Lynx Prarie, Edge of Appalachia Nature Preserve

 

 On Saturday, we headed to Lynx Prarie, on the Edge of Appalachia Nature Preserve. It is located in Adams County, in the small town of Lynx. The trailhead is located at the back of East Liberty Cemetery off Tulip Road. It's very isolated--you'd never know it was there unless you were told to look for it.

 The terrain varies on the short (like less than two miles) trail. It takes about 2 hours since there's lots to stop and see. While it was a little overgrown, you can't really get lost (but don't try! print out a map before you go).

 As I said...the terrain varies a lot. On the PDF I link to above, you will find a map and detailed descriptions of various stops along the way. You can walk from a prarie to a creek (this cute picture was taken at a creek there by my friend Stacia of my husband and me) to old growth forest to newer stands of trees.

 One of the most interesting plants is the prarie dock, which is huge and looks prehistoric to me. You can find a large variety of native and rare plants--I am pretty good at wildflower identification but found a few on this trip I had to look up. You can download this species list to help.

Lastly, here's  a shot of one of the oaks that some believe was trained by Native Americans to bend at the trunk to mark a trail.

Rainy Weekend

Originally, we were supposed to head to Point Pleasant, WV with a large group to visit Mothman attractions. Due to a variety of circumstances, it came down to just me, my husband and my brother. Moments before we hit the road, I was reading articles about Mothman on my phone and clicked on a random link--apparently one of the active TNT bunkers (see link above for explanation) had exploded last year, prompting a variety of government agencies to shut the area down until they seem it safe.

We decided to head somewhere else since the main objective of the day was to visit the TNT bunkers (though I still encourage others to visit for the museum, shops, parks, etc in the meantime). We settled on Brown County State Park near Nashville, IN. Though it rained, we got a nice hike in. We looked for morels but didn't have any luck! We did see others who had a good day of foraging, though!



Here's my brother and husband on the Limekiln trail. It was a nice, easy trail but we had to turn back because of the incoming thunderstorm. Thank goodness for a quick weather app download!

We didn't see morels but I saw lots of fiddleheads. Would like to try them sometime.

The rain made all the greens in the park seem more brilliant.

Easter Sunday was my dad's birthday, so we kept with our tradition the past few years and headed to the land that used to be my great-grandfather's pig farm until he was bought out by the state. It's now a little-used part of East Fork State Park.

I know a lot of people hate the rainy spring weather, and I admit it does get old...but if you take your rain gear and some waterproof hiking boots, you can see a lot of things you might not normally encounter. This little guy was high up on a ridge near some standing water.

Rain also makes for great fungi hunting--I found this beautiful witch's butter
 while looks for morels.

I found only one morel--my first--in the perfect spot. Dead logs, a layer of leaves, elm trees and mayapples nearby. 

 I'm so glad we didn't let the rain keep us in!

Welcome!

After a blogging hiatus, I've decided that a brand-spanking new blog is the best direction for me. With my book, Cincinnati Day Trips, coming out in May, what better way to celebrate?

I'm hoping to offer interesting, fun and off-the-cuff tidbits that chronicle my day trips. Some posts will probably cover things that appear in my book, while others will be brand new. So buckle up and come along!

Looks like my inaugural post will be Mothman Country! I know I'm excited.