The Cranesville Swamp, Part 2

Me at the Cranesville Swamp.

 

The Cranesville Swamp consists of a flat expanse surrounded by low hills, populated by trees here and there. A convenient boardwalk allows one to walk without interfering with the vegetation or sinking into the bog, though there were some places farther along submerged under several inches of water. I believe one would call it technically a fen, as the water does flow, albeit very slowly, through the terrain.

 

Skunk cabbage among hillocks of mosses

 

We'd hoped to see the pitcher plants that grew here that we'd read about, and perhaps some of the sundews, but the skunk cabbage had overgrown everything so much that any pitcher plants and sundews were totally obscured. There were plenty of large Cranberry bushes (Vaccinium macrocarpon) with flower buds (or berries?) on them, their leaves still showing red. The name seems deceptive, these plants grew very low in height.

 

 

 

Large Cranberries (Vaccinium macrocarpon)

 

 

The lowbush and highbush blueberries were a bit taller, but it was hard to distinguish between the two--I'm not sure I have these correctly identified, but it seemed the flowers of the lowbush were paler, as its botanical name indicates, and the highbush blueberry redder.

 

 

 

Lowbush Blueberry (Vaccinium pallidum) 

 

Highbush Blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum)

 

As we ambled along the boardwalk some Viburnums in bloom were visible, perhaps wild raisin, (Viburnum cassinoides), or highbush cranberry (Viburnum edulis), hard for me--a non-botanist--to tell. I wish I'd been able to go on the earlier Wildflower Festival walk with some experts, to learn the differences.

 

Viburnum cassinoides?

 

The array of low-growing plants along the boardwalk was fascinating, the tiny berries of Wintergreen, the unfurling fiddleheads of ferns (Bracken?)  and fruiting mosses were just lovely.

 

Low growth along the boardwalk

 

Mosses with spore heads

At the north end of the boardwalk, a few tall tamarack trees (Larix laricina), also known as the American larch, could be seen, only one had rather skimpy foliage. Here is the southernmost occurrence of this deciduous conifer more typical of northern latitudes such as Canada and the upper midwest, and they didn't seem to be prospering. I understand there are a number of insects that can damage these trees, it seemed the few here could use some help.

  

 

Tamarack trees (Larix laricina)

The plants in this setting were so beautiful to my eye, that I'd like to try a painting depicting several of them in their environment later on.

 

 

Fern fronds unfurling

 

Small trees or shrubs

Drooping sedge (Carex crinita)

Maleberry (Lyonia ligustrina)

Towards the northern end the boardwalk was submerged in several inches of water, and when we re-entered the woods, the ground there was so soggy one had to tread with care. The recent rains had really waterlogged this part of the preserve and we were really glad we had waterproof boots!

 

Skunk cabbage among the ferns and cranberries

 

I'd love to visit the Cranesville Swamp again at another time of the year, like in the fall, to observe how the landscape changes with the seasons. I imagine it would be covered in the bloom of goldenrods and native asters, ripe berries, and some colorful foliage in the background... perhaps this coming fall.

The Cranesville Swamp, Part 1

 

Entering the Cranesville Swamp

Towards the end of a very rainy period in late May, a friend and I decided to visit the Cranesville Swamp. We'd  missed the walk in early May during the West Virginia Wildflower Festival, and wanted to see this unusual botanical site. Straddling the edge of western Maryland and upper WV, this site is considered botanically unique because it's a "frost pocket", where the cold mountain air collects, making for a much colder environment than its latitude would indicate. The poorly-draining soil has created a classic high-altitude bog that contains some very unusual plants.

 

Hemlock forest

 

The woods leading up to the boardwalk of the bog were lush--mostly tall hemlocks and white pine, with remnants of a red spruce forest that was heavily logged up until the 1950's. Today, hundreds of red spruce saplings have been planted by the Nature Conservancy, who owns the site, in an effort to restore the original forest.

 

Large specimen of red spruce.

 

There are several varieties of club mosses found in this forest: ground cedar (Lycopodium digitatum), Tree clubmoss ( Lycopodium obscurum), which we photographed--the two others we probably saw, but could not identify.

 

Tree Club Moss (Lycopodium obscurum) with wild strawberry

Ground cedar (Lycopodium digitatum)

 

Patches of tiny Bluets bloomed among the wild strawberries covering the ground, and White Beakrush here and there.

 

 

 

Bluets (Houstonia caerulea) and wild strawberries

 

White Beakrush (Rhynchospora alba)

 

 

 Cinnamon ferns abounded in the moist forest, with lady ferns and Oak ferns.

