Frozen Head

[Don M]

The day was too pretty to let it go to waste, so I went to Frozen Head State Park. I can be at the trail head within 30 minutes of leaving my house. There are a number of trails and backcountry camping areas - the elevation gain from the valley to the top is a little more than 1900 ft. Today I had my son with me who is not very good at hiking, so we did an easy trail to a couple of waterfalls with a total elevation gain of about 500 ft. So no grand vistas, just hiking under the green canopy. The trail follows a stream all the way through mixed hardwoods - Tulip Poplar, Sugar Maple, Beech, assorted oaks, the odd White Pine, and groves of Hemlocks along the stream. Some of the pictures are a bit blurry because I did not hold the camera still enough in the dim light under the canopy. This is all a hard sandstone.

This time of year it would not be unusual to have dry streams, but we got about 4" of rain earlier this week, so there was at least some water flowing.

The first falls is Debord Falls.

And then to Emory Gap Falls.

And for today's plant quiz, identify this vine. This should be easy, especially if you are from the south.

And what about this?

 

[22-rimfire]

Never been to Frozen Head SP. Thanks for the pictures. ID's... da Poison Ivy and Southern Magnolia. I grew up in the northeast and upon moving to the SE US, I always found the Magnolia pretty interesting. The South sure does grow some BIG poison ivy. The southern woods is a lot different from what I grew up with. The commonality of rock outcroppings, cliffs, and significant growth beneath the tree canopy was always something that I noticed. That along with Tics keep me from exploring too much during the summer months except around established trails.

 

[willseeyalater]

Well, the vine is a full blown tree climbing poison ivy. Not sure that is a magnolia, there is some tree with leaves that are like an outline of a fiddle, I heard them called fiddle leaf....was it hickory?

 

[22-rimfire]

Yeah, I was thinking hickory too. I was torn between magnolia and hickory.

 

[Don M]

Yep, poison ivy was everywhere. Any time I went off trail I had to take my time to make sure I was not brushing against any (I was wearing shorts) or grabbing any to steady myself on a slope.

And that is Umbrella Magnolia.

22 - you should go there and hike up to the lookout tower. The views are very nice. There is a campsite near the top that is wide open and quite nice. I camped there once with scouts during the heat of the summer and it was very pleasant up there with lower temperature and a nice breeze. Not as much poison ivy up high, either. Of course, the scouts did manage to find a yellow jacket nest while getting firewood.

 

[lambertiana]

I especially like Emory Gap Falls, nothing like some water flowing over lots of rocks.

Much better than how I spent the day - in the back yard doing things for hours on end for my wife who was more than happy to point at one thing after another.