Mt. Rogers Naturalist Rally Biological Survey
As part of the Mt. Rogers Naturalist Rally this spring, participants joined BRDC guide Devin Floyd for a biological survey of the rich forest at Grindstone Campground.
As part of the Mt. Rogers Naturalist Rally this spring, participants joined BRDC guide Devin Floyd for a biological survey of the rich forest at Grindstone Campground. They explored all the living detail of a unique Appalachian ecosystem type.
Exploring Grindstone
This forest chews lava, and exhales the whispers of glaciers...
Sipping from rock once fuming and flowing
Drawing from deep water pebble-pimpled silt,
Splitting muck-mired cobbles of glacial mowings
Benefacting cycles of rise and wilt...
This forest
chews
lava,
and
exha
les
the
whispers
of
gla
ciers...
-D. Floyd
On Sunday the 12th,
a mother, a father, and a son explored the forest at Grindstone Campground on the north side of Mount Rogers. We were there to 'see what we could see'. Our walk took us around the short Grindstone loop trail, the 'Whispering Waters nature trail'. As has been experienced in the past, the beauty is blinding and the diversity overwhelming. One passes through at least two distinct forest types and transitions from glacial lake deposits to lava flow remains.
The forest along the upper portion of the trail is truly unique, as it is dominated by linden, ash, and cucumber magnolia. The great number of seeps along the trail provide for excellent exploration and the make-up of the forest shifts around every corner!
Here's a small bit of what we saw:
Geology:
Rock type #1, near the beginning of the trail, is :
Konnarock Formation
;
Maroon diamictite, rhythmite, and arkose.
These are rocks that were deposited in habitats that included deep icy lakes and glacial activity. They are the silicified (fancy word for 'turned into rock') remains of muds, silts, pebbles and cobbles carried by glaciers. Interestingly, the stones seen in the silicified mud were dropped into that muck and consist of materials from formations nearby...ryholites, greenstones, and granites. This makes sense because the glaciers would have been eroding these materials from the land during that time...and, it was a landscape devoid of plants and animals!...mountains and valleys of pure rock, silt, and sand!
Rock type #2, as one heads up the trail the rocks change to:
Mount Rogers Formation;
Phenocryst-poor rhyolite.
These rocks are a dark purple, and are the results of lava flows! Mount Rogers, White Top, and Pond Mtn. (NC) form the core of what was a massive and explosive volcanic complex. These once towering volcanoes have seen a lot of erosion, and have even found themselves buried beneath miles of sediment at different points in the geologic past. But today, we are afforded a view of these ancient volcanoes. It is worth noting here that this rock known as "Rhyolite" is high in silica, and breaks kind of like glass (chonchoidal fracture). This made it a choice material for use in making spears, knives, and other tools during prehistoric times. Somewhere on these mountains hides ancient quarries used by Native Americans!
Primary source:
Virginia Division of Mineral Resources, 1993, Geologic Map of Virginia.
Trees and shrubs:
chestnut oak,
Quercus prinus
northern red oak
,
Quercus rubra
red maple,
Acer rubrum
sugar maple,
Acer saccharum
striped m
aple,
Acer pensylvanicum
black cherry,
Prunus serotina
yellow birch,
Betula alleghaniensis
black birch,
Betula lenta
American beech,
Fagus grandifolia
Fraser magnolia,
Magnolia fraseri
cucumber magnolia
,
Magnolia acuminata
witchhazel
,
Hamamelis virginiana
viburnum
sp.
yellow buckeye,
Aesculus flava
green ash,
Fraxinus pennsylvanica
white ash
,
Fraxinus americana
American linden,
Tilia americana
rhododendron
sp.
yellow poplar
,
Liriodendron tulipifera
eastern hemlock,
Tsuga canadensis
...and, maybe
Carolina Hemlock
,
Tsuga caroliniana
(need to revisit the site to verify)
Scientific name reference:
Two unidentified species of the Lycopodiaceae family.
