Plants along the Appalachian Trail in Eastern PA

This past dreary Sunday I was very much looking forward to time on a trail to myself. It had been a hectic week and I needed to get out into the woods, solo, no one asking questions and not having to make any decisions except left or right, when and where to eat my snacks and when to turn around and head back.

Hiking has not made my priority list lately and that has been a big mistake. Big. Huge. Hiking is my walking meditation, my therapy and my gym. I never feel so good as after a walk in the woods. The rockier the trail the better and if there is a vista, or the highly coveted waterfall, as a reward, even better.

Looking for a place I have not hiked before, that would be a nice drive and provide some of the challenges I seek out, I used All-Trails and found the Lehigh Furnace Gap via the Appalachian Trail route. It is a 10.5 mile loop, starting at the Lehigh Gap Nature Center Parking Lot. It was an ambitious selection given the forecast and my poor record of hiking this year. I am a long way from my fitness of 2023 when I hiked 250 miles in a single year.

From the nature center parking lot I began my hike on the Prairie Warbler Loop which connected to the Woodpecker Trail which connected me with the Appalachian Trail. What would have not been a challenge to me at all in the past, quickly became a challenge. It was a steady incline and I was having a hard time. I was feeling a bit disappointed in myself and sad that I had not spent more time doing what I love. I stopped and thought about what to do, realized I had not slept well the night before and had not eaten breakfast, so I gave myself some grace, and a snack.

After finishing my favorite trail food of a sliced apple with peanut better and sharp cheddar cheese, with my head on a swivel thanks to bear warnings I read in the All-Trails review, I sat for a few minutes then loaded up my pack and set back out on the trail. The water and apples did the trick, I felt energized and ambitious again; moving slowly but surely up the trail.

George W. Outerbridge Shelter, along the route is prone to bear activity. I did not know this shelter was right around the corner from where I was snacking on some apples and peanut butter. I did have my bear spray with me though.

There are a bunch of memes going around about hiking with botanists. Perhaps you have seen them. If you have hiked with me or any other botanist you know their validity.

I am a slow hiker to begin with. I want to observe everything along the trail, on both sides, I do not even care if I am coming back the same way and might see them again. I delight in knowing what I am looking at AND I delight in not knowing what I am looking at. I take pictures of it all. I use these photos to help me key out the plants I don’t know. (Yes, there are apps that will do that for me – no they are not always right. In fact they got about 50% of the plants in this post incorrect. ) I do not care if you want to know what they are or don’t; I will tell you if you do. I will, mostly, keep it to myself if you do not. Mostly. I also do not care if you are with me and go on ahead. I will catch up, or I might just see you at the end… I HAVE THINGS TO GET TO KNOW BETTER!! You? I can get to know you better over a beer after the hike.

The strobili, or reproductive structures of Fan Clubmoss, *Diphasiastrum digitatum*.

This hike started out in the woods with the goal of getting up to the Appalachian Trail where it leveled out a bit, making it to a boulder field to climb through (did I mention how much I love rocky climbs) and then heading back.

In addition to hiking the other passion of mine I have been neglecting is writing, which explains why this is the first post in more than a year! As I walk and wonder I like to think of what I would write about what I am seeing. I figured this early fall hike through the woods would feature flowers, fruits, fungus and fall foliage and started taking some photos accordingly.

The route I was taking took me on the Appalachian Trail for a bit and then would bring me back on a bypass trail. The bypass trail was the route the AT used to take, but they have rerouted the AT through the area and that created a bypass trail and a nice way to make a loop hike.

Similar to how I will just say yes to going to see live music when invited, I will not google the artist, just go along and enjoy the new experience, I did not explore this trail option any farther than the details All-Trails gave me. I did not research the area. Just headed out full of curiosity and excited to check out a new-to-me spot.

As I walked through the woods, suddenly the woods opened up and there was just a meadow there. A gorgeous fall-colored grassy meadow. The juxtaposition of the meadow and the forest was jarring.

View from trail at the edge of the woods.

As I walked I noticed the pine trees, birch trees and sassafras trees all had charred trunks. Ahh, this burn may be the reason for the sudden and expansive meadow. Some post-hike research, after a discussion with a colleague led me to information on the November 2024 Gap Fire on Blue Mountain in the Lehigh Valley. Which, incidentally, I had seen burning while on another fall hike in that year across the River.

