First Flowers of Spring

I expected our hike today to be a winter hike, but I was pleasantly surprised to encounter several signs of spring! My friends and I hiked roughly 10 miles on Turkeypen Ridge, Schoolhouse Gap, Bote Mountain, and Finley Cane Trails.

On Turkeypen Ridge I was shocked to see Trailing Arbutus, Epigaea repens, in bloom!  I really didn't expect to see any flowers in February.

 

 

After Turkeypen Ridge, we took a detour through White Oak Sinks, which is well known for its stunning array of spring wildflowers.  Again I really wasn't expecting to see any flowers this early, but we found several Spring Beauties, Claytonia virginica!

We even found a single Hepatica, Hepatica nobilis acuta!


Birds sighted or heard include:

Brown Creeper
Carolina Wren
Carolina Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
Downy Woodpecker
Turkey Vulture

One of the most unusual sightings of the day were bats!  White Oak Sinks is a limestone depression with lots of nearby caves.  We saw at least 4 bats (not sure of the species) flying around near the cave entrances.  Of course, bats should not be active in the middle of the day in February.  We speculated that this unusual behavior is likely a result of White Nose Syndrome which is sadly affecting bats throughout eastern and central North America.  White-nose Syndrome.

In addition to wildflowers, birds, and bats, we also saw several Mourning Cloak butterflies.

Charlie's Bunion

Last week a couple friends and I hiked out to Charlie's Bunion on the Appalachian Trail.

 

 

We began our hike at Newfound Gap shortly after the road opened.

Here is the view from the Appalachian Trail shortly before Charlie's Bunion.

A view of the mountains from Charlie's Bunion.

 

 

It was so wonderful to be up here in the snow.  Since the road was closed due to snow and ice earlier in the day, the trail had not yet been packed down and had nearly 10 inches of snow in places.