Vogel State Park – A Place for Fall Color

 

Lake Trahlyta at Vogel State Park

Fall color in North Georgia is much sought after when it comes to this time of year. Scores of people drive up to get a glimpse of mountainsides decorated with red, gold, orange, and green quilts of color. The photo at left is from the drive on US-19/US-129 near Neel Gap.

When a friend posted on Facebook about his trip to Vogel State Park, I decided quickly to schedule a visit this past week while the weather was good and the leaves were still on the trees.

I had never been to Vogel State Park before but have visited lots of places near it around Blairsville, Suches, and Dahlonega. I had heard that it is a great place for fall color and once I saw Lake Trahlyta I could see why. The long lake provides an excellent reflection of the trees on the mountains.

Red maple (Acer rubrum)

The park is the second oldest Georgia state park, established in 1931. From the park’s website, “Located at 2500 feet above sea level, Vogel sits at the base of Blood Mountain, the highest summit on the Appalachian Trail in Georgia, and is surrounded by Chattahoochee National Forest. The North Georgia Mountains around Vogel were linked to Native American people for generations before European settlement.” On our way there, we stopped briefly at Neels Gap and admired the trees in the parking lot festooned with old hiking boots, a tradition for those who finish the Appalachian Trail.

Vogel has a number of well-marked trails of various lengths and difficulties. We opted for the shortest and easiest, the Trahlyta Lake Trail and the spur to Trahlyta Falls. The color was fantastic, the trail was easy, and a few floral goodies were found as well. I was thrilled to find a large witch hazel (Hamamelis virginiana) in full bloom, the fresh flowers juxtaposed nicely with the crispy leaves. I also found a flower that I had never seen, stiff gentian or Gentianella quinquefolia.

Awesome maple in the parking lot 

Trahlyta Falls 

American witch hazel (Hamamelis virginiana) in bloom

If you’d like to read about my other visits to Georgia State Parks, here is a list of them. Each one is special in its own way and season, and several make for excellent winter visits, especially when waterfalls are involved.

Red Top Mountain State Park

FDR State Park – Winter and Spring

Hard Labor Creek State Park

Cloudland Canyon State Park

High Falls State Park

Chattahoochee Bend State Park

Providence Canyon State Park

Tallulah Gorge State Park

And if you'd like to add more fall color to your landscape using native plants, here is a blog I wrote about plants with Dependable Fall Color.

Take a Hike!

 

Georgia is fortunate to have rather mild winter weather even in the northern areas. While we have occasional snow, more often there are several warm days when we can get out and take a hike (or a walk) on well-managed paths. One day this past week we had a high of 68 degrees!

I like to encourage people to get out because I feel that time spent in nature brings us a little closer to appreciating nature (and native plants) each time that we do. I heard recently that some flowers are already blooming at The Pocket’s Shirley Miller Wildflower Trail in Walker County (you can’t get more northern than that). I’ve written several times about the flowers there; here’s a link to my blog about a February visit in 2017. I did a follow up post in March 2017.

I’m going to list some other ideas, most of which I’ve covered before. Another good North Georgia hike is Amicalola Falls State Park (this post is from a workday there). It has good trails and its steps make for good exercise; less energetic folks might opt for the West Falls Trail which is perfect for older folks and families with strollers. It can get crowded on weekends, so go early.

Sharp-lobed hepatica is always one of the first to bloom at the Pocket

In metro Atlanta, try Big Trees Forest Preserve in Sandy Springs, Chattahoochee NRA in Cobb County, or Cascade Springs Nature Preserve in Atlanta. A little south of Atlanta, I recommend Chattahoochee Bend State Park in Coweta County and Newman Wetlands Center in Clayton County.

Further south is a park that I hear wonderful things about: George L. Smith State Park in Emanuel County. It’s on my list of places to go. I have visited High Falls State Park in Monroe County and enjoyed it very much. The falls are really beautiful. FDR State Park is another excellent one in middle Georgia (here is another blog about the Pine Mountain Trail in FDR State Park from a June visit).

Providence Canyon State Park offers incredible views

South and on the west side of the state is a great winter destination: Providence Canyon State Park in Stewart County. Adults and kids alike will enjoy learning about the little grand canyon of Georgia as well as hiking the good trails and discovering native plants. In Grady County in February, Wolf Creek Trout Lily Preserve is a breathtaking sight. Visit them on Facebook for weekly updates on the bloom cycle.

