2008 SPRING NATURE WALKS
A cooperative effort by Shoals Chapter-Alabama Wildflower Society, Shoal Environmental Alliance,
Shoals Audubon Society & Alabama Outdoors of Florence. Contact: Charles Rose (256) 381-2826, 366-1937.
Saturday, March 1, 7:30am --- Shoal Creek Preserve Hike
Sponsored by Alabama Outdoors. Led by Greg Hart. Meet at the Big Star store in St. Florian on CR 47 (Old Jackson Hwy). Wildflowers & pristine, cascading creeks! Moderate. Bring water & snacks. 764-1809.
Saturday, March 8 --- Birding Blythe Farm
Sponsored by Shoals Audubon Society. Meet 8:00am, Foodland parking lot (SE corner) in Killen. Explore a variety of habitats; view an active eagle nest at this Lawrence Co. site. Led by Dee Patterson, 757-9126.
Sunday, March 9, 1:30pm --- Wildflower Walk, City Park West. Sheffield
Meet in front of the Sheffield Library. Rare White Trout Lilies & more. Led by Charles Rose. Call 366-1937.
Sunday, March 16, 1:30pm --- Wildflower Hike, Cane Creek Canyon Nature Preserve
Led by Dr. Jim Lacefield, author of Lost Worlds in Alabama Rocks, and his wife Faye. Hepatica, Bloodroot, Trout Lily, Toothwort, Spring Beauty, Saxifrage & Trillium. Waterfalls & scenic vistas. Moderately rigorous: at least 2-mile round-trip, up-hills, down-hills. For directions: See April 12 listing. 381-6301, 366-1937.
Saturday, March 22 --- Walls of Jericho Hike
Led by Charles Rose (366-1937) for Alabama Outdoors (764-1809). Meet 7:00am, Sheffield Holiday Inn, or
10:00am at the trailhead. See 200 ft. high cliffs, Bloodroot, Hepatica, Twinleaf, Trillium, Bishop’s Cap & Dutchman’s Breeches. Strenuous: 5 hr., 6 mile hike, 1,000 ft. elevation change. Bring ample water & lunch.
Saturday, March 22, 1:30pm --- Wildflower Walk, TVA Small Wild Area
Meet at TVA Nature Trails parking lot. Led by Shoals Wildflower Society President Margie Anderton. Walk includes the 1st Quarters Ravine & the Hall Memorial Native Plant Garden. Rare Dutchman’s Breeches, Toothwort, Trillium, mosses, lichens, Spring Cress, Jacob’s Ladder, Phlox, Mayapple, Larkspur. 757-7064.
Saturday, March 29 --- Wildflower Walk & Americana Exhibits at Bull Skull Hollow
Meet 9:00am at Jack’s, Woodward Av., Muscle Shoals (near K-Mart). Bring water-snacks-lunch. Gordon & Cecilia Hicks host this event on their 300-acre tract on Spring Creek. Walk led by Margie Anderton, Tim Martin & Charles Rose. Tour the Hicks’ “museum village”, 6-7 log & wooden buildings, incl. schoolhouse,
church, carriage house, general store & smoke house, all w. old implements, tools & antiques. 366-1937.
Sunday, March 30, 1:30pm --- Wildflower Walk, TVA Rockpile Trail
Meet at Rockpile parking lot. Led by Charles Rose & Tim Martin. See Dutchman’s Breeches, Stonecrop, Columbine, Toothwort, Jacob’s Ladder, Phacelia, Trillium, Phlox, Hydrangea & Buckeyes. (256) 366-1937.
Tuesday, April 1 --- Wildflower Hike, Sinks Trail, Monte Sano State Park
Meet 8:00am, Sheffield Holiday Inn. Bluebells, Dolls Eye, Wild Geranium, Blue-eyed Grass, Phlox. Led by Charles Rose. Bring lunch-snacks-water. Call (256) 366-1937 to arrange meeting us at Monte Sano S.P.
