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Mid-December Above Ground Exploration at Cathedral Caverns State Park

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I published a photo essay of my July 2020 Cathedral Caverns tour on October 20, 2020: https://stevejonesgbh.com/2020/10/01/wonder-below-ground-cathedral-caverns-state-park/. I pledged a subsequent visit to explore the park’s surface trails, not knowing that 5.5 years would elapse before my December 11, 2025, four-hour venture with Hannah Hembree, Park Naturalist for Cathedral and Rickwood Caverns State Parks, Amber Coger, NW Alabama District Naturalist, and Chris Stuhlinger, a fellow retired forester. I sorted, selected, edited, and placed these 29 photos within a WordPress format on December 14, 2026. I’m drafting text five weeks later, on January 12, 2026, debating whether I should have begun a month earlier while my memory remained sharp!

I photographed the park entrance sign in 2020.

Cathedral

 

Hannah, Chris, and Amber showed their enthusiasm for our journey, backdropped by the mixed upland forest growing among scattered limestone boulders. Hannah stands at the edge of a distinct sinkhole (right), where trees reach more than 100 feet vertically owing to deep limestone-derived soil, abundant moisture, and protected slope position. We enountered a diverse overstory species mix, another expression of the productive site.

CathedralCathedral

 

 

We admired this massive American beech tree dominating the convex ridgetop, a terrain position not generally conducive to large diameter, straight, tall beech. As we progressed, I marveled increasingly at the high site productivity reflected in species diversity and average canopy height.

Cathedral

 

I recorded this 58-second video of the upland hardwood forest and the wide flat trail system we explored.

 

I would like to return to catalog the tree species, identifying a complete list. We paid attention but did not keep a tally. We guessed 20 individual main canopy species.

 

Oddities and Curiosities

 

Always alert for tree form curiosities and oddities, I photographed a pair of pole-size yellow buckeye and sweetgum trees embraced, a union that is termed inosculation when they grasp more securely and intimately.

Cathedral

 

I never tire of seeing Carpinus carolinia, which I learned 56 years ago in dendrology as musclewood for the distinctive sinewy, muscle-like appearance of its stem. Also known as American hornbeam, blue-beech, ironwood, and muscle-beech, the species grows in the understory of hardwood forests from Alabama to New England, occasionally reaching heights of 25-30 feet. Most of the curious phenotypes I photograph are variant forms from the typical genotypye. Musclewood’s sinewy stem form is the standard genotype, not an abberation. So, its oddity is its standard form. Nothing special except to an aficiando like me!

Cathedral

 

Supplejack, in my humble opinion, is the boa conscrictor of native Alabama forest vines. Its smooth green stem one could conclude is snake-like. What makes it boa-like is its extraordinary knack for appearing to choke the living daylight out of any sapling that offers purchase and a route to fuller sunlight above.

CathedralCathedral

 

The supplejack doesn’t always win the squeeze-battle. This sapling sugar maple appears to have prevailed. Life in any plant-based ecosystem involves fierce competition (often life and death) for essentials…nutrients, moisture, sunlight, and space, both above and below ground. This struggle left scars in form of a clockwise spiralled disfirgurement…a tree form curiosity. Every tree has a story to tell to those of us intent on learning the language.

Cathedral

 

Leonardo da Vinci understood that there may be no truly inexplicable mysteries in Nature:

There is no result in nature without a cause; understand the cause and you will have no need of the experiment!

Mr. da Vinci knew many languages…of trees, geography, skies, and the pure elegance of shade, light, colors, hues, distance, and all other elements that constitute Nature’s visible beauty, magic, wonder, and awe.

Some fellow nature enthusiasts seem intent on ascribing a common tree form curiosity to Native American manipulation of trees and branches. Their purpose was to create Tree Markers directing and guiding fellow travelers to important landscape features (springs, choice trails, hunting spots, fishing holes, villages, trail routes to significant landmarks, etc.). The bent eastern hop hornbean (Ostrya virginiana) below is most certainly not an Indian Marker tree. The stand we traversed is less than 100 years old, post-dating Native American wildland occupation by well over half a cenutury. I frequently see such disfigurement…resulting from breakage by fallen trees or branches, wind, ice, or some other force. Trees are resilient, clinging valiantly to life, intent upon surviving to reproduce, which is the ultimate pursuit of every living creature…from earth worms to humans.

 

This suger maple suffered a crushing blow from above when just a sapling. The youngster responded with vertical shoots, three of which persist to today. Sugar maple tolerates shade. The stunted shrub of a tree persists in the understory, standing humbly with its tree moss skirt amid a cluster of mossy limestone boulders.

Cathedral

 

Sassafras is common as deep shade seedlings, understory shrubs, and occupying the imtermediate canopy. We found a 12-inch diameter sassafras tree reaching to a co-dominant position. This individual sported a vertical scar revealing its hollowed trunk, a condition favored by cavity-coveting birds, mammals, reptiles, and other forest critters.

Cathedral

 

As we proceeded I pondered previous land use, which I believed included domestication, timber harvesting, grazing, and even selected cropping. We found compelling evidence in form of barbed wire protruding from the base of a white oak…a remnant fence that either kept stock in or out.

 

One among us (I’m withholding identity to protect the innocent!) had not seen the imposing compound thorns of honey locust. Farmers have told me that these fearsome spikes can puncture a tractor tire. The thorns don’t scare me, but they certainly earn my respect!

Cathedral

 

Fan moss drapes this yellow buckeye pair.

 

In quick progression allow me to chronicle a few observation highlights absent detailed narration, beginning with this handsome yellow buckeye.

Cathedral

 

A pole-sized yellow poplar bears the striking pattern of vertical white stripes and pale camouflage patches.

 

 

A two-foot diameter loblolly pine carries decades of horizontal yellow-bellied sapsucker wounds.

Cathedral

 

We returned to the cavern entrance. Interpretive signage tells the geologic tale and human history.

 

An imposing entrance!

 

 

 

 

 

Visitors Center and Park Store.

Cathedral

 

The Karst topographic signature and large yellow buckeye behind the headquarters.

CathedralCathedral

 

Alabama State Parks Foundation

I’ll remind you that although I serve on the Alabama State Parks Foundation Board (Secretary), in part because of my love of Nature and in recognition for my writing many prior Posts about visiting and experiencing the Parks, any positions or opinions expressed in these Posts are mine alone and do not in any manner represent the Foundation or its Board.
I urge you to take a look at the Foundation website and consider ways you might help steward these magical places: https://asparksfoundation.org/ Perhaps you might think about supporting the Parks System education and interpretation imperative: https://asparksfoundation.org/give-today#a444d6c6-371b-47a2-97da-dd15a5b9da76

The Foundation exists for the sole purpose of providing incremental operating and capital support for enhancing our State parks… and your enjoyment of them.

We are blessed in Alabama to have our Park System. Watch for future Great Blue Heron Posts as I continue to explore and enjoy these treasures that belong to us. I urge you to discover the Alabama State Parks near you. Follow the advice of John Muir:

And into the forest I go, to lose my mind and find my soul.

In every walk with Nature one receives far more than he seeks.

I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in.

Between every two pines is a doorway to a new world.

 

Thoughts and Reflections

 

I offer these observations:

  • There is no result in nature without a cause; understand the cause and you will have no need of the experiment! (Leonardo da Vinci)
  • Every tree has a story to tell to those of us intent on learning the language. (Steve Jones)
  • A short autumn morning saunter can reveal volumes on the magic of everyday Nature. (Steve Jones)

Inhale and absorb Nature’s elixir. May Nature Inspire, Inform, and Reward you!

 

Note: All blog post images created & photographed by Stephen B. Jones unless otherwise noted. Please circulate images with photo credit: “©2026 Steve Jones, Great Blue Heron LLC. All Rights Reserved.”

I am available for Nature-Inspired Speaking, Writing, and Consulting — contact me at steve.jones.0524@gmail.com

Subscribe to my free weekly photo essays (like this one) at: http://eepurl.com/cKLJdL

 

Reminder of my Personal and Professional Purpose, Passion, and Cause

If only more of us viewed our precious environment through the filters I employ. If only my mission and vision could be multiplied untold orders of magnitude:

Mission: Employ writing and speaking to educate, inspire, and enable readers and listeners to understand, appreciate, and enjoy Nature… and accept and practice Earth Stewardship.

Vision:

  • People of all ages will pay greater attention to and engage more regularly with Nature… and will accept and practice informed and responsible Earth Stewardship.
  • They will see their relationship to our natural world with new eyes… and will understand more clearly their Earth home.

Tagline/Motto: Steve (Great Blue Heron) encourages and seeks a better tomorrow through Nature-Inspired Living!

