National Trails Day 2018 - A Wildflower Walk at Quigley Creek Natural Area

I'm not always the best person to lead hikes - I tend to walk through swamps...

 
Last Saturday (June 2nd) was National Trails Day.  In celebration of the day, the Chippewa Watershed Conservancy hosted two events.  In the morning CWC Board Member and Former Executive Director Stan Lilley led a bird walk at the Hall's Lake Preserve.  In the afternoon I led an outing to search for wildflowers at Quigley Creek Natural Area.  Although I think the beginning of June is sort of an in-between season for wildflowers, I was pleasantly surprised by the number of plants that we positively identified.  Trees are not included in this list because we did not focus on them and only mentioned a few species in passing.

Thank you to everyone who came out and followed their guide (That would be me.) through a swamp.  You were all good sports about the experience!

A dozen people showed up to search for wildflowers.

Now here's the list of species that we recorded.

Herbaceous Plants
Wild Geranium (Geranium maculatum)
Wild Ginger (Asarum canadense)
Feathery False Solomon's Seal (Maianthemum racemosum)
Big-leaf Aster (Eurybia macrophylla)
Moneywort (Lysimachia nummularia) - non-native
Wild Columbine (Aquilegia canadensis)
Early Meadow Rue (Thalictrum dioicum)
Golden Ragwort (Packera aurea)
Spring Avens (Geum vernum)
Swamp Buttercup (Ranunculus hispidus)
Common Black Snakeroot (Sanicula marilandica)
Jack-in-the-pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum)
Spotted Touch-me-not (Impatiens capensis)
Canada Mayflower (Maianthemum canadense)
Hog-peanut (Amphicarpaea bracteata)
Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca)
Wood Nettle (Laportea canadensis)
Cleavers (Galium aparine)
Virginia Creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia)
Marsh Marigold (Caltha palustris)
Starflower (Trientalis borealis)
Large-flowered Trillium (Trillium grandiflorum)
Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis)
Swamp Saxifrage (Saxifraga pensylvanica)
Mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum)
Yellow Flag Iris (Iris pseudacorus) - non-native

Wild Columbine

Wild Geranium

Swamp Saxifrage

Yellow Flag Iris - a potentially invasive species

Ferns
Sensitive Fern (Onoclea sensibilis)
Cinnamon Fern (Osmundastrum cinnamomeum)
Northern Maidenhair Fern (Adiantum pedatum)

Cinnamon Fern

Shrubs
American Fly Honeysuckle (Lonicera canadensis)
Running Strawberrybush (Euonymus obovatus)
Bristly Greenbrier (Smilax hispida)

Nature Walks for National Trails Day

Saturday was National Trails Day.  To celebrate the event, I led two walks for the Chippewa Watershed Conservancy (CWC).  The morning walk was held at the Sylvan Solace Preserve.  A dedicated group of five nature lovers spent almost 2.5 hours exploring the preserve's trails.  One of the highlights was seeing a White-tailed Deer fawn - unfortunately no one got pictures of it.

In the afternoon, our travels took us to the Audubon Woods Preserve.  The same group of five was joined by three more walkers.  At Audubon Woods we explored a new section trail that I had not walked before.  A highlight of this walk was CWC Executive Director Stan Lilley using an electronic call to lure in a Scarlet Tanager that we could hear calling from the trees - the bird eventually ended up in the tree directly over Stan's head where everyone (but Stan) was able to get a good look at it.

Here a few of my photos from the two walks.

Sylvan Solace Preserve

Common Blackberry flowers

Upcoming Events - National Trail Day Walks (04 June 2016)

The first Saturday in June is celebrated as National Trails Day!

Sponsored by the American Hiking Society, this event has been held annually since 1993, this event commemorates and celebrates America's more that 200,000 miles of public trails.  Events are currently scheduled in all fifty states and territory of Puerto Rico.

Join me on Saturday June 4th for one of two local trail walks.

From 9:00AM to 11:00AM, I will be at the Chippewa Watershed Conservancy's Sylvan Solace Preserve.  The trails at Sylvan Solace are flat, wide, and easy to stroll along.  The trail winds through a pine plantation, open meadow, and mature woodland.  The total distance of the walk will be approximately 1 mile.

Trail at Sylvan Solace Preserve (October 2015)

In the afternoon, from 1:00PM to 3:00PM, I will be leading a walk at the CWC's Audubon Woods Preserve.  The terrain at Audubon Woods is a little more challenging with some hill-climbing along the route.  The trail at Audubon Woods is through a mature deciduous forest.  This route is about 1/2 mile in length.

Floodplain forest at Audubon Woods Preserve (May 2015)

During both walks, we will stop frequently to observe and discuss the natural world.  You never know what we might find - during my last visit to Audubon Woods, I repeatedly heard a Barred Owl calling during the daytime.

Both of these events are free and open to anyone, but donations to the CWC are always appreciated.