Late March
Before visiting the bog, I stopped by the Betty's Creek - Hambidge Natural Area:
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Magraw Spring House (ca. 1912)
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This poor old stone springhouse is leaning about 15 degrees out of vertical.
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Reaching the bog required a good climb along old logging roads and barely recognizable trails.
A number of early spring ephemerals were just starting to bloom:
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Spring Beauties (Claytonia caroliniana)
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Trillium grandiflorum - only a few had begun to bloom.
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Hepatica (Hepatica nobilis)
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Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis)
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Bloodroots were by far the most numerous blooms encountered on the way to the bog.
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Spicebush flowers (Lindera benzoin)
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Rocky cliffs as one approaches the mountain gap before descending to the bogs.
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One of the springs that feeds the bog area
Horrible lighting! I had hoped for a cloudy day but it cleared and I had to deal with harsh sun & shadows.
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I made a disappointing discovery at the mountain bog:
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Wild hog destruction (insert expletive here!)
Uprooted plants, including old basal rosettes and budding rhizomes with dried out roots are visible.
There were scattered tape-flags, which I assume had marked the location of some of the plants
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This was formerly a nice open peat-moss covered spot. The deep hog rooting
is not quite as evident here in the peat-moss as in other adjacent spots, but the
trampling is obvious. Several remnants of tape-flags are visible in this image.
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This large area of open bog was relatively unscathed...
It was too early for any interesting bog flowers.
Note: I alerted the USFS to the hog damage, for appropriate action.
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Addendum:
I had planned to return in late April to (hopefully) see Swamp Pink in bloom.
Other explorations got in the way and I forgot about it until early May.
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After climbing to the bog, I saw that this flower had already gone to seed.
In a given year, only about 15% of these plants will bloom;
thanks to the hogs, only one plant sent up a stalk this year.
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Spent flower head of Swamp Pink (Helonias bullata)
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