 

Steve’s Four Books

 

I wrote my books Nature Based Leadership (2016), Nature-Inspired Learning and Leading (2017), Weaned Seals and Snowy Summits: Stories of Passion for Place and Everyday Nature (2019; co-authored with Dr. Jennifer Wilhoit), and Dutton Land & Cattle: A Land Legacy Story (2023) to encourage all citizens to recognize and appreciate that every lesson for living, learning, serving, and leading is either written indelibly in or is powerfully inspired by Nature. All four of my books present compilations of personal experiences expressing my deep passion for Nature. All four books offer observations and reflections on my relationship with the natural world… and the broader implications for society. Order any from your local indie bookstore, or find them on IndieBound or other online sources such as Amazon and LifeRich.

I began writing books and Posts for several reasons:

  • I love hiking and exploring Nature
  • I see images I want to (and do) capture with my trusty iPhone camera
  • I enjoy explaining those images — an educator at heart
  • I don’t play golf!
  • I do love writing — it’s the hobby I never needed when my career consumed me
  • Judy suggested my writing is in large measure my legacy to our two kids, our five grandkids, and all the unborn generations beyond
  • And finally, perhaps my books and Blogs could reach beyond family and touch a few other lives… sow some seeds for the future

 

Cathedral

 

 

 

Mid-November 25-Year Return to Alabama’s Chewacla State Park

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Having arrived in Auburn, Alabama on Thursday evening November 13, 2026, fellow retired forester (and Auburn University forestry graduate) Chris Stuhlinger, my grandson Jack (18), and I visited the College of Forestry, Wildlife, and Environment’s (CFWE) Kreher Forest Ecology Preserve and Nature Center, spent all day Friday at sundry engagements on AU’s campus, and hiked several trails Saturday morning at AL’s nearby Chewacla State Park. I invite you to join us as we hike the Upper Chewacla Trail System.

Chewacla

 

I had last visited the park 25 years ago, before I left my Auburn position as Director, Alabama Cooperative Extension System, heading to NC State University. I was pleased to revisit Chewacla in good company.

Chewacla

 

I welcome these autumn days of comfortable temperatures. I contend that our southern winter is a gradual transition from fall to spring, with an occasional cold spell thrown in for good measure.

 

Sauntering along the Mountain Laurel Trail and Return on a Ridgetop Trail

 

We parked at the Mountain Laurel Trailhead and worked downstream to the falls. We enjoyed pleasant temperature and morning sun as we strolled through the mixed hardwood forest along the toe slope.

Chewacla

 

The open understory presented a parklike scenario, and evidenced a high deer population effectively browsing the understory.

Chewacla

 

The stream flow corroborated the persistent autumn dry period that preceded our trek. A great morning for reflecting and reflection!

Chewacla

Chewacla

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

No heat, excess humidity, biting, sucking, or irritating insects — only the welcome crunch of early leaf-fall, a few bird calls, a scampering squirrel, and an occasional acorn dropping. Peace, serenity, and tranquility suggesting that all is good! Sauntering the gentle trail and soft fall woods with friend and family, I think of John Muir’s classic quote:

When we contemplate the whole globe as one great dewdrop, striped and dotted with continents and islands, flying through space with other stars all singing and shining together as one, the whole universe appears as an infinite storm of beauty.

Here’s my 60-second video from the Chewacla Creek channel.

 

Above the dam, the channel expands to a calm lake. A persimmon loaded with fruit leans over the water. I believe the mood and word of the morning is tranquil.

 

I recorded this 56-second video where the stream flattened to the lake.

 

Saw palmetto is common from central Alabama south to the coast. From 1981-85, I served as Union Camp Corporation’s Land Manager, responsible for the company’s 325,000 forestland acres (500 square miles) in Alabama, 100K north of the black belt (prairie soil divide just south of Auburn and Montgomery) and the remainder to the south. Seeing saw palmetto sparked deep memories of those years of action-packed industrial forestry!

Chewacla

 

I suppose I could elucidate what ecosystem factors at Chewacla signal deep within me the feeling that I am in the deep south, starting with the saw palmetto! North Alabama, although still in the South, has a more northern feel.

 

Curiosities and Oddities along the Way

 

I discover and appreciate tree form oddities, curiosities, and mysteries wherever I roam. This sweetgum sports an agrobacterial burl three feet above the ground.

 

 

A red maple streamside bears burls from its base to the live crown. When I took forest pathology in 1971-72, I would have termed the tree’s condition as diseased, attributing its abnormal growth to an infectious organism (fungal, bacterial, viral).

Chewacla

 

A Google AI Overview offered:

A tree disease is a harmful deviation from a tree’s normal function, typically caused by pathogens like fungi, bacteria, or viruses, or by environmental stress, leading to symptoms like discolored leaves, cankers, wilting, or stunted growth, and can ultimately weaken or kill the tree. These issues disrupt water, nutrient, and energy flow, often targeting roots, stems, or foliage, with factors like drought, soil issues, or physical damage increasing susceptibility.  

One-half century ago, my forest pathology focused on tree health relative to timber products, i.e. commercial value. This maple has no value for lumber production, yet it may have novelty commercial value. My point is that diseased in this case, may not be a cause for alarm.

Like so many tree form anomalies, this sycamore suffered a crushing blow from above years ago, bending the tree to 30 degrees from horizontal, then sending a new short vertical. The form is distorted; the cause is clear; the future is affected; a disease organism is not involved,

Chewacla

 

Make what you will of this dragon-headed Ostrya virginiana (ironwood), its mouth agape in grin (left) and its eye piercing and nostril flared (right). Once again, injury from above explains the origin of disfigurement.

ChewaclaChewacla

 

The same cause and effect explain this hickory abnormality, not a face but a large caliber muzzle.

Chewacla

 

 

I wanted to make a head/snout/face out of this Ostrya burl, but nothing comes to me. Do with it what you will.

Chewacla

 

Simon and Garfunkel’s America (1968) came to mind as I struggled for a descriptive totem for this particular burl.

Laughing on the busPlaying games with the facesShe said the man in the gabardine suit was a spyI said “Be careful, his bowtie is really a camera

I suppose it’s okay to be just a burl!

 

Other Notable Feature

 

Vaccinium arboreum (aka sparkleberry or farkleberry) is the only tree form of the native blueberry genus. I appreciate its mirthful common names, showy bark, interesting shape and texture, and its evergreen foliage.

Chewacla Chewacla

 

How could I trek the Mountain Laurel Trail without posting mountain laurel photographs?!

Chewacla

 

We spent little more than 90-minutes at Chewacla. I wanted to showcase with this photo essay what a short morning saunter can reveal about the magic of everyday Nature.

Chewacla Falls

 

Without further elaboration, I give you the falls.

Chewacla

 

I recorded this 58-second video at Chewacla Falls.

I remind you of my third book, co-authored with Dr. Jennifer J. Wilhoit, Weaned Seals and Snowy Summits: Stories of Passion for Place and Everyday Nature. Without deep thought or deliberate intention, my series of ~500 Great Blue Heron weekly Posts has trended to six consistent theme elements:

  • Stories of passion for place and everyday Nature emerge wherever and whenever I wander (and wonder).
  • Nature-inspired life and living color and direct my living, learning, serving, leading, and praying.
  • Nature’s beauty, magic, wonder, and awe lie mostly hidden in plain sight.
  • Look deep into Nature, and then you will understand everything better. (Albert Einstein)
  • And into the forest I go, to lose my mind and find my soul. (John Muir)
  • In every walk in Nature, one finds far more than he seeks. (Muir)

Certainly, there is more, yet these six simple themes cover most of my Nature musings.

Alabama State Parks Foundation

I’ll remind you that although I serve on the Alabama State Parks Foundation Board (Secretary), in part because of my love of Nature and in recognition for my writing many prior Posts about visiting and experiencing the Parks, any positions or opinions expressed in these Posts are mine alone and do not in any manner represent the Foundation or its Board.
I urge you to take a look at the Foundation website and consider ways you might help steward these magical places: https://asparksfoundation.org/ Perhaps you might think about supporting the Parks System education and interpretation imperative: https://asparksfoundation.org/give-today#a444d6c6-371b-47a2-97da-dd15a5b9da76

The Foundation exists for the sole purpose of providing incremental operating and capital support for enhancing our State parks… and your enjoyment of them.

We are blessed in Alabama to have our Park System. Watch for future Great Blue Heron Posts as I continue to explore and enjoy these treasures that belong to us. I urge you to discover the Alabama State Parks near you. Follow the advice of John Muir:

And into the forest I go, to lose my mind and find my soul.

In every walk with Nature one receives far more than he seeks.

I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in.

Between every two pines is a doorway to a new world.

 

Thoughts and Reflections

 

I offer these observations:

  • Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better. (Albert Einstein)
  • And into the forest I go, to lose my mind and find my soul. (John Muir)
  • A short autumn morning saunter can reveal volumes on the magic of everyday Nature. (Steve Jones)

Inhale and absorb Nature’s elixir. May Nature Inspire, Inform, and Reward you!

 

Note: All blog post images created & photographed by Stephen B. Jones unless otherwise noted. Please circulate images with photo credit: “©2026 Steve Jones, Great Blue Heron LLC. All Rights Reserved.”