Look for tiny carnivorous sundews plant in wet edges at Okefenokee

In the southeastern part of the state, visit Stephen C. Foster State Park in Charlton County. It is the primary entrance to the Okefenokee Swamp. The kids will love learning about the many types of carnivorous plants found there. Winter can also be a fun time to visit Georgia’s Golden Isles without so many other tourists; I have enjoyed several trips to Jekyll Island.

With Georgia’s plentiful winter rains, waterfalls make for good trips as well. Here is a blog post I did that listed several places in North Georgia.

All state parks require a daily fee ($5) or use of the annual pass ($50). Your fee helps pay for good parking, bathrooms, and maintained trails (you can download maps from their website). They also often have nice visitor centers during certain hours.

And don't forget your local parks. Here is my grandson on the kid-friendly trails at Autrey Mill Nature Preserve.

Red Top Mountain State Park

The morning light was gorgeous through the beeches

I love to spend time outdoors so this year’s suggestion to “opt outside” on the day after Thanksgiving was one that I was willing to take.

I decided to use the day as an opportunity to get another Georgia State Park visit in the bank and picked Red Top Mountain State Park in Bartow County as my destination. I convinced my daughter to go with me, and we set out early that Friday morning.

I picked Red Top Mountain for several reasons. First, it is relatively close to me so it makes for a good day trip. Second, according to the park map on the website, it has a selection of good trails with scenic views of Lake Allatoona.

Third, the park has been recovering from deer overpopulation, and I wanted to see how the understory vegetation was doing.

The park is a great example of the good work that State Park employees do. Detailed trail maps are available to use, there is great signage on the trails, and trails are clearly marked with colored blazes on the trees. From the Visitor’s Center, we took the Homestead Trail (marked in yellow on the map and with yellow blazes on the trees). This is a 5.5 mile loop trail and you have the option to start the loop in either direction so we met people coming and going as we hiked.

Beech and sourwood trees

Fall colored foliage and views of the lake were a beautiful part of this path, but we couldn’t let them distract us from the many switchbacks needed to wind around the coves.

Elevation changes kept our heart rates up while providing many great views. Our interest in photography had us stopping to capture interesting angles and good looking plants. She teaches me photography and I babble on about plants.

Does the forest enhance the lake view or vice versa?

The deciduous forest had shed most of its leaves and at times we walked through areas with high diversity. The path was littered with the colorful reminders of red oaks, white oaks, southern red oaks, beeches, sourwood and some of the prettiest red maples that I’ve seen in a while. In other areas, we were in a pine forest and the path was all pine needles.

At least five different oak leaves in this view

As for the recovery of the vegetation from the deer control efforts, I found pretty good amounts of understory plants. There were beautiful sweeps of Christmas fern (Polystichum acrostichoides), river cane (Arundinaria), and hearts a bustin' (Euonymus americanus). The latter is always a deer treat at my house so clearly the control efforts are working to some degree.

Christmas ferns

The yellow fall color of hearts a bustin'

If you enjoy beautiful hikes on well-marked trails, be sure to visit one of our many beautiful Georgia State Parks. It's a great way to opt outside any day of the year.

Winter Greens at FDR State Park

The last week of the year usually finds me with a few extra days to explore a State Park.  FD Roosevelt State Park looked like a good destination; I was particularly intrigued to read that it is Georgia’s largest State Park at 9,049 acres.  I got some tips from a friend that lives nearby on what plants might be there and what area would be good for a one day hike. After days of rain, one day promised to be pretty and I set out for the drive south with my daughter.

We arrived in Pine Mountain under a beautiful buttermilk sky with clear blue showing through. The Park office was open, so we purchased a parking permit and a map for the Pine Mountain Trail. The Trail is 23 miles long so the map is very helpful.  We drove around a bit to get our bearings, amazed at the mountain views. I’m not sure why I was surprised to find that Pine Mountain was really a mountain!

Based on my friend’s recommendation, we headed for the Wolfden Loop section of the Pine Mountain Trail. On the way there, we stopped at Dowdell Knob to see the FDR statue and a stand of Georgia oak (Quercus georgiana). We found both.

The view that Roosevelt liked at Dowdell Knob

From there we drove to the WJSP TV parking lot to start hiking, crossing into Meriwether County at some point (the park spans two counties). Almost immediately we were in a piney woodland and began seeing large, evergreen devilwood (Osmanthus americanus) shrubs. I searched in vain for some old fruits but never found any, only the beautiful glossy leaves were present. They were the first of many evergreen plants we’d find.

