Splinter Hill Bog, June 2014
Nov 21, 2015 11:39:11 GMT -5
Jonathan Mejia, stevebooth, and 6 more like this
Post by calen on Nov 21, 2015 11:39:11 GMT -5
That's right kids - just getting around to uploading these shots from the 2014 Searchaganza with DirtyDivisions! Actually what happened is that I just moved and in the process I rediscovered the stick drive that had all these shots on it Our first time at Splinter Hill is a bit of a good story, so here goes:
Trey and I spent the last day of our trip in Blackwater; it was about 4 pm and we were just leaving a lovely rugelii bog. Did we want to go to Splinter Hill? From what we'd seen it looked pretty sweet and we hadn't really visited a pure leuco bog yet on the trip, but it was a 90 minute drive away in the opposite direction from home. Could we find plants before dark? We decided to find out.
Arriving, we parked next to a promising sign reading "Pitcher Plant Loop" and headed in. What we discovered was very disappointing. We walked for a quarter mile or so through recently cleared pine plantations. It was hot as f and there was no water, much less a pitcher plant bog. What was this bull****, we asked?* It was 6 pm or so by this time and sunset was at 8. Fast running out of time, we hopped back in the car and jetted around to another entrance we observed on the map - would this lead us to pitcher plants before dark? Heat, humidity and the carcass of a dead dog greeted us as we exited the vehicle. We descended into damp pine woods and immediately felt better about this part of the preserve. We walked for a ways and crossed a stream. Trey spotted a narrow, muddy side trail that seemed to lead into a field and decided to scope it out. I was feeling antsy and wanted to keep moving on the main path as it was now closer to 6:30 and Splinter Hill is a big place. Just as I was starting to get super annoyed Trey shouted: Pay dirt! It turned out there was much, much more to come, but just the plants in this field would have made the drive to Splinter Hill worth it. Nice work Trey!
What immediately grabbed our attention was this spectacular pink leuco (it would be a way better pic if I wasn't in it - sorry!):
What we didn't notice at first were the absolutely spectacular rubra wherryi plants we were practically stepping on as we fawned over the pink leuco. I didn't know wherryi even came in these colors!
Totally pumped but sensing there was more to see and very little time to see it, we left the pink leuco and the rubras behind. It was now 7 pm. Back on the main trail we remained in wet woods for a time but didn't see any more plants. Then the path began to climb and the water vanished. Depressingly dry sand squeaked under our feet as we continued up through scrub oaks and scraggly pines. We were heading in the wrong direction it seemed and there was no end in sight. After what seemed like an eternity the sandhill crested and began to descend and - what, what is that, Trey? Is that...a cotton field? They don't grow cotton here, right? Must be white top sedge, or some other flower. It couldn't be that many leucos... Every step down the hill we took, however, made it clearer and clearer that there was nothing else this field of white could be! We were awestruck.
Laughing like kids, we had no idea what to point our cameras at. There was just too much. As the darkness closed in, we snapped what we could and were so happy that we had gotten to experience this place.
*"this bull****" we now know is the International Paper tract, a recent addition to Splinter Hill Preserve that is in the early stages of restoration to long leaf pine savanna.
Trey and I spent the last day of our trip in Blackwater; it was about 4 pm and we were just leaving a lovely rugelii bog. Did we want to go to Splinter Hill? From what we'd seen it looked pretty sweet and we hadn't really visited a pure leuco bog yet on the trip, but it was a 90 minute drive away in the opposite direction from home. Could we find plants before dark? We decided to find out.
Arriving, we parked next to a promising sign reading "Pitcher Plant Loop" and headed in. What we discovered was very disappointing. We walked for a quarter mile or so through recently cleared pine plantations. It was hot as f and there was no water, much less a pitcher plant bog. What was this bull****, we asked?* It was 6 pm or so by this time and sunset was at 8. Fast running out of time, we hopped back in the car and jetted around to another entrance we observed on the map - would this lead us to pitcher plants before dark? Heat, humidity and the carcass of a dead dog greeted us as we exited the vehicle. We descended into damp pine woods and immediately felt better about this part of the preserve. We walked for a ways and crossed a stream. Trey spotted a narrow, muddy side trail that seemed to lead into a field and decided to scope it out. I was feeling antsy and wanted to keep moving on the main path as it was now closer to 6:30 and Splinter Hill is a big place. Just as I was starting to get super annoyed Trey shouted: Pay dirt! It turned out there was much, much more to come, but just the plants in this field would have made the drive to Splinter Hill worth it. Nice work Trey!
What immediately grabbed our attention was this spectacular pink leuco (it would be a way better pic if I wasn't in it - sorry!):
What we didn't notice at first were the absolutely spectacular rubra wherryi plants we were practically stepping on as we fawned over the pink leuco. I didn't know wherryi even came in these colors!
Totally pumped but sensing there was more to see and very little time to see it, we left the pink leuco and the rubras behind. It was now 7 pm. Back on the main trail we remained in wet woods for a time but didn't see any more plants. Then the path began to climb and the water vanished. Depressingly dry sand squeaked under our feet as we continued up through scrub oaks and scraggly pines. We were heading in the wrong direction it seemed and there was no end in sight. After what seemed like an eternity the sandhill crested and began to descend and - what, what is that, Trey? Is that...a cotton field? They don't grow cotton here, right? Must be white top sedge, or some other flower. It couldn't be that many leucos... Every step down the hill we took, however, made it clearer and clearer that there was nothing else this field of white could be! We were awestruck.
Laughing like kids, we had no idea what to point our cameras at. There was just too much. As the darkness closed in, we snapped what we could and were so happy that we had gotten to experience this place.
*"this bull****" we now know is the International Paper tract, a recent addition to Splinter Hill Preserve that is in the early stages of restoration to long leaf pine savanna.