I am available for Nature-Inspired Speaking, Writing, and Consulting — contact me at steve.jones.0524@gmail.com

Subscribe to my free weekly photo essays (like this one) at: http://eepurl.com/cKLJdL

 

Reminder of my Personal and Professional Purpose, Passion, and Cause

If only more of us viewed our precious environment through the filters I employ. If only my mission and vision could be multiplied untold orders of magnitude:

Mission: Employ writing and speaking to educate, inspire, and enable readers and listeners to understand, appreciate, and enjoy Nature… and accept and practice Earth Stewardship.

Vision:

  • People of all ages will pay greater attention to and engage more regularly with Nature… and will accept and practice informed and responsible Earth Stewardship.
  • They will see their relationship to our natural world with new eyes… and will understand more clearly their Earth home.

Tagline/Motto: Steve (Great Blue Heron) encourages and seeks a better tomorrow through Nature-Inspired Living!

 

Steve’s Four Books

 

I wrote my books Nature Based Leadership (2016), Nature-Inspired Learning and Leading (2017), Weaned Seals and Snowy Summits: Stories of Passion for Place and Everyday Nature (2019; co-authored with Dr. Jennifer Wilhoit), and Dutton Land & Cattle: A Land Legacy Story (2023) to encourage all citizens to recognize and appreciate that every lesson for living, learning, serving, and leading is either written indelibly in or is powerfully inspired by Nature. All four of my books present compilations of personal experiences expressing my deep passion for Nature. All four books offer observations and reflections on my relationship with the natural world… and the broader implications for society. Order any from your local indie bookstore, or find them on IndieBound or other online sources such as Amazon and LifeRich.

I began writing books and Posts for several reasons:

  • I love hiking and exploring Nature
  • I see images I want to (and do) capture with my trusty iPhone camera
  • I enjoy explaining those images — an educator at heart
  • I don’t play golf!
  • I do love writing — it’s the hobby I never needed when my career consumed me
  • Judy suggested my writing is in large measure my legacy to our two kids, our five grandkids, and all the unborn generations beyond
  • And finally, perhaps my books and Blogs could reach beyond family and touch a few other lives… sow some seeds for the future

 

Chewacla

 

 

 

 

 

Early Autumn Delights on Madison, AL’s Rainbow Mountain Nature Preserve!

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On October 12, 2025, I led a scheduled Land Trust of North Alabama hike on the Rainbolt Trail, Rainbow Mountain Nature Preserve in Madison, Alabama. I led 16 participants, ascending ~250 feet to the Rainbow Mountain Loop Trail, then to the Balance Rock near the preserve’s summit, and returning to our trailhead. I knew as the leader and interpreter, I would have no time for photos, videos, and detailed personal exploration. Instead, I scouted the route three days in advance, sauntering to snap photographs and record brief videos to include in this Post.

 

I found multiple delights worthy of pointing out to the hikers. Fragrant sumac, often mistaken for poison ivy or poison oak, grows trailside on the Rainbolt Trail lower slope.

 

Carolina buckthorn, an understory shrub, is also common along the lower hillside.

 

Amur honeysuckle, an East-Asian invasive, is likewise common, unfortunately.

 

Chinquapin oak is among the many oak species populating our uplands.

 

Always alert for tree form oddities and curiosities, I photographed this rock-kissing chestnut oak with resurrection fern aside one of the many limestone ledges.

 

 

Rainbow Mountain is one giant limestone ledge!

 

I recorded a brief video of a terraced ledge and a shagbark hickory standing sentinel against it.

 

A still photograph of the shagbark hickory with its intricate plated, shaggy bark.

 

There is no limit to elements of Nature hidden in plain sight. My goal in leading any Nature Walk is to encourge participants to look, see, understand, and appreciate. The task of interpreting is complicated by a narrow trail, varying pace, and a wide range of participant interest. I try to reach as many as I can and transfer as much as I am able.

Alligator rock, admitedly an imaginative stretch, fascinated everyone.

 

I had recorded a brief alligator rock video on my scouting visit.

 

A three-stemmed chinquapin oak served as another point of interest…and learning. You’ll see in the video below that this fern-draped stem is one of three.

 

I recorded a brief video at above cluster.

 

A contorted dead Eastern redcedar, flanked by chinquapin oak and green ash seedlings, sported a pleasant cape of resurrection fern.

 

Viewed from different angles, the cedar with fern presents a lovely natural sculpture.

 

I never tire of the menagerie of beauty, magic, wonder, awe, and inspiration that Nature provides, like this supplejack vine spiraling on a hickory sapling. I hoped that some level of my amazement, surprise, and delight transfered to my fellow hikers. Enthusiasm for Nature can be (should be) a contagion.

 

Oh, what a treasure is this whitemouth dayflower!

 

My journey of discovery and joy is not limited to the botanical. The physical environment stirs my soul. I am a closet geologist, fascinated by this layered limestone head wall (view to the South left and North right) at the suumit of the preserve. How many millions of years ago did the source marine creatures die and their sediment collect on a shallow tropical sea floor?

 

Nature’s special treats await our discovery, our understanding, and our interpretation!

Subscribe to these free weekly Nature Blogs (photo essays) at: http://eepurl.com/cKLJdL

 

Thoughts and Reflections

 

I offer my observations:

  • Nothing in Nature is static; every visit reveals a distinct face.
  • Leading a Nature walk, I try to reach as many as I can and transfer as much as I am able.
  • Enthusiasm for Nature can be (should be) a contagion.

Inhale and absorb Nature’s elixir. May Nature Inspire, Inform, and Reward you!

 

Note: All blog post images created & photographed by Stephen B. Jones unless otherwise noted. Please circulate images with photo credit: “©2026 Steve Jones, Great Blue Heron LLC. All Rights Reserved.”

I am available for Nature-Inspired Speaking, Writing, and Consulting — contact me at steve.jones.0524@gmail.com

Subscribe to my free weekly photo essays (like this one) at: http://eepurl.com/cKLJdL

 

Reminder of my Personal and Professional Purpose, Passion, and Cause

 

If only more of us viewed our precious environment through the filters I employ. If only my mission and vision could be multiplied untold orders of magnitude:

Mission: Employ writing and speaking to educate, inspire, and enable readers and listeners to understand, appreciate, and enjoy Nature… and accept and practice Earth Stewardship.

Vision:

  • People of all ages will pay greater attention to and engage more regularly with Nature… and will accept and practice informed and responsible Earth Stewardship.
  • They will see their relationship to our natural world with new eyes… and will understand more clearly their Earth home.

Tagline/Motto: Steve (Great Blue Heron) encourages and seeks a better tomorrow through Nature-Inspired Living!

 

Steve’s Four Books

 

I wrote my books Nature Based Leadership (2016), Nature-Inspired Learning and Leading (2017), Weaned Seals and Snowy Summits: Stories of Passion for Place and Everyday Nature (2019; co-authored with Dr. Jennifer Wilhoit), and Dutton Land & Cattle: A Land Legacy Story (2023) to encourage all citizens to recognize and appreciate that every lesson for living, learning, serving, and leading is either written indelibly in or is powerfully inspired by Nature. All four of my books present compilations of personal experiences expressing my deep passion for Nature. All four books offer observations and reflections on my relationship with the natural world… and the broader implications for society. Order any from your local indie bookstore, or find them on IndieBound or other online sources such as Amazon and LifeRich.

I began writing books and Posts for several reasons:

  • I love hiking and exploring Nature
  • I see images I want to (and do) capture with my trusty iPhone camera
  • I enjoy explaining those images — an educator at heart
  • I don’t play golf!
  • I do love writing — it’s the hobby I never needed when my career consumed me
  • Judy suggested my writing is in large measure my legacy to our two kids, our five grandkids, and all the unborn generations beyond
  • And finally, perhaps my books and Blogs could reach beyond family and touch a few other lives… sow some seeds for the future

 

 

 

 

Brief-Form Post #53: Wolf Creek Narrows Forest Renewal in an Old Growth Northern Hardwood Stand!

/in /by

 

I am pleased to add the 53rd of my GBH Brief-Form Posts (Less than five minutes to read!) to my website. I get wordy with my routine Posts. I don’t want my enthusiasm for thoroughness and detail to discourage readers. So, I will occasionally publish these brief Posts.

 

Wolf Creek Narrows Natural Area, owned and managed by the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy (WPC), is in northwestern Butler County, Pennsylvania, just 30 minutes from where my son and his family reside north of Pittsburgh. Matt, his dog Oakley, and I circuited the 2.35-mile trail on the morning of September 22, the first day of autumn. My heart soared at the prospect of returning to an ecosystem shaped by a continental ice sheet just 13 millennia ago. This Post focuses on a recent blowdown within the Natural Area and my reflections on the implications for the affected stand.