Symplocos tinctoria

We marched along an easy, flat path and found some low wet areas. Plants here included horse sugar (Symplocos tinctoria), swamp titi (Cyrilla racemiflora), and mountain laurel (Kalmia latifolia).

The horse sugar (also known as sweetleaf) was a beautiful mix of green and purple leaves. Virginia sweetspire (Itea virginica) and possumhaw (Viburnum nudum) were just losing the last of their leaves, each remaining leaf patterned beautifully in mottled colors.

Itea virginica

Cyrilla racemiflora

We came to Dry Falls and stepped through a light stream thanks to the recent rains. It was just the beginning of our steam crossings – they would only get deeper and swifter from here. As we climbed towards Big Rock Falls, it felt like you were in the mountains. Mountain laurel was thick along the trail, gurgling streams were beside it and galax (Galax urceolata) and moss were at ground level.

Ilex coriacea

Also in the shrub mix was an evergreen shrub that resembled inkberry, a member of the holly genus (Ilex). The more rounded shape of the leaf and the small teeth made me think it was different. Later, I sent pictures to my friend, and he identified it as large gallberry (Ilex coriacea). We exited the lush area and crossed through a veritable boulder field until we reached Big Rock Falls, passing a small population of Rhododendron minus and Yucca along the way.

From there we pressed on to Slippery Rock Falls. Evidence of the recent rains was everywhere – from the high-flowing creeks to the flattened creekbanks and broken branches. It was a long way to the next point marked on the map, Cascade Falls.  Here we found another evergreen, a tall sweetbay magnolia (Magnolia virginiana). We had seen a few smaller ones earlier.

Cascade Falls

We decided that we’d had enough for the day and turned back to retrace our steps back to the car. The trail is well-marked (blue blazes on trees and rocks) and well-maintained by the dedicated Pine Mountain Trail Association.

There were numerous small bridges and even wooden footpaths across perennially wet areas. Clear signs mark the spots on the map. I look forward to going back again one day, perhaps in a different season, to explore more of the trail and the park.

Chattahoochee Bend State Park

One of the newest Georgia State Parks is nestled around a bend of the Chattahoochee River near Newnan in Coweta County. At 2910 acres, it is also one of the biggest, stretching for 7 miles along the river. 

I didn’t know much about the park plant-wise, but I figured that it was worth a trip to check it out and went on the spur of the moment last week; my daughter gamely tagged along.

Once we exited I-20, it was still a long drive along quiet country roads to get to the park. We entered the park from Flat Rock Rd, but it didn’t occur to me what that meant. There is actually an outcrop in the park and you can explore it from Trailhead 1 which you reach before you even get to the Visitor Center. The area was crowded with participants in the Georgia Orienteering Club, so we kept going, but I noticed yellow flowers along the road there and vowed to stop by on the way out. 

After a brief stop at the Visitor Center, we headed for the Day Use Area down by the river to find the trail that went along the river.

We lingered briefly by the boat ramp to examine a climbing vine that I later found out is climbing buckwheat (Fallopia scandens). Small white asters (Symphyotrichum sp.) were still blooming and bluemist flower (Conoclinium coelestinum) was here and there until the shade of the Riverwalk Trail took over.  The woods were filled with trees that were familiar to me: American hornbeam (Carpinus caroliniana), hophornbeam (Ostrya virginiana), box elder (Acer negundo), and later big patches of paw paw (Asimina triloba), large river birch (Betula nigra), hackberry (Celtis sp.), maples and oaks. We even saw an American hazelnut (Corylus americana).

Climbing buckwheat (Fallopia scandens)

Hazelnut (Corylus americana)

The trail is very close to the river and abundant stretches of river cane (Arundinaria sp.) were there. Sprinkled throughout were the fading blooms of white snakeroot (Ageratina sp). Also long past bloom was wingstem (Verbesina sp.) with just enough faded petals to recognize it was one of the yellow flowered ones. The bridges constructed along the walk were very well done. One tall bridge was flanked by two large deciduous hollies (Ilex decidua) so it was easy to get a good picture of the fruit. We walked as far as the observation tower which unfortunately does not have a good view of the river but would be fun for kids.

River cane (Arundinaria)

Observation tower

Ilex decidua

Wood oats (Chasmanthium latifolium)

We turned back to try to find the beaver ponds via the Wild Turkey Trail but only walked along a dry trail with beautyberry (Callicarpa americana) and Christmas ferns that led back to the road. With not enough time to go further on the Riverside Trail (and no apparent way to drive to another portion), we decided to head back and stop where the yellow flowers were.

