YA Eco Mysteries, Memoirs, Novels & Travel
The Pocket Wildflower Trail
23/03/14 16:43 Filed in: Environment
Shirley Miller Wildflower Trail on Pigeon Mountain
A Cure for Spring Fever
No doubt about it, the highlight of the Birmingham Audubon Society’s Spring Camp Out to Cloudland Canyon State Park was the Pocket Loop Trail in the Crockford-Pigeon Mountain Wildlife Management Area.
A Cure for Spring Fever
No doubt about it, the highlight of the Birmingham Audubon Society’s Spring Camp Out to Cloudland Canyon State Park was the Pocket Loop Trail in the Crockford-Pigeon Mountain Wildlife Management Area.
In a hidden cove in the northwest corner of Georgia, a treasure trove of rare and lovely wildflowers bloom on Pigeon Mountain, a spur of Lookout Mountain.
Tucked deep into a pocket of a north-facing cove and fed by a mountain stream, an array of lovely wildflowers thrive and bloom in abundance. The blooms can be enjoyed from the Shirley Miller Wildflower Trail’s boardwalk.
At the end of the cove, reached by a short, rugged trail, a waterfall cascades over limestone cliffs into the stream below. Calcium from the cliffs washes into the cove producing neutral soils that nourish the wildflowers.
We could not stop photographing and feasting our eyes on the gorgeous carpet of celadine poppies, Virginia bluebells, cutleaf toothwort, round-lobed hepatica, bloodroot, trout lily, Dutchman’s breeches, harbinger-of-spring, trilliums, American trout lilies, and violets. In a week or two, others wildflowers will add to The Pocket’s floral bouquet. There are at least 11 significant species, found almost nowhere else in Georgia, present in the small patch of hardwood forest below the wet-weather falls.
After the wildflower fest, we went in search of Golden Eagles assisted by the eagle eyes of Greg Harber. Then back to Cloudland Canyon State Park for a delicious potluck supper. And there’s no doubt that the Audubon folks know how to enjoy themselves! A special thanks to our campout leader Maureen Shaffer.
P.S. Don’t forget to enjoy The Cahaba Lily Festival May 17, 2014.
Read more about the Lily: The Adventures of The Sizzling Six: Who Stole the Cahaba Lily?
Enjoy this short video about the park and wildflower trail
Links:
The Pocket/Pigeon Mountain
Birmingham Audubon Society
The Adventures of The Sizzling Six: Who Stole the Cahaba Lily?
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