 

Blowdown in the Forest

 

All forests are in flux. Individual trees germinate, grow, senesce, and die. Forests come and go with disturbance. Wind, ice, fire, insects, and disease affect trees and entire forests. I observe often that death is a big part of life in forested ecosystems and, for that matter, in any ecosystem. Within a discreet portion of the Wolf Creek Narrows Natural Area old growth forest, a wind storm (thunderstorm downdraft or microburst; derecho; tornado; or perhaps sustained winter gales) toppled enough mature trees to give the affected stand a unique character.

 

The fallen trees align parallel to the wind direction, their lower trunks shattered or the entire tree uprooted. Based on the apparent progress of woody debris decay, I estimate that the wind event occurred within the past three years.

 

The wind eliminated enough overstory canopy to significantly reduce forest floor shading. Already understory woody and herbaceous plants are responding with increased vitality. Nature abhors a vacuum.

 

A cinnabar bracket fungus has colonized this downed American beech, evidencing that the windthrow-accelerated carbon cycling is in full gear.

 

Elevated root mounds provide ideal sites for herbaceous exploitation. White ash seedlings are quickly colonizing the forest floor on either side of the downed white ash tree.

 

Not all of the downed trees resulted from the discreet recent event. These trunks toppled more than five years ago. This hardwood stand, like most of Pennsylvania’s forests, is probably even-aged, regenerating following some catastrophic event, such as timber harvesting, widespread major wind, or fire.

 

An even-aged forest grows in a predictable manner. The inverse J-shaped diameter distribution is one such formulaic metric. Consider the graphs below as a generalized representation of the growth pattern across time. A young even-aged stand my have thousands of stems per acre. Look above at the many ash seedlings surrounding the single mature fallen ash. Over decades, the stand density (stems per unit area) declines. What may have been thousands becomes hundreds, and ultimately scores and dozens. Average stem diameter of the white ash seedlings (two rows above) is less than an inch. The fallen mother (seed source) tree is perhaps two feet.

 

The tendancy of an even-aged old growth hardwood forest is to gradually transition naturally to uneven-age. Some of the windthrow openings may be large enough to allow trees, their germination triggered by the recent storm, to emerge into the upper canopy, representing a younger age class. Many of the openings will at least be large enough to allow a sapling or mid-canopy cohort to establish, staging one or more of those individuals to rapidly ascend into the main canopy when a subsequent storm topples a large dominat tree, or a cluster of the original old growth cohort.

The forest is in no hurry. Its evolutionary pathway prepared this very successful admixture of species to flourish and persist when conditions are favorable and respond when change presents opportunities. The ash seedlings are already carpeting the ground now blessed with open canopy sunlight. Although my examinations were only surperficial, I observed that American beech, sugar maple, and white oak are stand components. They are shade tolerant species that can persist for decades under a full canopy. They and others are poised to constitute a greater percentage of the future dominant canopy.

The forest is changing, as are all forests. The wind event accelerated the change. I’d like to monitor it annually over another several decades, but my own life curve continues unabated. Perhaps I can revisit Wolf Creek Narrows another time or two, but there are no guarantees. I am grateful for having made this inaugural visit. I’ve learned something of this slice of Nature near to my son’s home and not too far from where I conducted my forestry doctoral research four decades ago.

I am addicted to special places and everyday Nature. Wolf Creek Narrows Natural Area is one such Special Place.

 

Closing

 

I accept the challenge of distilling these Brief-Form Posts into a single distinct reflection, a task far more elusive than assembling a dozen pithy statements.

I cannot offer a quote more apropos than an observation I made in the text above:

The forest is in no hurry. Its evolutionary pathway prepared it to flourish and persist when conditions are favorable, and to respond when change presents opportunities to exploit.

 

Nature’s special treats await our discovery, our understanding, and our interpretation!

 

Subscribe to my free weekly photo essays (like this one) at: http://eepurl.com/cKLJdL

 

 

Mid-August Morning at the Goldsmith-Schiffman Wildlife Sanctuary: A Great Blue Heron Encounter

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[Note: I dedicate this Post to the memory of Charlie Kirk, a bold, courageous pioneer who tirelessly promoted a life of Faith in God’s merciful love, Patriotism, and Family. Two days after his assassination, his widow Erika said of Charlie: He loved nature, which always brought him closer to God. I echo those sentiments. Nature never fails to bring me closer to God.]

On August 15, 2025, fellow retired forester Chris Stuhlinger and I explored the western reaches of Huntsville’s Goldsmith-Schiffman Wildlife Sanctuary, a special place I’ve visited dozens of times since retiring to northern Alabama. I come back again and again, not to see the same thing, but to observe a universe of things that change minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day, and across the seasons and years. Take a walk with Chris and me to see some things that will never look exactly the same again. Nothing in Nature is static; special places offer infinite treats to those of us who seek them.

David George Haskell, professor of biology at the University of the South, published The Forest Unseen: A Year’s Watch in Nature (2012). From the back cover:

Visiting a one-square-meter patch of old-growth Tennessee forest almost daily for one year, biologist David Haskell traces nature’s path through the seasons and brings the forest and its inhabitants to vivid life. Beginning with simple observations — a salamander scuttling across the leaf litter; the first blossoms of spring wildflowers — Haskell spins a brilliant web of biology, ecology, and poetry. He explains the science that binds together the tiniest microbes and the largest mammals, and describes the ecosystems that have cycled for thousands — sometimes millians — of years. Written with remarkable grace and empathy, The Forest Unseen is a grand tour of nature in all its beauty and complexity.

Such is my mindset when I repeatedly visit the sanctuary, touring its 400 acres in all of its beauty and complexity.

 

Mid-Summer Morning Trek from Hidden Spring to Jobala Pond

 

Most of its infinite treats are hidden in plain sight, requiring only that we get into the out there from time to time, and that we understand enough of Nature to know how and where to look. Hidden Spring rises within a hunrdred feet of the Taylor Road entrance. Luxuriously vegetated with wetland trees, shrubs, and herbs, the marsh below the spring widens to several hundred feet. Heavy overcast, moistened air, and foliage still dripping from a morning shower set the other-world mood. I imagined an Old World fen.

 

We observed the transition from wide marsh to Hidden Spring Brook, the channel that extends through a series of beaver dams into Jobala Pond, and eventually the Flint River.

 

I recorded this 60-second video of what I termed on that special morning, an other-world marsh.

 

Clear water reflected the cloudy sky and overhead branches, amplfying the other-world mood.

 

 

Beaver enjoy the tasty and nutritious leaves, bark and cambium of native hardwood trees, stripping branches and stems, and then employing the stripped stems to repair and reinforce their structures.

 

This dam held back 15-18 inches of ponded water. Excuse the pun: beavers are dam-good engineers!

 

I’ve told the story of Jobala Pond many times. Human road engineers mined sand, clay, and gravel from the area to construct Route 431 in the 1950s, creating a borrow pit, a barren excavated depression accepting, holding, and then releasing the flow from Hidden Spring. Nature is remarkably resilient, superbly adept at healing her own wounds as well as convalescencing human insults to the land. The old borrow pit has naturalized over eight decades.

 

We found a puzzling phenomenon, 100-feet from the shore and out of our reach, on the upstream section of Jobala Pond. Two clearly living red maple trees (Acer rubrum), standing in water, called out to us with a pinkish circumferential ring 2-4″ immediately above the water line. I magnified the image up to the limits of resolution clarity, showing the fibrous nature of the feature. I shared via social media, generating speculation. Chris and I agree with several persons who suggested that the trees, attempting to survive the saturated soil environment, sprouted air roots above the water for supplemental aeration.

 

Chris and I plan to return with either a canoe or waders to more closely examine the mysterious growth.

Here are two more images of the richly-vegetated upper end of Jobala.

 

I hope that you agree that this is a special place.

 

My Avatar: Great Blue Heron

 

The great blue heron is the totem for my Dad, who passed away in 1996. The heron appeared as an avatar at sunrise on the frigid morning of Dad’s memorial service. Look for the story on my website. I consider every sighting of a great blue heron as Dad checking on me. He lives within me.

A heron passed noiselessly as Chris and I stood at Jobala. He (my sentimental assumption of gender) alighted beyond the pond’s outlet. We stalked the bird to within camera range.

 

I recorded this 50-second video when I dared not get closer.

 

The video and photos are not magazine-worthy, but they are soul-value priceless to me.

 

Again, all special places bless us with infinite treats.

 

Seasonal Flora

 

I give you some of the special floral delights we noted along our summer morning route, with no more narration than necessary. A red buckeye carries ripe fruit, its glossy fruit still within its husk.

 

Elderberry in full ripe fruit.

 

Trumpet vine sporting its late summer bugles.

 

Delicate partridge pea and sensitive pea.

 

Sensitive fern.

 

Tall ironweed.

 

Wild hibiscus.

 

I’ve begun to lose my bias for spring wildflowers; these late sumer beauties are hard to beat!