Fameflower (Phemeranthus teretifolius)

The brightest yellow flower turned out to be a patch of coreopsis, but then I realized that there was another yellow flower nearby that was different. It was a Stone Mountain daisy (Helianthus porteri). That’s when I realized that the “flat rock” was an outcrop, an environment that is home to many special plants.

As I looked around, I found other special plants such as the fleshy leaves of quill fameflower (Phemeranthus teretifolius) and prickly cactus (Opuntia sp.). After I got home, I found references that elf orpine (Diamorpha smallii) blooms there in the spring, another outcrop special plant. 

It looks like a spring trip back to the park might be in order so that not only can I finish the Riverwalk Trail, but also spend time on the Flat Rock Trail as well. How wonderful that this area was protected!

Hike Local: Old Mill Park

The mill dam as viewed from the upper trail

Winter days can be mild and rainy and those are perfect conditions for small outings with waterfalls. In our ongoing efforts to entertain our young grandson, we visited a fairly local waterfall this week. Old Mill Park in historic Roswell is a favorite local park for its easy trails and scenic views.

Our mid-morning arrival found plenty of parking and few visitors, allowing us to ramble mask-free along the trails on both sides of Vickery Creek. We crossed over the covered bridge and hiked up the steps to the Vickery Creek Trail, part of the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area. You can also reach this trail from their parking lot off Riverside Road.

That side of the creek has amazing native vegetation: as we walked high above the creek, the path was lined on both sides with a mixture of mountain laurel (Kalmia latifolia) and Piedmont rhododendron (Rhododendron minus). In fact, these two evergreen shrubs were so unusually abundant that the view reminded me of the more familiar, but invasive, privet. I can’t wait to go back in May and see these in bloom! In the meantime, there was plenty of Christmas fern (Polystichum acrostichoides), evergreen ginger (Hexastylis arifolia), glowing moss, and rosettes of native asters and goldenrods.

Vickery Creek Trail with Rhododendron

Rhododendron minus buds

On the Old Mill Park side of the creek, there are more facilities: restrooms, concrete paths, restful spots, and trash cans. It was the perfect place to enjoy a snack next to the roaring waterfall and answer questions like “Does the water ever stop?” Think about that … all night long, water is pouring over that dam! We also talked about the many birds we could hear around us. Sandy ‘beaches’ next to the creek keep a lot children entertained, I’m sure, and ours was one.

That side of the creek is also the place where you’ll see weedy and invasive plants; the bright fruits of the non-native Nandina domestica were showing in several places. Local parks need volunteers to help manage invasive plants as well as landscape crews educated in the plants of the area. If you’d like to help manage invasive plants at your local park, call the managing entity (city, county) and volunteer. Balmy winter days are also perfect for pulling weeds!

Ginger and Christmas next to the path

George L. Smith State Park

On our way back from Florida this past week, I convinced my husband to depart from I-16 to visit George L. Smith State Park in Emanuel County. This 1634-acre park has a 412-acre lake that was the mill pond for the historic Parrish Mill. It includes a few walking trails and you might even find a gopher tortoise (Georgia’s state reptile) or see a indigo snake. Much of the draw for this state park is the lake where folks enjoy paddling and fishing.

Trees stretched on and on

Pond cypress (Taxodium ascendens)

We did not come prepared to paddle, so we walked around the lake shores a bit, admiring the blackwater and the beauty of the trees reflected in it: pond cypress (Taxodium ascendens), bald cypress (Taxodium distichum), and swamp tupelo (Nyssa biflora). We saw several kinds of native fruits: ogeechee lime fruits (Nyssa ogeche) were floating in the water near the mill while a swamp tupelo (Nyssa biflora) was heavy with fruit. 

Nyssa biflora fruit

Nyssa ogeche fruit

Evergreen plants provided good botanical interest: sweetbay magnolia (Magnolia virginiana), Carolina cherry laurel (Prunus caroliniana), and wax myrtle (Morella spp.) were in several areas. According to a botanical inventory shared with me by Bobby Hattaway, there are actually 3 species of wax myrtle in the park: cerifera, caroliniensis, and pumila.

Cyrilla racemiflora provides color

Vaccinium arboreum

We also saw plenty of tardily deciduous plants showing a bit of color: swamp titi (Cyrilla racemiflora) and sparkleberry (Vaccinium arboreum) both had a nice mix of colorful leaves, while horse sugar (Symplocos tinctoria) had the occasional purple leaf and water oak (Quercus nigra) was a mix of green, yellow, and brown.

I look forward to coming back during spring or summer to see more plants, especially when they are in flower.