Entries by Steve Jones

Fungi from my September 2021 Ramblings in Pennsylvania’s Allegheny National Forest

January 4, 2022 in , , , /by

September 7, 2021, I hiked both Heart’s Content and Hickory Creek Wilderness on the Allegheny National Forest in northwest Pennsylvania, just 40 miles west of where I conducted my 1985-86 doctoral research on soil-site relationships for second-growth Allegheny hardwood forests. I published three Great Blue Heron Posts from that fulfilling day in the woods: https://stevejonesgbh.com/2021/10/14/hearts-content-in-nw-pennsylvania-part-one/ […]

Late October along Beaverdam Swamp Boardwalk

December 30, 2021 in , , /by

National Natural Landmark October 27, 2021, Mike Ezell, Alabama State Park Naturalist Emeritus, and I visited Beaverdam Swamp Boardwalk National Natural Landmark in eastern Limestone County Alabama near Huntsville. Co-teaching a course on Virtual Nature Hikes for Huntsville’s LearingQuest, an informal, adult continuing education program for mostly retired residents, we hiked the Boardwalk to develop […]

Side Highlights on My Hike to Sipsey Wilderness Big Tree

December 21, 2021 in , , , /by

October 30, 2021, I hiked to the Big Tree in Alabama’s Sipsey Wilderness, Bankhead National Forest. This Post offers photos and reflections on the special sidelights I saw along the way. See my previous related Post offering reflections on the rough and bouldered terrain, torturous blowdowns, and the majesty of the Big Tree: https://stevejonesgbh.com/2021/12/08/an-eleven-mile-bucket-list-hike-to-the-sipsey-big-tree/ Once […]

Cumberland, Maryland: My Hometown…at the Intersection of Human and Natural History

December 14, 2021 in , /by

Rugged Central Appalachians   The second week of September 2021, I returned to my hometown of Cumberland, Maryland, nestled along the Potomac River in the central Appalachians. I left Cumberland for my junior year of forestry undergraduate studies out of state in 1971. Over the course of 13 career-related interstate moves, family visits brought us […]

An Eleven-mile Bucket List Hike to the Sipsey Big Tree

December 8, 2021 in , , , /by

October 30, 2021, friends and I hiked an eleven-mile circuit to see The Big Tree (State Champion Yellow Poplar) in Alabama’s Bankhead National Forest’s Sipsey Wilderness. I offer reflections on the rough and bouldered terrain, torturous blowdowns, and the majesty of the Big Tree. I reflect upon the hike with threads of bittersweet nostalgia and […]

Maryland’s New Germany State Park — Returning after 51 Years

November 29, 2021 in , , , /by

During my freshman/sophomore and sophomore/junior undergraduate summers I worked for the State of Maryland Forest Service performing forest inventory on the Savage River State Forest. Forest Supervisor Warren Groves had arranged housing in a still-functional CCC-constructed cabin at New Germany State Park, a stunning recreation setting surrounded by the State Forest. The Forest’s 55,000 acres […]

Pennsylvania’s Hickory Creek Wilderness

November 17, 2021 in , , /by

September 7, 2021, I hiked the Hickory Creek Wilderness in the Allegheny National Forest (ANF) in northwest Pennsylvania, about 40 miles west of where I conducted my 1985-86 doctoral research on soil-site relationships in second-growth Allegheny hardwood forests. The Wilderness forests are typical of the greater ANF across the Allegheny Plateau, second-growth and dominated by […]

Pennsylvania’s McConnell’s Mill State Park

November 10, 2021 in , , /by

September 8, 2021, I hiked along Slippery Rock Creek at McConnell’s Mill State Park some 40 miles north of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. This Post focuses on the Nature of this geologic, environmental, and historic gorge in west central Pennsylvania. Human and natural history intersect in nearly every wild place I’ve wandered in the eastern US. McConnell’s […]