2007 STATE FIELD TRIPS

SPRING 2007
Virginia abounds with scenic areas of botanical richness. Take this opportunity to visit some of these stunning places with some of our most knowledgeable trip leaders. We hope to make these trips yearly events, and to take our members to some of our Registry sites, preserves and parks. This year we are offering field trips in York River State Park, the Potomac Gorge and Shenandoah National Park. Trips vary in level of difficulty so please read descriptions carefully. Space is limited and registration is required at least ten days before the hike. There is a fee of $10 per hike with an extra $4 for the canoe trip. The Turkey Run hike is free for workday participants. Hike details follow registration form.

Field Trip Registration
Park entrance fees are not included in the registration price. For all hikes, wear sturdy shoes or boots and be prepared for bugs and sun. Bring water and lunch or snacks.
Please mail your registration with your field trip choice(s) to:
VNPS FIELD TRIPS, 400 Blandy Farm Lane, Boyce VA 22620.
Name _____________________
Address ____________________
City _______________________
State/ Zip Code ______________
Telephone __________________
email ______________________

Field trip ($10 each except canoe and Turkey Run)
____ Taskinas Creek Trail, April 28
____ Taskinas Creek ($14), April 28 Please do not bring your own canoe.
____ Powhatan Forks / Majestic Oak Loop, April 28
____ Difficult Run, May 5
____ Great Falls, May 5
____ Hawksbill Gap, June 9
____ Stony Man Nature Trail, June 9
____ Total

Turkey Run, May 6 - FREE - please register by contacting Shirley Gay at shirleywg@comcast.net or 703-920-1913

April 28 (Saturday): York River State Park
The park has 2,250 acres of beautiful and diverse natural areas including a coastal estuary. We will offer two different hikes in the morning and an afternoon canoe trip.
Taskinas Creek Trail Walk, 10 am - noon
Helen Hamilton, VNPS state board member, will lead an easy hike of 1.5 miles on the Taskinas Creek Trail. A variety of habitats will be explored from an upland mixed hardwood forest with chestnut oak and mountain laurel to a small brackish marsh along the creek. This trip is timed for combining with the canoe trip.
Powhatan Forks Tr. / Majestic Oak Tr. Loop Hike, 10 am - 2:30 pm
Dr. Donna Ware, Curator Emeritus of the Herbarium at the College of William and Mary, will lead a hike of moderate difficulty through various habitats in the watershed of a small tributary to the York River. Natural communities that will be explored include coastal plain bluffs, fringing and pocket marshes, and a ravine-bottom swamp with large leatherwood (Dirca palustris) shrubs. Other highlights include a very large white oak, the Majestic Oak, various ericaceous shrubs in flower, and a view from the bluffs of Purtan Bay, the location Werowocomoco, Chief Powhatan’s capitol in 1607.
Taskinas Creek Canoe Trip, 1 - 3 pm
Taskinas Creek and its surrounding watershed total 525 acres and are designated a Chesapeake Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve. Explore the rich salt-marsh ecology of this creek with a park naturalist and Dr. James Perry, Professor of Marine Science and a marsh expert from the Virginia Institute of Marine Science.

May 5 (Saturday) and May 6 (Sunday): The Potomac Gorge
The many different habitats of the Potomac Gorge - upland forests, dry bedrock terraces, floodplain woodlands and prairies, and ponds and marshes - are part of a region of exceptionally diverse flora, especially considering it is in an urban area of the East Coast. 1400 different plants grow within the Potomac Gorge including many rare species.
Difficult Run, May 5, 10 am - 3 pm
Rod Simmons, a leading regional ecologist and VNPS Registry co-chair will lead this field trip. A major watershed of Fairfax County that flows into the Potomac below Great Falls, Difficult Run is a rugged, wild place with lots of waterfalls and massive rocky outcrops. Like all of the Potomac Gorge, the area is extremely rich with diverse plant communities. Expect to see a wide variety of spring wildflowers, including spiderwort (Tradescantia viginiana), yellow pimpernel (Taenidia integerrima) and bird’s foot violet (Viola pedata). Melic grass (Melica mutica) and a number of sedges grow in this rich, rocky woods. The walk will continue to Mather Gorge, where there is a sweeping panoramic view of the Potomac River. A potential extension of this walk is to continue to Great Falls for a round trip distance of approximately five miles from start to finish.
Great Falls Park, May 5, 10 am - 2 pm
Marion Blois Lobstein, Associate Professor of Biology at the Manassas Campus of Northern Virginia Community College, will lead an easy walk starting from the Visitor’s Center at Great Falls Park. Highlights of this trip include water willow (Decodon verticillatus), the rare few-flowered valerian (Valeriana pauciflora), starry false Solomon’s-seal (Smilacina stellata) and the anglepod milkweed (Matelea obliqua), and there are views of Great Falls from the bluffs.
FREE Turkey Run Invasive Workday May 6, 10 am - 12:30 pm and hike, 1:30 pm to 4 pm
Join Mary Travaglini of the Nature Conservancy for an invasive removal work party in the Gorge. Wear long pants and long sleeves and bring work gloves. There will be a lunch break before a walk down a somewhat steep trail to the shore of the Potomac River, and a more moderate return trail. The hike will be led by Dr. Stanwyn Shetler, Botanist Emeritus at the Smithsonian Institution (note that this is a change from previously annouced leaders). Recently named a VNPS registry site, this mature forest with interesting understory vegetation gives way to rocky and sandy shores along the river.
To register for this workday and free field trip, contact Shirley Gay, shirleywg@comcast.net or 703-920-1913. Please include your telephone number with any message.

June 9 (Saturday): Shenandoah National Park
Hawksbill Gap Area, 10 am - 3 pm
Sample some of the Park’s high-elevation natural communities with Gary Fleming, vegetation ecologist with the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, Division of Natural Heritage. This hike, of moderate difficulty on steep and rocky trails, will leave from the Hawksbill Gap parking lot (Milepost 45.6) and will last four to five hours. Natural communities to be explored include boulderfield woodlands with mountain ash and yellow birch, rich cove forests, high-elevation seeps and greenstone barrens. Sturdy footware, preferably hiking boots, are required.
Stoney Man Nature Trail, 10 am - 3 pm
For a less challenging hike that still offers an abundance of wildflowers and a stunning view of the Shenandoah Valley, join Maryland Native Plant Society board member Joe Metzger at Stony Man Nature Trail. Expect to see a variety of ferns and possibly white clintonia, (Clintonia umbellulata) and shrub honeysuckle in flower. Meet in the parking area at the Stony Man trail head.