Ultimately, the fire burned close to 600 acres on Blue Mountain. Attributed to the severe drought that season, the fire claimed no structures or human lives but it is safe to say the ecology of the place was changed forever.

Epicormic growth along a charred pitch pine tree trunk. The dormant buds under the bark are protected from fire allowing the tree to resprout directly from the trunk. Pitch Pine is one of many fire-adapted pine species.

What has come back after the fire is simply stunning. It is a native meadow ecosystem, with diversity and very little invasive plant pressure. What first caught my eye was expanse of this meadow. Just after where the fire stopped, the vista opened up to a sea of grasses of various colors of blue, red, tan and yellow.

The fall tones bring an extra bit of drama and splendor to this new landscape.

Always on the hunt for precious flowers, my first indicator that something extra special was going on was finding Dicentra eximia, Fringed Bleeding Heart, in bloom on the edge of the trail. I can now add this species to to a list of plants I have been familiar with but cannot remember seeing growing in the wild. Her cousins – Dutchman’s Breeches (Dicentra cucullaria) and Squirrel Corn (Dicentra canadensis)- I’ve seen so many times I have lost count (but I do have the photos!). But this one, in the wild, cannot recall. Now it goes with Oakleaf Hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia – a woodland in Mississippi) Virginia Sweetspire (Itea virginica -along a creek bank in the NJ pine barrens), Ninebark (Physocarpus opulifolius – dripping from the rock faces along the Susquehanna River) and others as plants I remember exactly where I was when I saw one in the wild for the first time.

My question was, why is this spring blooming flower blooming now? Turns out the cooler temperatures of fall can trigger another bloom in these native perennials. I am grateful for this as I do not know if I would have noticed them otherwise. What a delightful surprise!

Other flowers I found in the meadows were more typical of a fall meadow.

*Solidago rugosa*, Wrinkle-leaved Goldenrod

*Euthamia gramnifolia*, Grass-leaved Goldenrod

Sweet Everlasting, *Gnaphalium obtusifolium*, flower and post-flowering.

Northern Paperwasp, *Polistes fuscatus,* on Late Boneset, *Eupatorium serotinum*.

Then there were the grasses. Like ferns and fungus, I have a blindspot for grasses. Could be that I failed the grass quiz in my college herbaceous plant course and held a vendetta against them ever since, who knows. I had, in the past, considered them, like conifers, BORING. But I have come around on the conifers and am coming around on grasses too.

This meadow has me fully converted. I surprised myself in how long I stayed to admire the grasses. Their colors, textures, heights, flowers, movement in the landscape combined and collided in a graceful dance as beautiful as any wildflower display.

Speaking of conifers, also NOT BORING! These pines had seen some stuff! Their trunks were blackened from the fires making their bright green new growth seem to jump right out at you!

*Pinus rigida*, Pitch Pine, regrowing after the fire.

Another oddity I noticed along the trail were lowbush blueberries (Vaccinium angustifolium) in bloom. Typically, like the Fringed Bleeding Heart, these shrubs bloom in spring. These shrubs set their flower buds for the following year in late summer and early fall as the days start to shorten. However, if there are spring-like conditions, unseasonably warm, sunny and wet, it can be tricked into responding as if spring is here. Autumn flowering can also be caused by stress like drought, but this season has been fairly wet, so I am thinking false spring.

Also found some not blueberry, blue berries. The edible fruit of roundleaf greenbriar (Smilax rotundifolia).

I never did make it to that Boulder field. I managed 5.5 of the 10.5 miles I had planned to do. Not be sure I ran out of steam but because I was running out of daylight. I stopped and marveled and took my time in this meadow. Hundreds of photos. Hundreds of quiet moments wondering and admiring and standing still in awe. This walk in the woods, and the walk in the meadow, was everything I needed. I saw some new-to me plants, had a chance to botanize in field and forest. There were some incredible views from the ridge.

There was time to consider the scars of the fire, and how the land has recovered, without intervention. The seeds were there, the buds were dormant under the bark waiting for just such an occasion. This walk was mother nature’s reminder of how resilient nature is and how beautiful she can be when left to her own devices.