 

 

 

Cinnamon ferns (Osmunda cinnamomea)

 

Oak ferns (Gymnocarpium dryopteris) among club mosses

 

Butterfly among ferns

 

After a short walk through the forest, the trees cleared out and we were out in the open, arriving at the Cranesville Swamp. 

End of Part 1, see next post for Part 2.

 

 

Hiking on Dolly Sods, Part 1

The view east from Dolly Sods Road Overlook

My friend wanted to hike on Dolly Sods Wilderness in West Virginia. I remembered that Herb and I had done a hike on the Wilderness Trail and part of the Rorhbaugh Trail up to the spot where the rock cliffs are located, about a decade ago. I had always wanted to see the rest of the Rorhbaugh Trail, so I suggested we start our hike on the Wilderness Trail and continue to the end of the Rohrbaugh Trail, a total of about 5.2 miles according to my trail map. We each drove our own car so that we could leave one car at the Rorhbaugh Trailhead and ride together in the other to our starting point at the Wildlife Trailhead. This would save us a long walk back.

The weather was marvelous, so we agreed to go out last Friday, the beginning of Labor Day weekend. We arrived at Dolly Sods Wilderness around eleven-thirty in the morning after a long dusty ride up the rough mountain road. The clouds were just breaking up on the plateau, allowing a clear view of the mountains to the east from the panoramic overlook at the entrance. It was windy and chilly, probably in the mid fifties, and I put on my lightweight raincoat for an extra layer of warmth.

 

Goldenrod and Jewelweed at the Wilderness Trailhead.

 

We drove down to the picnic area and had our lunch there, parking my friend's car, then drove back up to the Wildlife Trailhead in my car. There were lovely wildflowers everywhere, a hint of fall showing in the foliage and flowers.

We hadn't gone more than forty or fifty paces into the forest when a ray of sunlight highlighted a whitish fungal growth up on a tree trunk... it was Lion's Mane mushroom! Thank heaven my friend is an expert forager, and had her forage bag with her. She found a stick long enough to reach the Lion's Mane and coaxed it down. If we could find a few more, we'd have a tasty supper.

 

Lion's Mane mushroom

 

We started looking around more closely--and more mushrooms began to crop up. A group of large polypore-looking mushrooms was scattered upon the forest floor. We picked a sample for later identification, not sure of its edibility. I think they may be Hedgehog mushrooms (Hydnum repandem) which are considered edible.

 

Hedgehog mushrooms (Hydnum repandem)

Closer look at Hedgehog mushroom.

 

The trail was impossibly muddy in places, indicating that the summer rains had been plentiful. To make matters worse, a group of horseback riders had ridden on the trail recently, and their tracks made our going more like an obstacle course.

Although it had been dry for the past couple of weeks in our area, it's obvious this plateau gets a lot more rainfall than our area of Virginia. The Allegheny Front forms part of the Eastern Continental Divide, with the western side draining into the Mississippi River Basin, while the eastern side drains into the Atlantic, the Chesapeake Bay specifically.

 

Violet-stemmed mushroom (Laccaria ochropurpurea?)

 

The quantity and variety of fungi in this forest was amazing: lots of Polypores were growing on fallen and standing tree trunks: Turkeytails, and False Turkeytails, but the Horseshoe conks on this tree (Fomes fomentarius) were unusual. 

 

Horseshoe conks (Fomes fomentarius)

Coral fungi (Clavulina coralloides?

This high-elevation forest is botanically rich in many unusual plants such as club mosses, known as ground cedar (Diphasiastrum complanatum), ground pine (Lycopodium obscurum), ferns, as well as many plants more likely to be found in New England and eastern Canada, such as red spruce and birch. We spotted and harvested more Lion's Mane, one specimen high up on a trunk required a large branch to bring it down.

 

Lady Ferns and Ground Cedar.

 

A big tree with a unusual seed pods caught my eye, and on closer examination turned out to be a huge Cucumber magnolia (Magnolia acuminata). A group of several large Mountain ashes in fruit brought seasonal color to the late summer forest.

 

Cucumber magnolia with ripening seedpods (Magnolia acuminata).

Mountain ash trees in fruit (Sorbus aucuparia)

Beechdrops, a parasitic plant that feeds on the roots of Beech Trees, were still flowering, if a bit past it. We also collected a bit of Chaga mushroom on a trunk--these black fungi look like burn scars and associate only with Birch trees. They have medicinal properties and are used in Russian folk medicine to treat a variety of conditions.

