Springer Mountain and Three Forks Creek on Appalachian Trail
These next few blog posts will be dedicated to a class I am currently taking at Georgia State University concerning the natural environments of Georgia.
We hiked the start of the Appalachian trail up to Springer Mountain and then down to Three Forks trail on September 30,2016. From the top of Springer Mountain one can see an example of an Montane Oak forest community and then make their way down the mountain and continue along as the Appalachian Trail changes into an Acidic Cove community.
The AT stretches 2,189 miles from Springer Mountain in Georgia to Mount Katahdin in Main. The trail was proposed by regional planner Benton Mackaye in October of 1921,who originally envisioned the trail as an escape from urban-ism complete with recreational and farming camps that would create jobs as well as promote conservation. He rallied other city planners and officials in support of the trail until the first meeting of the Appalachian Trail Conference of 1925. The decisions of the Appalachian Trail Conference ultimately led for the volunteer based trail system to be protected from development. In 1937 the trail was completed, but World War as well as natural disasters took a toll and and would be hikers and volunteers were sent to war. The first thru-hike was completed in 1948 by Earl Shaffer who aimed to walk the "Army out of is system". Emma Gatewood, a mother of 11 and grandmother to 23, became the first woman to complete a thru-hike in 1955 at the age of 67. The Today, an estimated 2 to 3 million people hike the AT every year, with a few hundred of those completing a "thru-hike". Today the trail is almost entirely protected and managed by the Appalachian Trail Land trust, who continue to monitor the trail from development to keep it a natural and serene refuge, free of commercial developments.
The highlight of this hike was seeing a mighty Eastern Hemlock about half a mile off the Appalachian trail that has still survived in spite of logging in the past and the invasive Hemlock Woolly Adelgid (HWA) of the present. HWA has devastated millions of hemlock trees since it was first discovered in the USA in the 1950's and continues to spread. Once infected, a tree can die within 2-4 years. Currently, strategies to control the parasitic incest include both insecticides and introduction of the Sasajiscynus tsugae beetle which eats HWA.
We hiked the start of the Appalachian trail up to Springer Mountain and then down to Three Forks trail on September 30,2016. From the top of Springer Mountain one can see an example of an Montane Oak forest community and then make their way down the mountain and continue along as the Appalachian Trail changes into an Acidic Cove community.
The AT stretches 2,189 miles from Springer Mountain in Georgia to Mount Katahdin in Main. The trail was proposed by regional planner Benton Mackaye in October of 1921,who originally envisioned the trail as an escape from urban-ism complete with recreational and farming camps that would create jobs as well as promote conservation. He rallied other city planners and officials in support of the trail until the first meeting of the Appalachian Trail Conference of 1925. The decisions of the Appalachian Trail Conference ultimately led for the volunteer based trail system to be protected from development. In 1937 the trail was completed, but World War as well as natural disasters took a toll and and would be hikers and volunteers were sent to war. The first thru-hike was completed in 1948 by Earl Shaffer who aimed to walk the "Army out of is system". Emma Gatewood, a mother of 11 and grandmother to 23, became the first woman to complete a thru-hike in 1955 at the age of 67. The Today, an estimated 2 to 3 million people hike the AT every year, with a few hundred of those completing a "thru-hike". Today the trail is almost entirely protected and managed by the Appalachian Trail Land trust, who continue to monitor the trail from development to keep it a natural and serene refuge, free of commercial developments.
The highlight of this hike was seeing a mighty Eastern Hemlock about half a mile off the Appalachian trail that has still survived in spite of logging in the past and the invasive Hemlock Woolly Adelgid (HWA) of the present. HWA has devastated millions of hemlock trees since it was first discovered in the USA in the 1950's and continues to spread. Once infected, a tree can die within 2-4 years. Currently, strategies to control the parasitic incest include both insecticides and introduction of the Sasajiscynus tsugae beetle which eats HWA.
Appalachian Trail Marker at the summit of Springer Mountain.
views from trail marker at summit of Springer Mountain
(Quercus alba) This old growth gnarly white oak at the top of Springer Mountain has been shaped by many years of facing harsh winds and freezing temps which as one can see have snapped off several branches in the past. Many of the old growth oaks at this elevation share these same features which is also why it is thought that they were over looked by loggers in the early century and left to survive.
The same white oak as pictured above, with an "arborglyph"
hiking up the Springer Mountain trail
moss and lichen
red maple leaf (Acer pensylvanicum) is a common tree found in the Montane oak forest community. ferns and goldenrod wildflowers scatter on the forest floor.
an endemic Georgia Aster ( Symphyotrichum georgianum) which was nominated by the Georgia Native Plant Society as the 2015 plant of the year,
classmates passing thru a canopy of rhododendron in the lower elevation Acidic cove forest near Three Forks Creek
Acidic cove forest on Appalachian Trail
The ground is damp and the trees and forest floor are covered with moss and lichen.
Hair cap moss (Polytrichum commune)
moss and lichens on tree bark
the base of this hemlock tree
this Galax urceolata covering the ground along a stand of hemlocks is now a protected plant in many places due to illegal harvesting because the evergreen leaves are popular in the floral industry.
A group of mighty hemlocks (Tsuga canadensis) which have died from being infested with Hemlock Woolly Adelgid (HWA)
dead hemlock bark
living hemlock bark. this is just a close up of a tree we measured that may classify as a new state champion. the bark is home to a healthy community of moss and lichen and the holes are evidence of woodpecker foraging
Battus philenor
we spotted a Pipe vine swallowtail, on the trail (although I am using an image instead of one that I took from my neighbor's garden) It is a poisonous species whose pattern and colors are mimicked by many, including the black variation of the female Eastern swallowtail butterfly.