Saturday, April 5 --- Wildflower Walk, Prairie Grove Glade
Led by TVA botanist David Webb for Alabama Outdoors. Meet 8:00am, Sheffield Holiday Inn, or 8:45am at the Glade. This Nature Conservancy site is a cedar glade, home to 12 rare plants, including Lyrate Bladderpod, Ala. Glade Cress & Ala. Larkspur. Call A.O. (256) 764-1809. Afterwards, those going on to Flint Creek will caravan to the WMTC store. Bring lunch, or purchase it at the store’s lunch counter.
Saturday, April 5 --- Wildflower Walk, Flint Creek Botanical Area, Bankhead National Forest
Meet 1:00pm, Warrior Mtn. Trading Company store, south of Moulton on AL-33 at its junction w. AL-36. Led by Charles Rose & Jan Midgley (author of All About Alabama Wildflowers). Virginia Bluebells, Blue Cohosh, Goldenseal, Hepatica, Bloodroot, Trillium. Sponsored by Alabama Outdoors. (256) 366-1937.
Sunday, April 6, 1:30pm --- Wildflower Walk, TVA Small Wild Area
Meet at TVA Nature Trails. Led by botanist David Webb & Margie Anderton. Includes 1st Quarters Ravine & Hall Memorial Native Plant Garden. Jack-in-the-Pulpit, Columbine, Phacelia, Anemone, Jacob’s Ladder, Spring Cress, Saxifrage, Alumroot, Hydrangea, Trillium, Mayapple, Phlox, Waterleaf, Larkspur. 366-1937.
Tues., April 8 - Wildflower Hike, Thompson Creek, Sipsey Wilderness, Bankhead National Forest
Meet 8:00am, Sheffield Holiday Inn or 9:00am, Warrior Mountain Trading Company store, south of Moulton on AL-33 at its junction w. AL-36. Led by Jan Midgley & Charles Rose. Bring lunch, water & snacks or buy
them at the WMTC store, a great source for guide books, maps & Native American crafts. (256) 366-1937.
Thursday, April 10 --- Huntsville Botanical Garden Tour
Led by trillium researcher Harold Holmes for Shoals Wildflower Society. Meet 8:15am, Florence K-Mart parking lot (by Wachovia Bank) or 9:45am at the garden. Beautiful wildflower trail with many rare trillium species. One of the best botanical gardens in the state! Admittance: $10-Adults/$8-Seniors. Call 757-7064.
Saturday, April 12, 7:30am --- Birding the TVA Trail & Rockpile for Spring Migrants
Led by Damien Simbeck, sponsored by Shoals Audubon. Meet at TVA Nature Trails parking lot. 386-2543.
Saturday, April 12, 9:00am to 5:00pm --- Wilderness Wildflowers Day at Cane Creek Canyon
Jim & Faye Lacefield host this self-guided-tour day at their 423-acre Cane Creek Canyon Nature Preserve. Go at your own pace. Trail maps provided, guides posted at various locations. Cane Creek contains Ala.’s only known population of French’s Shooting Star. See Dwarf Crested Iris, Jack-in-the-Pulpit, Showy Orchis, Fire Pink, Eastern Blue Star, native Azaleas, Yellow Lady’s Slipper, Orchids, Trillium. 10 miles of trails, canyons, scenic vistas, shelter bluffs, waterfalls, huge boulders. Directions to Cane Creek: From Muscle Shoals, take US-72 W. At the Colbert County Farmers’ Co-Op (3.4 miles west of US-43), turn left onto the access road, which takes you down the hill to Frankfort Rd. Turn left (south) on Frankfort Rd. & go 7.25 miles. After passing Piney Grove Church of Christ (on the right), go ¼ mile & turn right on Loop Rd. (CR 41). Go .1 mile, then veer left onto the gravel road as Loop Rd. bends to the right. Follow the gravel road past the chicken houses (on the left) to the Lacefield’s Spanish-style house. Call 381-6301 or 366-1937.