Nature spins a brilliant web of biology, ecology, and poetry.

 

Area’s Native American Presence: Archaeology and Anthropology at GSWS

 

I won’t devote more than a few sentences to these two images. Chris and I took advantage of our need to be on-site for a session to discuss the Native American archaeology and anthropolgy on the property with noted local archaeologist Ben Hoksbergen. Marian Moore Lewis, author of Southern Sanctuary, Bill Heslip, director of a 13-minute video about the Sanctuary, and Bill’s wife Becky gathered for a couple hours with us at a picnic table near the entrance. We made plans to visit pertinent sites on the Sanctuary when cooler weather arrives.

 

 

 

Watch for updates in a subsequent Post.

Thoughts and Reflections

 

I offer these observations:

  • Every walk in Nature can be a grand tour of her beauty and complexity. (Steve Jones)
  • Look deep into Nature, and then you will understand everything better. (Albert Einstein)
  • Nothing in Nature is static; special places offer infinite treats to those of us who seek them. (Steve Jones)
  • He loved nature, which always brought him closer to God. (Erika Kirk)

Inhale and absorb Nature’s elixir. May Nature Inspire, Inform, and Reward you!

 

Note: Unless otherwise noted, all blog post images are created & photographed by Stephen B. Jones.

I am available for Nature-Inspired Speaking, Writing, and Consulting — contact me at steve.jones.0524@gmail.com

 

A reminder of my Personal and Professional Purpose, Passion, and Cause

If only more of us viewed our precious environment through the filters I employ. If only my mission and vision could be multiplied by untold orders of magnitude:

Mission: Employ writing and speaking to educate, inspire, and enable readers and listeners to understand, appreciate, and enjoy Nature… and accept and practice Earth Stewardship.

Vision:

  • People of all ages will pay greater attention to and engage more regularly with Nature… and will accept and practice informed and responsible Earth Stewardship.
  • They will see their relationship to our natural world with new eyes… and understand their Earth home more clearly.

Tagline/Motto: Steve (Great Blue Heron) encourages and seeks a better tomorrow through Nature-Inspired Living!

 

Steve’s Four Books

 

I wrote my books Nature Based Leadership (2016), Nature-Inspired Learning and Leading (2017), Weaned Seals and Snowy Summits: Stories of Passion for Place and Everyday Nature (2019; co-authored with Dr. Jennifer Wilhoit), and Dutton Land & Cattle: A Land Legacy Story (2025) to encourage all citizens to recognize and appreciate that every lesson for living, learning, serving, and leading is either written indelibly in or is powerfully inspired by Nature. All four of my books present compilations of personal experiences expressing my deep passion for Nature. All four books offer observations and reflections on my relationship with the natural world… and the broader implications for society. Order any from your local indie bookstore, or find them on IndieBound or other online sources such as Amazon and LifeRich.

I began writing books and Posts for several reasons:

  • I love hiking and exploring Nature
  • I see images I want to (and do) capture with my trusty iPhone camera
  • I enjoy explaining those images — an educator at heart
  • I don’t play golf!
  • I do love writing — it’s the hobby I never needed when my career consumed me
  • Judy suggested my writing is in large measure my legacy to our two kids, our five grandkids, and all the unborn generations beyond
  • And finally, perhaps my books and Blogs could reach beyond family and touch a few other lives… sow some seeds for the future

 

 

 

 

 

Intergenerational Spring Saunter at Alabama’s Monte Sano State Park!

/in /by

Alabama grandsons Jack (17 years) and Sam (11) accompanied me on April 19, 2025, as we traversed the Sinks and Wells Memorial Trails at Alabama’s Monte Sano State Park near Huntsville. Seven months beyond my second total knee replacement surgery and 21 months since my triple bypass, there’s little I will not attempt on local trails. I’m relentlessly abiding by the tenets of Nature-Inspired Life and Living and Nature-Buoyed Aging and Healing. Come with us as we discover delights and treasures hiding in plain sight.

 

On the Trails: Sinks and Wells Memorial

 

Growing up in the central Appalachians of western Maryland, I feel at home on the Monte Sano trails. The varied terrain and hardwood forests range from the rich and productive concave lower north to east-facing slopes to the rocky low-quality west and south-facing convex slopes. The Sinks and Wells trails transect generally good to excellent sites. On a previous visit, I measured a yellow poplar on the Sinks trail 142 feet tall.

Monte Sano

 

I recorded this 57-second video on the Sinks Trail.

 

You’ll note that I stated in my narrative, “I would not trade this for anything in the world.”

Albert Einstein made clear that one of the greater joys in approaching our sunset years is knowing that we can live on through subsequent generations:

Our death is not an end if we can live on in our children and the younger generation. For they are us; our bodies are only wilted leaves on the tree of life.

I am looking at the sunset from a far and distant dawn. My Dad would have been 100 this year. He passed 29 years ago, yet he walks with me every step of my woodland saunters. He remains alive through me, even as Jack and Sam will carry my spirit through their lives and beyond.

 

A Sampling of Spring Ephemerals

 

We saw many spring wildflowers, including a few notable examples. I offer these in form of a brief portfolio. I see no need to include a narrative.

Dwarf larkspur:

 

Rue anemone and wild geranium:

Monte Sano

 

White baneberry:

Monte Sano SP

 

Those three species date back to my systematic botany lab days more than a half-century ago.

I recorded this 60-second video of a forest floor carpeted with mayapple umbrellas:

 

And the same holds for mayapple and systematic botany.

Monte SanoMonte Sano

 

Mayapple holds a little secret — only the plants with two leaves are sexually mature. If one leaf, don’t expect to see a flower. If two leaves, the flower will appear in the dual-leaf axil.

Drooping trillium grows north into the Great Lakes region. So much of what I treasure seeing here in northern Alabama extends up through and beyond where I studied all manner of forestry.

Monte Sano

 

I suppose I will always be a spring ephemeral wildflower enthusiast — it’s in me for life.

 

And a Fern

 

I recall Pennsylvania forests with a full ground cover of New York and hay-scented fern. I miss those special places. Here in north Alabama, I’m pleased to encounter individual plants, like this silver glade fern.

Monte Sano

 

Wells Memorial Trail: One of My Favorite Places

 

I co-taught a UAH OLLI course this past spring: North Alabama Naturalists and Their Special Places. I selected The Wells Memorial Trail as my Special Place. Search my Great Blue Heron website for Wells Memorial Trail to access previous photo essays on the trail and its magic.

I recorded this 59-second video at three-benches, the gateway to the Wells Trail.

 

A special place indeed!

 

Odd Tree Forms

 

I’ve never encountered a tree form curiosity or oddity that failed to pique my interest. I quote Leonardo da Vinci often in my Great Blue Heron posts. He urges me from half a millennium ago to examine oddities and curiosities intent on explaining the cause of these exquisite abnormalities:

There is no result in nature without a cause; understand the cause and you will have no need of the experiment.

In fact, I just came to the realization that tree form curiosities and oddities are so common that terming them abnormalities may be a misnomer!

Most of our northern Alabama forests are second-growth, the result of natural regeneration following timber harvesting or suspension of agricultural tillage or pasturing 80-to-100+ years ago. Timber harvesting would have left scarred, injured, and otherwise non-commercial residuals. This massive oak was likely such an invidual. T0day its hollow severely decayed and disfigured bulk is yielding to inevitable forces, its strength to vulnerabilty ratio passing an irresistible threshold.

 

I recorded a 59-second video of the massive oak.

 

Its large carcass is scattered across a half-acre. Its once magestic hulk lies broken and disassembling. Decomposers will take over the task of returning its mass to the soil.

 

Basswood is adept at resprouting from cut stumps. Loggers harvested a large basswood tree here along the upper Sinks Trail many decades prior. These four or five large tall basswoods grew from sprouts around the severed stump — hence, a mature stump cluster!

Monte SanoMonte Sano

 

Here is my 57-second video of the basswood stump cluster, with a couple of grandsons thrown in for good measure…literally for good measure as a scale for judging trunk size.

 

I stop to admire the cluster each time I venture through these towering trees.

Monte SanoMonte Sano

 

We approached this tree skeleton caricature carefully. It struck a compelling pose, leaning over us, elbows and forearms on the opposite side of the trail supporting its weight. Dare we stand under it, tempting the creature to awaken and snag us from the path? Our hardwood forests may not be the dark and foreboding, foul and repugnant wilderness tracts New England’s European settlers characterized four centuries ago, yet they are still habitated by sylvan ogres and wood spirits. What good would a woodland venture with grands be without seeking and finding such delights?!

 

 

 

I am sure that some trekkers would leap to conclude that this is an Indian Marker Tree. No, a falling branch or tree impacted this hickory when it was pole-sized. The concussion bent the more supple younger stem and broke the top, where the rounded stub protrudes. In response, the hickory activated adventitious buds to send new shoots vertically to resecure ascent into the upper canopy and its direct sunlight. The arched original stem supports three elevated trunks reaching heavenward. The tree does indeed point to something. You are free to fashion the mythical object or destination. I am old enough to remember the old weeknight (1965-67) comedy program, F-Troop. I recall the directions given to one of the characters, “Turn left at the rock that resembles a bear; and then turn right at the bear resembling a rock.” This tree’s directional utility may be of equivalent merit!

