus ostreatus tentative ID |
|
Other unidentified mushrooms |
|
|
Japanese stilt grass |
Microstegium vimineum |
|
Woodlands grass |
Chasmanthium sessiliflorum |
|
Eleagnus |
Eleagnus sp. Invasive |
|
Privet |
Ligustrum sp. Invasive |
|
Pine trees |
Pinus sp. |
|
Water oak |
Quercus nigra |
|
Partridgeberry |
Mitchella repens |
|
Nandina |
Nandina domestica Invasive |
|
Southern grape fern |
Botrychium biternatum |
|
Hearts-a-bursting |
Euonymus americanus . |
|
Aphid lion |
larval stage of green lacewing Family Chrysopidae |
|
River oats |
Chasmanthium latifolium |
|
Lespedeza |
Lespedeza sp. |
|
Carolina rhododendron |
Rhododendron carolinianum |
Twenty four Ramblers were present for today’s walk,
including David and Diona’s three girls. It’s always fun to have children on
our rambles and we appreciate their eager participation (and sharp eyesight).
Don Hunter’s album of photos from today’s ramble can be
found at this
link.
Notice of interest to Ramblers:
Sandy Creek Nature
Center has two events this week:
Sunday, Sept. 28, 3 -5PM
is Pie Day. Come and eat all kinds of pies, including vegan and gluten-free. The
pies are prepared by SCNC board members (including Emily) and staff. There will
also be musical entertainment
.
Wednesday, Oct. 1, at
9AM; enjoy a trail walk led by Walt Cook, one of the original founders of the
Nature Center.
You can find Don Hunter’s photo album for today’s
ramble at this link.