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Jun 32 min read
June Updates for Joyce Kilmer-Slickrock Wilderness
Dear friends of the Joyce Kilmer Slickrock Wilderness, June is here, and that means lots of blooms. The famous Flame Azaleas on Hooper...
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Jan 12 min read
Hiking into the New Year in Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest
If you're welcome the new year with a walk in the woods, you're in for a treat. Hikers will notice that there is one deciduous tree that...
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Nov 14, 20232 min read
Can plants have allies? Introducing the Club-Mosses
At this time of year in the Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest, you might notice some very special plants along the trail. They are called...
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Nov 5, 20233 min read
Partridgeberry: A Pleasant Forest Surprise
During the part of the year when the trees lose their leaves, we can find surprises that have been present all along, revealed to our...
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Oct 30, 20232 min read
Late Autumn Magic
A number of species of Gentian, a very beautiful wildflower, bloom in the midst of autumn after the reds and magentas of ironweed and Joe...
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Oct 23, 20232 min read
White Snakeroot in the Forest
This week the land is full of blooming white snakeroot. A relative to Joe Pye Weed, the white flower of this plant looks fuzzy. Only...
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Oct 9, 20232 min read
Forest Bathing: Cleanse the Soul and Quiet the Mind
I have always believed that the upper loop of the Joyce Kilmer Memorial Loop Trail, with its huge Tulip Poplar trees, was a healing place....
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Sep 27, 20232 min read
Touch Me Not . . . I'm a Jewelweed
Jewelweed or Touch Me Not is a plant many of us are familiar with. We actually have two species of jewelweed in our area, one with...
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Sep 18, 20232 min read
Are those bugs? Understanding the Tick Trefoil
Have you looked down at your pants after a hike and wondered what all those little, flat green things are? Where do they come from? I’d...
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Sep 12, 20232 min read
Spicebush - A Cooking Lesson
This blog is a cooking lesson. I enjoy foraging for wild foods. A sure sign of the upcoming autumn in the Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest...
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Sep 4, 20232 min read
What is Bird's Nest Fungus?
Late summer is the time I see a very special fungus growing along the trail in Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest. You have to look very...
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Aug 21, 20232 min read
White Baneberry or Doll's Eyes?
As you walk along the upper loop of the Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest Loop trail in August, you will notice a plant with strikingly odd...
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Aug 21, 20232 min read
The Indian Cucumber
Indian Cucumber (Medeola virginiana) is a plant that can be found anywhere along the double loop trail in the Joyce Kilmer Memorial...
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Aug 6, 20232 min read
American Spikenard: A Ginseng Relative
Most of us are familiar with “Ginseng”, the plant that is an adaptogen and grows native in our country. There are five plants in the...
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Jul 31, 20232 min read
Cleavers: A most useful forest dweller
Cleavers is an easily missed plant which can be found almost all year round except in the coldest month of the winter. Many view it as a...
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Jul 15, 20232 min read
Black Cohosh - Nature's Natural Bug Repellent
Black Cohosh is one of the most beautiful plants that bloom in July through early September. However, it is the strong odor of the...
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Jul 10, 20233 min read
Exploring the world of Chanterelle Mushrooms
July is the time to find the glorious, apricot-scented, Chanterelle mushrooms, allegedly one the most popular mushrooms in the United...
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Jul 3, 20233 min read
Where have all the Hemlocks gone?
I am often asked about what caused the death of the glorious Eastern Hemlocks in the Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest. The tiny insect is...
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Jun 19, 20233 min read
Mother Nature Monday: In the (White) Pines
The sunlight reaches the ground level of the lower loop of the Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest loop trail more easily than it did twenty...
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Jun 13, 20233 min read
Indian Pipe, Ice Plant, or Ghost Flower . . . What is it?
Indian Pipe is one of the more unusual plants to be found in the Joyce Kilmer-Slickrock Wilderness. It goes by several other names;...
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