 

Beechdrops (Epifagus virginiana)

 

Chaga mushroom (Inonotus oblicuus)

Everywhere we turned, there were different kinds of mushrooms. A piece of greenish spalted wood on the ground gave evidence that Green Elf Cups (Chlorociboria aeruginacens) had at one time colonized it--the elf cups are a rare sight. All these mushrooms and we had barely covered a mile! No wonder we were walking so slowly, it takes time to take it all in!

 

A mushroom with Volva--an Amanita? 

 

Spalted wood indicates Green Elf Cup colonization.

Yellow Waxy Cap mushrooms (Hygrocybe flavecens)

Eventually we came to the first of the sods--the season was too advanced to see many butterflies, but there were a few Great Spangled Fritillaries on the goldenrod and thistles. I remembered these meadows buzzing with countless butterflies and bees when Herb and I visited so many years ago, but that was in early August, at the height of summer, and now it was getting on toward fall.

 

The first of the sods.

 

Great Spangled Fritillary on Thistle

We reentered the forest, finding yet more mushrooms we couldn't identify.

 

On the Wildlife Trail.

Cluster of brown mushrooms.

To be continued in Part 2.

Another Field Sketch Transformation

 

The Ledge at Calmes Neck. colored pencil, 14"h x 10"w.

Having obtained permission from one of the homeowners who lives there, I went back to Calmes Neck the week following the Virginia Native Plant Society's excursion to do another field sketch. I wanted to capture the red Columbines growing on the rocky ledges, with the idea of doing another piece on the unique plants that are found there.

I arrived mid-morning and was given a wonderful tour of their art collection by the owners of the gorgeous custom log cabin home. After that, I walked down the hill with my gear to find the best spot for my field sketch--there wasn't any level ground, so the best I could do was to balance my portable chair between the ledge and the steep drop-off, using my feet--a rather uncomfortable position, but the best I could do.

 

My gear on the ledge.

As I began to draw I saw that the ferns and rue anemones growing nearby might make a nice frame for the red Columbines, so I included a few of those as well as some of the moss-covered rocks, to give the impression one was really sitting right there. I had to keep getting up to look closely at the Columbines, in order to properly draw their complex petals and spurs, alternating looking with sitting and drawing. It takes a lot of energy to do this--at one point my sketchbook slipped out of my lap and almost ended up going over the cliff!

 

Field sketch in watercolor, 8"w x 10"h.

 

Once I had the pencil sketch and had started putting some color down, I took my lunch break--it was around one o'clock. While eating my sandwich, I could get a closer look at the flowers of the tall Pawpaw trees growing under the cliff. A light breeze from the river below cooled the otherwise hot afternoon--too hot for April! And too dry--after I was finished and was picking up my gear a couple of clumps of dry moss peeled right off the rocks! I guess the moss will grow back eventually once the drought breaks. Despite the discomfort of my position, it was a rich and useful field trip for me.

 

Pencil sketch of the ledge - Stage 1

I generally wait a while before I decide how I'm going to develop a sketch into a finished painting; it's always good to think about it as much as possible before one commits. Pencil sketches are the best way to practice and test out ideas for a composition. I decided to include the ferns and rue anemones and add a tiny purple cliff brake on one ledge--this fern was actually farther away on another rock ledge. I decided to go with the sketch above.

 

Pen and Ink sketch on tracing paper - Stage 2

The next step was to trace my drawing with an ink pen, and transfer it to the paper for the final project. I decided that colored pencils would be the most appropriate medium for the amount of detail I wanted on this piece, and to try rendering it on a sheet of  Bristol 300 vellum finish. 

Before doing the tracing, it occurred to me that this would be a good chance to include a pollinator, and that a ruby-throated hummingbird would complement these colors well. My first sightings of  hummingbirds in my garden had taken place just a few days before, and all of these were males. I understand that hummingbirds migrate solo, and that the males precede the females by two or three weeks, to allow the vegetation they feed on to recover, as they follow the same migration paths every year

 

Pen and Ink sketch on tracing paper - Stage 3

I cut another piece of tracing paper to attach to the first, and added a hummingbird sipping nectar from a Columbine flower. At this point I noticed that the purple cliff brake was too large in relation to the other plants, so I reduced it a bit by using my copier to scale it down to about 85% of the original drawing.

 

Colored pencil drawing - Stage 4

 

Working on Bristol 300 vellum finish is a bit different from the Fabriano Artistico HP paper that I prefer--the surface is much smoother, and one has to build up the layers of color gradually. It took a while to get the drawing to this stage (above) where I could begin to develop the darker tones. But this was only half of the area to be covered.

 

Colored pencil drawing - Stage 5

 

Unfortunately, I didn't take any other photos of the intermediate stages beyond Stage 5 above. By now all the various plants and their colors were clearly articulated, and it was just a matter of deepening the tones.