Great Seal State Park in Spring #1

On April 5th Joan and I revisited parts of Great Seal State Park, which we explored for the first time the previous autumn. We parked in the southern section, near trail intersection V.

We set out towards M, beginning with a bridge crossing.

Soon there were clusters of blooming white trout lilies.

And a bloodroot beginning to unfold.

Joan and I turned left at intersection M, crossed the road, and hiked deeper into the woods.

What's that noise? A yellow-bellied sapsucker!

We gained altitude hiking clockwise around the green loop (Rocky Knob trail) at the right of the map. After fifty more minutes we came across an old stone foundation, a remnant of early settlement.

This mayapple has spread its wings wide, but no blossom yet.

The trail gradually descended as it looped around and headed south again. Here's a view into the watershed below.

Joan and I retraced the Bonus Hill connector, and passed through intersections K and S to reach Annie's Trail. This loop steadily rose,

The white spots above are happy spring beauties.

and we passed an offering of hyacinth, a non-native plant, as we neared Annie's Trail.

We reached intersection T,

Click on the image to enlarge, and spot the daffodils

and then added the Rock Garden loop to today's bag. Carpets of squirrel corn adorned the slope, happy with the soils on the ridge top.

The next post will have photos of the Rock Garden.

Joan and I were astonished at the trash we collected today, on the trails or beside them. Our small plastic bags were overwhelmed, so we hauled large kitchen bags out of our daypacks, held in reserve for sitting on damp soils. We hauled out five and a half brown beer bottles, four or five soda and beer cans, a couple of water bottles, five spent shotgun shells, and assorted loose trash such as candy bar wrappers and hair scrunchies. During this hike we met a fellow who had been collecting bags of roadside trash, an even bigger chore.

I repeat: if you can carry it in, you can d**n well carry it out.