"San Diego" Easter Sunday Ramble

Cut-leaved Toothwort (Dentaria laciniata)

Those of us living in the humid northern Piedmont with seemingly perennial "eastern gray" skies tend to call cool, cloudless, low-humidity weather "San Diego days" in reference to the nearly perfect conditions enjoyed by San Diego residents.  (My brother-in-law lives there and Kali and I have visited him often.  It's not always "perfect," but it comes a lot closer than the northern Piedmont does in terms of pleasant weather year-round.)  In any case, Easter Sunday was a "San Diego day," and Kali and I took a 5-mile ramble through the city park downstream of "my" preserve to revel in springtime.  We walked downstream along one bank of the creek, then returned to our car along the opposite bank. 

Bloodroot (Sanguinaria candensis)

Though the leaves were common throughout the walk, this was the only bloodroot blossom I observed, so I'm glad I photographed it.  All the other plants had finished blooming already.  In fact, the developing seed capsule of a second blooming stalk is visible in the top center of the image.

Hanging on for dear life

When I came across this stately American beech on the edge of a ravine, Wagner's "The Ride of the Valkyries" came into my head.  It's as if the tree's "hair" were being blown backward by some overwhelming force.

Woodland pool

Dog-toothed Violet, Trout-lily, or Adder's-tongue (Erythronium americanum)

Coy view of the reverse

In places, extensive stands of trout lilies carpeted the forest floor, though few were blooming.  Where they occurred, there were no other plants on the ground plane.

Lesser celandine (Ranunculus divaricata)

Longtime followers will recognize that I have a particular dislike for lesser celandine, a beautiful but introduced and wildly invasive buttercup species that prefers floodplain habitats but will grow just about anywhere.  Of course, since it's flowering right now, it drew my particular attention during our walk.

Lesser celandine gone wild!

In the image above, every bit of "green" is lesser celandine.  Obviously, it has not confined itself to the floodplain, but has marched up onto the wooded slope as well.  This was a particularly bad stand, but many locations were nearly as densely colonized.

Spring-beauties (Claytonia  caroliniana)

Ninety-foot Bridge (a railroad trestle)

Ninety-foot Bridge is a local landmark.  I assume this concrete railroad span got its name from its height.

Wooded hillside above the creek with May-apples or Mandrake (Podophyllum peltatum)

Below I've posted an image of my favorite view of "my" creek along its entire 22-mile length, taken from a hill in the city park and looking upstream.  The view would be improved if the city would remove some of the trees, but that would only invite invasive plants to move in.  I mentioned in a public meeting once that this was my favorite overlook (heresy for someone who should find the greatest beauty in his "own" preserve), and several other meeting attendees agreed that it was their favorite view of the creek as well.

My favorite creek view

Mallards (Anas platyrhynchos) in motion

Nearing the end of our walk, we came around a bend and sent a pair of skittish Wood Ducks skittering to an eddy on the far side of the creek.  Once they felt that they were far enough from us to be safe, the female began to dabble in the foam.  This image was made with my telephoto lens fully extended; in fact, I suspected the ducks were Wood Ducks but couldn't be sure until I used the lens as a monocular (we didn't bring binoculars with us on our walk).  Not the most spectacular image, admittedly, but the ducks' handsome character is evident nonetheless.

A pair of skittish Wood Ducks (Aix sponsa)

Awash in Blue

Trail bridge and bluebells

On Sunday afternoon, Kali suggested that we walk the Schuylkill River Trail in Valley Forge National Historical Park.  The trail parallels the Schuylkill River for three miles, with plenty of river and riparian woodland views.  The absolute best time of year to walk the trail is mid-spring when the Virginia Bluebells (Mertensia virginica) are in bloom, as they were last weekend.  The floodplain is covered in a carpet of blue in all directions. 

Virginia Bluebell

Spring-beauty

Other wildflowers were still blooming; Spring-beauties (Claytonia virginica) were nearly as abundant as the bluebells, but much smaller and more demure, casting a pink haze over parts of the floodplain.

De-silting basin wall

The headwaters of the Schuylkill River drain the anthracite coal region of eastern Pennsylvania.  When coal mining was at its peak, the river ran black with suspended coal sediment.  At the same time, long stretches of the river were used to transport coal.  The river was dammed in many places to create deep, slack water and mules pulled canal boats along the banks of the river between the dams.  Locks allowed the barges to get around the dams.  Because the river was so fouled with coal sediment it had to be de-silted frequently to maintain navigation depths, so the navigation company built de-silting basins along the shore where the black muck could be dredged from the river and allowed to dewater.  One of the de-silting basins - built, but never used - is located in the park along the trail.  This de-silting basin traps water between the uphill side of the basin and the constructed basin wall leading to the development of valuable forested wetland habitat inside the basin.  Even de-silting basins along the river that were used for sediment removal have subsided over time and offer wetland habitat. 

Bluebells amid Ostrich Ferns (Metteuccia  struthiopteris)

At the far (upstream) end of the trail, the pathway is bordered by huge colonies of pawpaw shrubs (Asimina triloba).  I've never seen a fruit on the bushes; I suspect squirrels or raccoons harvest the mushy, banana-flavored fruit when it's ripe in the autumn.

Pawpaw flowers

A young family cruising the Schuylkill River

Who needs a yellow brick road?