Smaller plants:
ramps,
Allium tricoccum
white baneberry,
Actaea pachypoda
Solomon's seal,
Polygonatum sp.
false Solomon's seal,
Smilacina racemosa
Pipsissewa
,
Chimaphila maculata
Dutchmans pipe,
Aristolochia macrophylla
ground cedar,
Lycopodium sp.
clubmoss
,
Huperzia sp.
partridge Berry,
Mitchella repens
white snakeroot
,
Ageratina altissima
black cohosh,
Actaea racemosa (syn. Cimicifuga r.)
blue cohosh,
Caulophyllum thalictroides
yellow mandarin,
Disporum lanuginosum
jack in the pulpit
,
Arisaema triphyllum
Curtis's goldenrod
,
Solidago curtisii
**
Two aster species remain unidentified, see images below.
**Two Lycopodiaceae species remain unidentified. see image above.
My identification sources:
Newcomb's Wildflower Guide, by Lawrence Newcomb
On the way home
we could not resist stopping to take in a phenomenal meadow. Willows, hawthorns, alders, cinnamon ferns, golden rods, ironweeds, ladies' tresses and butterflies galore. This little boggy area is very close to Grindstone Campground and can be thoroughly enjoyed from the road. I suspect there are many locations in the Grayson highlands area that are similar to this one, as it is maintained as pasture.
Grindstone Scream
You know you're in a wondrous place
when you simply step out of your car and you need not move because it's all around. "Hear that ? Canada Warbler ? ". We haven't even made it to the trail from the parking area, and we've had a dozen or more reason's to stop and look. "This is going to take forever!", says one... "that's what we're here for !", says another.
Our location for the wildflower hike
was in the Mount Rogers National Recreation Area at Grindstone Campground, on May 2nd.We walked a designated 1/2 mile wildflower loop trail, at far end of camping area, on the north facing slope of Mount Rogers.
We were just past the bloom
of Dutchman's Breeches, the very tail end of Squirrel Corn and Trout Lily's. Purple and Painted Trillium were abundant and delicate, along with Jack in the Pulpits, the smallest I've seen. This is a beautiful meandering trail through a deciduous forest, rhododendron thickets, large rock outcroppings, and a swift moving stream that the trail crossed twice with bridges. The upper reaches of the trail were moist where we found the largest abundance of plants.
The excitement of our finds escalated with a "SCREAM!" at the discovery of a plant that one participant had been wanting to see. It was a rather inconspicuous plant amongst it's similar looking relatives, the Solomon's Seal, and Yellow Mandarin's . There were the delicate pink bells hanging beneath alternate leaves of the Rosy Twisted Stalk. The scream came, then the drop down to get a quick close look, resulted in getting stuck amongst rocks in an awkward position that she needed help out of ! Three of us sat a while to take it in.
We spent 2 hours covering 1/2 mile
, could have spent much longer. All plants were not exactly identified, but we did our best, being the novices that we all are ! A few of us are left with a continuing study, via "google" and sharing findings near our homes of similar specimens, of the proper identification of the "Ground Cedar" and the " Ground Pine" .We intend on returning to the site to see if we can figure it out ! Enjoying the mystery!
The following is a list that was compiled while walking:
Canada Mayflower, Wild strawberry, Bluets, Solomon Seal, False Solomon Seal, Partridge Berry, Jack in the Pulpit, Sweet White Violet, Whirled Loosestrife, Purple Trillium, Painted Trillum, Groung Cedar, Ground Pine, Downy Yellow Violet, Wood Anemone, Foam Flower, False Hellebore, Large Flowered Bellwort, Blue Cohosh, Trout Lily, White Wake Robin, Squirrel corn, Mayapple, Spring Beauty, Mountain Lettuce, Rosy Twisted Stalk
-Jane Floyd
Wildflowers at Grindstone Campground
A list of wildflowers seen:
Painted Trillium
Purple Trillium
White Anemone
Squirrel Corn
Yellow Violet
White Violet
Purple Violet
Trout Lily
Ramps, thousands of them
