This Ramble Report was written by Don Hunter with a few additions by Dale Hoyt. The photos are by Don and Hugh Nourse.

On Wednesday, February 5, 2014, fourteen Ramblers gathered
at the Sandy Creek Nature Center to walk the trails, just as the overnight
rains were moving out of the area.  The emphasis
for the ramble was winter tree identification, with a dash of Marbled
Salamander.  We left the Education and
Visitor Center and walked north to the Kestrel Trail, right onto the Screech
Owl Trial, briefly on Cook’s Trail, then right on to the Hooded Warbler Trail,
then right on to the Pine Ridge Trail back to the Visitor Center.

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This post was written by Don Hunter. I selected a few of his photographs from his Flickr sets to accompany his narrative; you can find them here.

Twenty Ramblers, including several very welcome new folks,
gathered at the Visitor Center parking lot on the afternoon of January 16 for a
Ramble on what turned out to be a beautiful and surprisingly comfortable
afternoon.  Both the Sun and everyone’s
spirits

Cold? No — just a little chilly

were high and bright as the group headed off from the parking lot for
today’s Ramble, organized by Don, Dale and Emily.  The main areas of concentration today were
lichens, fungi and liverworts.  We left
the parking lot and headed down the path towards the International Bridge, then
on to the Purple Trail.  At the river, we
headed left on the Orange Trail and followed it around the Beaver Pond to the
foot bridge across the creek, where, after a short walk past the bridge, we
viewed liverworts in the stream and a budding Round Lobed Hepatica.  We then returned to the bridge and headed up
the trail to the Flower Garden and on back to the Visitor Center.  The following narrative is a detailed
description of the various interesting things viewed on the Ramble.  Also included are several things not viewed on
the Ramble but were observed earlier on the same route in preparation for the
Ramble and are worth sharing.

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Announcements

• ·       
  The next trail walk at Sandy Creek Nature Center (Nature Center, not the Park) will
  be on Wednesday morning, Feb. 5, 2014, at 9AM, followed by
  coffee, tea and homemade goodies. Everyone is invited! There will be no walk in
  December or January. The walks next year will be on the first Wednesday of the month. Mark your
  calendars!
• ·       
  One of our Ramblers, Alice Woodruff, is a potter and invites all you Ramblers to her Christmas Sale open house, Dec. 7-8,
  10AM to 5PM at 35 S. Main St., Watkinsville, GA; phone: 706-207-5175.
• ·       
  Reminder: Dale or Hugh will be happy to have
  company whenever they ramble at the State Botanical Garden this winter. They will notify all the Ramblers of
  the date and time by email. (It is likely not to be early in the morning and the
  days/times may vary, depending on weather. Think of it as a group of friends
  just spontaneously getting together. The Ramble Reports will also be on winter
  hiatus.)

Be sure to visit Don Hunter’s facebook
album to see all the photos from this walk. 

This post is written by Dale
Hoyt and Emily Carr.

We began in front of the SCNC Education and Visitor Center
with 18 people, a mixture of Nature Ramblers, newbies and folks who have
previously participated in SCNC walks. It was a wonderful turnout for a warm (for
this time of year) morning when rain was forecast.

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