Watershed/Wildflower Walks
Trout Lily
FOTMC has been leading annual Spring Watershed/Wildflower walks to introduce people to the unique flora of the Ten Mile Creek Watershed and to enjoy the beauty of the surrounding forest and streams. On beautiful spring Day in April, a group of 20 intrepid explorers gathered at the Cinque’s, where Jay ferried our group on the tractor-pulled hay wagon to our starting point, across the Ten Mile Creek Ford, to where our exploration of the Watershed and Wildflowers began. This Spring outing was special because it took place on the 50-acre tract of land that Norman Mease gifted to our organization. This land is immediately upstream of the ford and occurs on both sides of the Creek. Our hike leader, John Parrish, widely known for his botanical expertise and intimate knowledge of the area, led us through the forests and floodplains of this portion of the Ten Mile Creek Watershed. As usual, we enjoyed many colorful spring wildflowers in bloom including Spring Beauty, Rue and Wood Anemones, Yellow Trout Lily, Bloodroot, Dwarf Ginseng, Toothworts, Violets, and Mayapples. One keen eyed observer spotted a gray treefrog sitting on a wildlife camera attached to a tree! So we all got a close-up view. We enjoyed being in the presence of all the forest trees – Black Gum, Tulip Poplar, Red Maple, a variety of Oaks, and especially the uncommon Shagbark Hickories – and taking in the spicy, citrusy aroma of the Spicebush leaves.
We lunched on the creek bank, socialized, and observed the fish before returning to the ford, where Jay Cinque gave us a straw bale tractor ride back to the Cinque farm where we savored food and drink that Anne and Jay provided and lively conversation. ~ a lot of fun for all! Special thanks to Anne and Jay for hosting our gathering and providing parking for everyone. We are so appreciative to Norman for caretaking and preserving this beautiful, forested land!
Norman Mease’s generous Land Gift to FOTMC now affords us many more opportunities to explore the land throughout all the seasons, as well as to offer volunteer activities including invasive plant removal, exploration of the biodiversity of the Ten Mile Creek watershed including bird walks, tree identification, and the monitoring of the creek’s biological life and water quality. And we will have more fun walks on our new land and throughout the watershed in 2026. We hope you can come.
On Saturday October 25th we will hold our first autumn walk on the new land. We expect the beeches, hickories, oaks and maples to be in full fall color. Hopefully the weather will cooperate! Pets are welcome if on a leash and well behaved.
Rue + Anemone
For further information on the flora of Ten Mile Creek see Overview of the Flora of the Ten Mile Creek Watershed
A Mayapple Forest