Sunday, April 13, 1:30pm --- Wildflower Hike, Shoal Creek Preserve
Led by Jan Midgley, author of Native Plant Propagation, & John Grinstead, who led the effort to save this lovely 300 acre tract, now part of Ala.’s Forever Wild Land Trust. See White Trillium, Virginia Bluebells,
Mountain Laurel, Squaw Root, Mayapple. Cascading creeks, 4.5 miles of walking trails, horse trails. (256) 366-1937. Directions: From Cox Creek Pkwy. in Florence, take Old Jackson Hwy. (CR 47) to St. Florian, turn left on Butler Creek Rd. (CR 61). Go 3 miles; turn right at Shoal Creek Preserve sign to the parking lot.
Saturday, April 19 --- Earth Day Celebration
All events meet at the Old Railroad Bridge in Sheffield (north end of Ash Blvd.)
8:00am---Spring Birding Walk - Led by Jeff Garner for Alabama Outdoors. Call 764-1809.
10:00am---Earth Day Ceremony - Old Railroad Bridge. Call Alabama Outdoors at 767-2909.
10:30am---Explore the TVA Trails Hike - Led by Larry Wright for Alabama Outdoors. TVA’s trail system
(over 13 miles of paved & rustic trails) is one of the Shoals’ best kept secrets! 764-1809.
10:30am—Nature Hike - Led by Charles Rose. Come visit several lesser known sites at TVA. 366-1937.
From 12-5pm Earth Day will continue at Florence’s Wilson Park w. info booths, activities for kids & music.
Sunday, April 27, 1:00pm --- Wildflower Hike, Cane Creek Canyon Nature Preserve
Led by Jim Lacefield (381-6301) for Alabama Outdoors (764-1809). Spring wildflowers & rocks! Moderately rigorous: at least 2-mile walk with up-hills & down-hills. Directions & site description: See April 12 listing.
Saturday, May 3 --- Birding for Spring Migrants
Led by UNA’s Dr. Tom Haggerty for Shoals Audubon. Meeting place & time to be arranged. 765-4432.
Sunday, May 4, 1:30pm --- Nature Hike, Shoal Creek Preserve
Led by UNA’s Dr. Paul Davison, our expert on “all things small”. Learn about Mosses, lichens, leaf litter arthropods & stream invertebrates. They’re cool! For Directions: See April 13 listing. Call (256) 366-1937.
Saturday, May 10, 9:00am --- Nature Walk at TVA’s Muscle Shoals Reservation
Meet at TVA Nature Trails parking lot. Led by master herbalist Darryl Patton, ND, author of Mountain Medicine, The Herbal Remedies of Tommie Bass, for Shoals Wildflower Society. Learn about the medicinal use of plants! Darryl is also doing the program at our May 9 Shoals Wildflower Society meeting. 757-7064.
Saturday, May 17 --- Sipsey Wilderness Day Hike
Led by Charles Rose for Alabama Outdoors. Meet 8:00am, Sheffield Holiday Inn, or 9:00am, Warrior Mtn.
Trading Company store, AL-33 at its junction w. AL-36. Take lunch, water. Moderate level. (256) 764-1809.
Saturday, May 31 Gee Creek Wilderness / John Muir Trail Hike
Led by the inimitable Leon Bates for Alabama Outdoors. For more details, call A.O. at (256) 764-1809.
Saturday, June 7 --- National Trails Day Hike, Devil’s Racetrack at Wade Mountain Preserve
Meet 8:00am at Sheffield Holiday Inn. See Indian Pink, Rose Vervain, Fringed Loosestrife, Downy Wood Mint, Wild Bergamot & Fire Pink. Led by Charles Rose (366-1937) for Alabama Outdoors (764-1809).
Email chuckrivers@comcast.net to receive updates and reminders about all Spring Nature Walks events.