 

And yet another marker tree. Same song, different verse. Physical injury and evolved response to live and fluorish another day; seek the light above; produce seed; pass genes forward; all absent the hand of man.

Monte Sano

 

Nothing in Nature is static; nothing in the natural world is new. I can’t imagine anything that hasn’t happened before…a thousand (nay, ten thousand by ten thousand) times before.

 

Special Mountain Biking Feature

 

I’m a committed Nature enthusiast…and naturalist purist. I have no desire to catapult through the forest, kamikazi-style on my two-wheeled steed. I limit myself to paved or smoothly-graded gravel greenways. However, I recognize that mountain biking is a popular woodland pursuit. Our route took us past The Sinks Ride Area. I include it only as a sidebar. Some State Park users praise the expanding bike features. Others consider it anathema to the core mission. I leave judgement to others.

Monte Sano

 

Closing at a Perfect Place for Rest and Contemplation

 

I like the Three Benches trail intersection where the Wells Memorial Trail heads off the Sinks Trail. The three benches sit in deep shade in the cove hardwood site. A massive yellow popular tree nourishes the soul, reminding me what good living, ample resources, and time can provide. When my dear friend and professional colleague (from my Penn State University days) died four years ago in October, I recorded a tribute video to him at this sacred place.

Here is the 59-second video I recorded with the grandsons taking a breather.

 

My third book, Weaned Seals and Snowy Summits, carries an apt subtitle: Stories of Passion for Place and Everyday Nature. When I reflect on my well over 400 Great Blue Heron posts, I realize that my focus is on Place and Everyday Nature.

Alabama State Parks Foundation

I’ll remind you that although I serve on the Alabama State Parks Foundation Board, in part because of my love of Nature and in recognition for my writing many prior Posts about visiting and experiencing the Parks, any positions or opinions expressed in these Posts are mine alone and do not in any manner represent the Foundation or its Board.
I urge you to take a look at the Foundation website and consider ways you might help steward these magical places: https://asparksfoundation.org/ Perhaps you might think about supporting the Parks System education and interpretation imperative: https://asparksfoundation.org/give-today#a444d6c6-371b-47a2-97da-dd15a5b9da76

The Foundation exists for the sole purpose of providing incremental operating and capital support for enhancing our State parks… and your enjoyment of them.

We are blessed in Alabama to have our Park System. Watch for future Great Blue Heron Posts as I continue to explore and enjoy these treasures that belong to us. I urge you to discover the Alabama State Parks near you. Follow the advice of John Muir:

And into the forest I go, to lose my mind and find my soul.

In every walk with Nature one receives far more than he seeks.

I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in.

Between every two pines is a doorway to a new world.

 

Thoughts and Reflections

 

I offer these observations:

  • Our death is not an end if we can live on in our children and the younger generation. For they are us; our bodies are only wilted leaves on the tree of life. (Albert Einstein)
  • There is no result in nature without a cause; understand the cause and you will have no need of the experiment. (Leonardo da Vinci)
  • I would not trade this (exploring in the woods with my grandsons) for anything in the world. (Steve Jones)

Inhale and absorb Nature’s elixir. May Nature Inspire, Inform, and Reward you!

 

Note: All blog post images created & photographed by Stephen B. Jones unless otherwise noted. Please circulate images with photo credit: “©2025 Steve Jones, Great Blue Heron LLC. All Rights Reserved.”

I am available for Nature-Inspired Speaking, Writing, and Consulting — contact me at steve.jones.0524@gmail.com

 

Reminder of my Personal and Professional Purpose, Passion, and Cause

If only more of us viewed our precious environment through the filters I employ. If only my mission and vision could be multiplied untold orders of magnitude:

Mission: Employ writing and speaking to educate, inspire, and enable readers and listeners to understand, appreciate, and enjoy Nature… and accept and practice Earth Stewardship.

Vision:

  • People of all ages will pay greater attention to and engage more regularly with Nature… and will accept and practice informed and responsible Earth Stewardship.
  • They will see their relationship to our natural world with new eyes… and will understand more clearly their Earth home.

Tagline/Motto: Steve (Great Blue Heron) encourages and seeks a better tomorrow through Nature-Inspired Living!

 

Steve’s Four Books

 

I wrote my books Nature Based Leadership (2016), Nature-Inspired Learning and Leading (2017), Weaned Seals and Snowy Summits: Stories of Passion for Place and Everyday Nature (2019; co-authored with Dr. Jennifer Wilhoit), and Dutton Land & Cattle: A Land Legacy Story (2023) to encourage all citizens to recognize and appreciate that every lesson for living, learning, serving, and leading is either written indelibly in or is powerfully inspired by Nature. All four of my books present compilations of personal experiences expressing my deep passion for Nature. All four books offer observations and reflections on my relationship with the natural world… and the broader implications for society. Order any from your local indie bookstore, or find them on IndieBound or other online sources such as Amazon and LifeRich.

I began writing books and Posts for several reasons:

  • I love hiking and exploring Nature
  • I see images I want to (and do) capture with my trusty iPhone camera
  • I enjoy explaining those images — an educator at heart
  • I don’t play golf!
  • I do love writing — it’s the hobby I never needed when my career consumed me
  • Judy suggested my writing is in large measure my legacy to our two kids, our five grandkids, and all the unborn generations beyond
  • And finally, perhaps my books and Blogs could reach beyond family and touch a few other lives… sow some seeds for the future

 

 

 

 

Perfect Autumn Morning Hiking at Hickory Cove Nature Preserve

/in /by

On November 23, 2024, fellow retired forester Chris Stuhlinger and I co-led an OLLI (Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, University of Alabama in Huntsville) hike at Hickory Cove Nature Preserve near Huntsville. Owned and managed by the Land Trust of North Alabama, the preserve encompasses 146 acres of second-growth hardwood forest, rocky ledges, wet weather springs and falls, and a historic spring house. I previously visited the preserve in late July 2024 (just before my total right knee replacement surgery) accompanied by my two Alabama grandsons (see my September 10, 2024, Great Blue Heron photo essay: https://stevejonesgbh.com/2024/09/10/trees-of-the-hickory-cove-nature-preserves-legacy-loop-trail/).

Because Chris and I designated this trek as a Hike, our pace did not accommodate the sauntering that John Muir insisted upon and that my photography, videoing, and observations required. As a result, I caught up with the group only occasionally when they paused and at the end! Once in a while, someone would lag with me. I valued their presence but am accustomed to and comfortable with solitary treks. The group hiked (I sauntered) the 1.75-mile Legacy Trail, a delightful forest exploration from 860 feet elevation to 1,010 and return. Come along with me as I offer observations, reflections, 19 photos, and four brief videos.

The deck overlooks an old stone spring house. Justust 100 feet dowstream a stone water trough engineered after decades to still collect and hold water to the brim. Autumn does not barge into north Alabama. Even within a week of December, the crowns are not yet bare. The spring houuse tells part of the land domestication tale. Somewhere nearby, the wooden residence and farm structures served by the spring house lay in ruins (ashes?). Perhaps closer inspection would reveal a long-abandoned and decaying still.

 

A sauntering pace permitted me to seek and spend a little time with tree form curiosities and oddities. This white oak spoke to me, “Slow down old forester. Pay attention. Ponder why I am so large, aged, and of coarse limb.” I heeded his request (was it a demand?). Evidence and hints within the forest suggested former attempted domestication, including roughland tillage and pasturing. The white oak is considerably older than the forest we traversed. It enjoyed many years open grown, its coarse branch stubs indicating that it did not mature within a tightly packed closed forest. Was it a shade tree at the old homestead or within a hillside pasture? On my next visit I will search for clues.

Hickory Cove

Hickory Cove

 

Woody vines, like this supplejack, are a component of the overstory canopy in most of our north Alabama second-growth forests. Birds drop gut-scarified seed among the brush of a new forest, and ride on the growing stems as the eventual tree winners ascended 60, 80, and 100 (or more) feet above. Most commonly I find wild grape (muscadine and scuppernong); supplejack and wisteria also find their way into the canopy by the same route. English ivy (not native) and Virginia creeper may also be present but seldomly reach beyond mid-canopy.

Hickory Cove

 

I like the smooth green bark of supplejack. An online source offers high praise for this native woody vine:

Supplejack is a plant that provides food for wildlife. Its fruits are high in calcium and are eaten by songbirds, wild turkey, northern bobwhite, raccoon, and gray squirrels. The plant supports local ecosystems without disrupting them.

I recorded this 52-second supplejack video:

 

Once in a while the sauntering old forester caught up with the hikers just in time for them, well rested, to resume their faster pace. Some stretches of the preserve’s forest were better stocked, supporting taller mixed upland hardwoods (at right) still holding fall foliage.

 

I recorded this 44-second video of the group resuming its quicker pace, leaving me once again to my business of gathering fodder for a photo essay.

 

Fallen, standing dead, and failing live Eastern red cedar throughout the preserve evidenced past land use. Cedar is a north Alabama pioneer species, one of the first woody plants to colonize abandoned fields and pastures, as well as cutover forestland. You’ve heard the familiar refrain — birds deposit the scarified seeds in emerging brush. The seed sprouts, the seedlings thrive in the sun-rich environment, cedar dominates the stand’s first three to four decades, and then cedar begins to fade as the surrounding longer-lived hardwoods persist.

 

I recorded this 41-second video of the scrubby forest and a handsome ash tree, as a woodpecker tapped nearby:

 

I like the uniformly deeply furrowed pattern of green and white ash bark. Everything about the two species is regimented: the exceptional bark, the straight bole, and the species’ regal bearing and vertical posture. Ash trees remind me of the polished cadet corps at a military academy. In stark contrast, the shagbark trees are akin to a gathering of beach bums, their hair unkempt and their clothes and posture of little self-concern. The ash generates a glance of admiration and respect. The shagbark pulls me close for deep contemplation, whimsical imagination, and curiosity about the relative evolutionary advantages of the two forms.

 

The questions and musings aren’t suited to the hiker; the burden of discovery and investigation falls to the saunterer.

 

The group paused on the other side of a wooden bridge crossing a wet weather spring. Once again well rested, the group accepted my arrival as a trigger to resume their hiking.

Nearby, I recorded this 54-second video of two relicts (white oak and shagbark hickory) from a previous stand:

 

As with the white oak near the traihead, both of these indviduals bear coarse branching, large size, and a high crown ratio.

I discovered another tree form curiosity. A mockernut hickory stands within the grasp of a ground-forked sugar maple.

 

Will they prevail as a threesome? How intense is their competition for crown space (i.e. sunshine), soil moisture and nutrients, and even space for trunk expansion?

 

Although I have read some fanciful scientific recitations expounding on the wonderful and commonplace reciprocity, comensualism, and cooperation of Nature’s lifeforms, I resist such utopian scenarios. The sugar maple and hickory embrace above is not one of love and endearment. It’s one of coping with the unusual circumstance of both seeds germinating within a few inches and the two plants (the sugar maple I believe is a single forked tree) securing enough of life’s requirements to survuve for six to eight decades. They are engaged in fierce competition for those finite life resources. However, all three stems appear healthy; they are producing seed; their immediate future appears bright. I see no competitive advantage to such close proximity. I don’t anticipate out-living their proximal relationship. I can pledge only to spend more time with them on my next visit. Perhaps they will enlighten me in their own way.

I seldom compose my reflections and observations from these woodland rambles without generating more questions than answers. Rather than closing these pages with words of deep wisdom, I leave you with an image of pleasant woodland surroundings fitting for a late November midday…an invitation to return seeking insight and understanding from the forest. Every tree, every stand, and every forest have stories to tell. I’m still learning the language.

 

Thoughts and Reflections

 

I offer these observations:

  • Questions and musings aren’t suited to the hiker; the burden of discovery and investigation falls to the saunterer.
  • Every tree, every stand, and every forest have stories to tell. I’m still learning the language.  
  • Ash trees remind me of the polished cadet corps at a military academy. In stark contrast, the shagbark trees are akin to a gathering of beach bums, their hair unkempt and their clothes and posture of little self-concern.

Inhale and absorb Nature’s elixir. May Nature Inspire, Inform, and Reward you!

 

Note: Unless otherwise noted, all blog post images are created & photographed by Stephen B. Jones.

Please circulate images with photo credit: “©2025 Steve Jones, Great Blue Heron. All Rights Reserved.”

I am available for Nature-Inspired Speaking, Writing, and Consulting — contact me at steve.jones.0524@gmail.com

 

A reminder of my Personal and Professional Purpose, Passion, and Cause

If only more of us viewed our precious environment through the filters I employ. If only my mission and vision could be multiplied by untold orders of magnitude:

Mission: Employ writing and speaking to educate, inspire, and enable readers and listeners to understand, appreciate, and enjoy Nature… and accept and practice Earth Stewardship.

Vision:

  • People of all ages will pay greater attention to and engage more regularly with Nature… and will accept and practice informed and responsible Earth Stewardship.
  • They will see their relationship to our natural world with new eyes… and understand their Earth home more clearly.

Tagline/Motto: Steve (Great Blue Heron) encourages and seeks a better tomorrow through Nature-Inspired Living!

 

Steve’s Four Books

 

I wrote my books Nature Based Leadership (2016), Nature-Inspired Learning and Leading (2017), Weaned Seals and Snowy Summits: Stories of Passion for Place and Everyday Nature (2019; co-authored with Dr. Jennifer Wilhoit), and Dutton Land & Cattle: A Land Legacy Story (2023) to encourage all citizens to recognize and appreciate that every lesson for living, learning, serving, and leading is either written indelibly in or is powerfully inspired by Nature. All four of my books present compilations of personal experiences expressing my deep passion for Nature. All four books offer observations and reflections on my relationship with the natural world… and the broader implications for society. Order any from your local indie bookstore, or find them on IndieBound or other online sources such as Amazon and LifeRich.

I began writing books and Posts for several reasons:

  • I love hiking and exploring Nature
  • I see images I want to (and do) capture with my trusty iPhone camera
  • I enjoy explaining those images — an educator at heart
  • I don’t play golf!
  • I do love writing — it’s the hobby I never needed when my career consumed me
  • Judy suggested my writing is in large measure my legacy to our two kids, our five grandkids, and all the unborn generations beyond
  • And finally, perhaps my books and Blogs could reach beyond family and touch a few other lives… sow some seeds for the future

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Early December Circuit of Jones Branch Trail at Shoal Creek Nature Preserve

/in /by

Fellow retired forester Chris Stuhlinger and I hiked the Jones Branch Trail on December 9, 2024, at the Shoal Creek Nature Preserve near Florence, Alabama. The preserve’s website:

The Shoal Creek Nature Preserve (dedicated by Forever Wild resolution as the Billingsley-McClure Shoal Creek Preserve) allows visitors to explore 298 acres of fallow fields, mature upland hardwood stands, and scenic creek bottoms in Lauderdale County. Waterways on the tract include Indian Camp Creek, Lawson Creek, Jones Branch and Shoal Creek. The tract was purchased in part through a Land and Water Conservation Fund grant awarded by the Alabama Department of Economics and Community Affairs, as well as through financial and in-kind contributions from the City of Florence and Lauderdale County.

 

The preserve encompasses less than one-half square mile, yet we sauntered roughly three miles through what seemed like a far more extensive property, experiencing diverse terrain, varied cover, several small streams, and one stretch overlooking the Shoal Creek arm of Lake Wilson (Tennessee River). I attempt with this Great Blue Heron photo essay to introduce you to the preserve, sharing its story as I read it in the forest, the land, and human artifacts. Come along on this interpretive journey.

I first visited the preserve in August 2023, just eight weeks after my triple bypass. I ventured just a few hundred feet into the property, my photo essay reporting only on the abandoned fields: https://stevejonesgbh.com/2023/11/01/mid-august-2023-first-time-visit-to-forever-wild-shoal-creek-nature-preserve/

I focus this current essay on the forest cover, predominately second growth hardwood naturally regenerated on abandoned pasture or rough tilled cropland. The forest tells the history, even as it hints at the future. Both of these images contain beech saplings, clinging to marcescent leaves, this past summer’s foliage that will hold until spring. Understory beech tolerates shade and can persist there for decades until the overstory gives way to disturbance (e.g., ice, wind, disease, or old age), bringing sunlight to the beech, which will respond to emerge as a major overstory component in the next stand.

 

The trigger for release (whether beech or some other species in the understory or intermediate canopy) may come as a widespread blowdown or the loss of a single tree, like this 30-inch diameter red oak, whose massive crown covered more than a tenth of an acre. The crown opening will trigger a race to fill the void. The competitors? I have observed that the adjoining upper canopy occupants will close the gap faster than any understory or intermediate canopy trees can rush upward to fill the void. Stand replacement will require more than single tree disturbance. Trust me, the beech is in no hurry.

 

The hollow red oak appeared healthy and strong, but it no longer had the structural strength to withstand the undefeated forces of physics and gravity. The second-growth forest stands of northern Alabama bear the torment of widespread decay infested by old wounds from prior logging or farmstead activities.

I recorded this 45-second video at the crash site!

 

Nothing in Nature is static. Within two years the tree top will collapse from decay, beginning with twigs and small branches, and by year ten, only a deeply decayed trunk will remain.

 

We found a species of oak not familiar to either of us: blackjack oak (Quercus marilandica), a shrub to medium-sized tree found in central and eastern USA in fields, woodland edges, and dry ridges. It prefers better drained soils and is often found where other trees will not grow due to poor soils. We vowed to pay closer attention on our next visit to learn more about the species, its abundance and distribution on the preserve, and its site preferences..

 

Eastern red cedar is an early successional species, colonizing abandoned agricultural land, old fields, and cutover forests. They are relatively short-lived, unable to compete effectively long-term with the hardwood neighbors. We found ubiquitous dead and dying cedar as it drops out of these 60-90 year old second growth hardwood stands. The one below is dead and is among the larger individuals we encountered.

 

The cedar confirm my supposition that human disturbance and past use drove the direction of forest succession. Cedar wood is decay-resistent. This standing deceased individual may offer critter cover and nesting sites for decades.

 

As I’ve often observed, death is a big part of life in the forest. This old stump snag caught my attention. Like the toppled red oak, this snag is hollow. The ground beyond is littered with dead and downed woody debris. The carbon cycle is active.

 

Occasionally in my GBH photo essays I ruminate on tree spiral grain. Not all trees have it. This bark-free dead hardwood (species?) spirals clockwise at about 30 degrees. The spiral and staining create an atractive pattern. I have yet to find definitive answers to the spiral mysteries in the literature. A recent online article (The Gymnosperm Database, 2024), Why Do Trees Form Spiral Grain? edited by Christopher J. Earle adds to my own uncertainty:

Spiral grain is the helical form taken by xylem tissues in their growth along a tree trunk or limb. Spiral grain is often conspicuous in snags that have lost their bark, as shown in the photos on this page, and people love to speculate about it… Personally, I am skeptical…  Finally, there doesn’t seem to be much known about how all this happens: what physiological stresses trigger which growth hormones, for instance, or what causes a reversal in the direction of the spiral. On balance, I still have a sense that the field is data-poor, and it’s possible to generate lots of plausible hypotheses.

 

Unless someone directs me to refereed evidence to the contrary, I will stay with my conclusion that spiral-grained wood is stronger, therefore offering a competitive advantage evolutionarily.

Regardless, spiraled clockwise or counter or straight grained, all trees will succumb, decay, and return to the forest soil. These colorful turkey tail mushrooms are the reproductive, spore-producing orgams of a decomposing fungus whose mycelia are feeding within the log.

 

Another fungus, this one a pathogen growing on live wood, black knot disease, infects black cherry, a native tree species across the eastern US. The tree seems to tolerate this particularly large knot.

 

If we had not read in the forest obvious indications of past disturbance and human influences, this long-abandoned ~1960 Ford station wagon would have told the tale. Left decades ago at the edge of a spent agricultural field or pasture, the carcass (pardon the pun) now is located in the forest interior.

 

We crossed many old farm paths and road beds. I imagine the preserve’s character 70-80 years ago, a failing farm with a few acres still tilled, large marginally productive pasture acreage, visible soil erosion, and extensive abandoned fields naturally regenerating to herbs, shrubs, and early successional tree species.

 

Water Features

 

Several streams pass peacefully through the reserve. Fittingly, I’m standing at the sign for Jones Branch Trail. Behind me a massive white oak fell across the trail this past summer.

 

I recorded this 54-second video at this pleasant location:

 

We walked along other stretches that rewarded us with gurgling water and a soothing setting.

 

I recorded this 57-second video of another stream section:

 

We enjoyed the views of the Shoal Creek arm of Wilson Lake (Tennessee River impounded by Wilson Dam) from the bluff 150-feet above lake level. The view is restricted to dormant season.

 

My predilection favors woodland exploration during the November through early April period when understory and main canopy foliage is absent, heat and humidity are memories, and nuiscance insects are inactive. I admit, however, that when spring wildflowers are abundant, I will gleefully embrace that season of renewal. And I will enthusiastically relish summer mornings and welcome the coming autumn. I simply love immersion in Nature’s wildness. Life is too short not to flourish in her beauty, magic, wonder, awe, and inspiration, whatever the season.

 

Thoughts and Reflections

 

I offer these observations:

  • Every forest (or Nature Preserve) tells its tale to those able to read its language. (Steve Jones)
  • In every true searcher of Nature there is a kind of religious reverence. (Albert Einstein)
  • I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious. (Einstein)
  • Death is a big part of life in the forest (Steve Jones)

Inhale and absorb Nature’s elixir. May Nature Inspire, Inform, and Reward you!

 

A reminder of my Personal and Professional Purpose, Passion, and Cause

If only more of us viewed our precious environment through the filters I employ. If only my mission and vision could be multiplied by untold orders of magnitude:

Mission: Employ writing and speaking to educate, inspire, and enable readers and listeners to understand, appreciate, and enjoy Nature… and accept and practice Earth Stewardship.

Vision:

  • People of all ages will pay greater attention to and engage more regularly with Nature… and will accept and practice informed and responsible Earth Stewardship.
  • They will see their relationship to our natural world with new eyes… and understand their Earth home more clearly.

Tagline/Motto: Steve (Great Blue Heron) encourages and seeks a better tomorrow through Nature-Inspired Living!

 

Steve’s Four Books

 

I wrote my books Nature Based Leadership (2016), Nature-Inspired Learning and Leading (2017), Weaned Seals and Snowy Summits: Stories of Passion for Place and Everyday Nature (2019; co-authored with Dr. Jennifer Wilhoit), and Dutton Land & Cattle: A Land Legacy Story (2024) to encourage all citizens to recognize and appreciate that every lesson for living, learning, serving, and leading is either written indelibly in or is powerfully inspired by Nature. All four of my books present compilations of personal experiences expressing my deep passion for Nature. All four books offer observations and reflections on my relationship with the natural world… and the broader implications for society. Order any from your local indie bookstore, or find them on IndieBound or other online sources such as Amazon and LifeRich.

I began writing books and Posts for several reasons:

  • I love hiking and exploring Nature
  • I see images I want to (and do) capture with my trusty iPhone camera
  • I enjoy explaining those images — an educator at heart
  • I don’t play golf!
  • I do love writing — it’s the hobby I never needed when my career consumed me
  • Judy suggested my writing is in large measure my legacy to our two kids, our five grandkids, and all the unborn generations beyond
  • And finally, perhaps my books and Blogs could reach beyond family and touch a few other lives… sow some seeds for the future

 

 

 

 

Note: Unless otherwise noted, all blog post images are created & photographed by Stephen B. Jones.

Please circulate images with photo credit: “©2025 Steve Jones, Great Blue Heron. All Rights Reserved.”

I am available for Nature-Inspired Speaking, Writing, and Consulting — contact me at steve.jones.0524@gmail.com

 

Brief-Form Post #42: A Short Afternoon Trek to Maggie’s Glen at Oak Mountain State Park!

/in /by

I am pleased to add the 42nd of my GBH Brief-Form Posts (Less than five minutes to read!) to my website. I tend to get a bit wordy with my routine Posts. I don’t want my enthusiasm for thoroughness and detail to discourage readers. So, I will publish these brief Posts regularly.

On November 7, 2024, a fellow retired forester Chris Stuhlinger and I trekked the short Maggie’s Glen Trail at Oak Mountain State Park in Pelham, Alabama located just south of Birmingham. We were already at the park, having been there for two other ventures, so I thought I would introduce Chris to Maggie’s Glen, one of my favorite spots at Oak Mountain. The Glen is a protected streamside cove in deep forest at the base of a north-facing slope.

Several trails diverge from the covered marquis.Oak MSP

 

Autumn’s thinning crowns brought sunshine to the ground amid the bench-welcoming and resting site, reminding me of William Wordsworth’s observation:

Come forth into the light of things, let Nature be your teacher.

Oak MSPOak MSP

 

A massive ancient beech, greeted me once again to this cherished site that reminds me of where I grew up wandering the central Appalachians hills of western Maryland. Oh, would I love to hear the tales this tortured and convoluted sentinel could tell from it 150-200 years along the creek!

 

 

 

I recorded this 59-second video at the old beech:

 

I bestow the significant designation of character tree for such grizzled veterans that I’ve encountered over my seven decades of woods-wandering. Age, size, perseverence, distress, hollows, and contortions aggregate to earn the title. Sunlight hitting leaves within the hollow trunk warrant points. The gnarled roots contribute.

Oak MSP

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A view from within the hollow trunk that finds sky far above scores high, as does the open crotch at right that allows the sky portal 30 feet from the gound.

Oak MSPOak MSP

 

 

The beech stands guard at the wooden foot bridge that during our extended late summer and early fall drought carries little surface water. Only a reflective pool evidences the lively stream flowing during wetter seasons when I’ve enjoyed visiting the Glen. I felt as though I was peering into another world, one that embodies the essence of the spectacular Glen to which I am accustomed.

 

The Glen includes an odd tree-couple growing side by side…a fat loblolly pine growing straight and tall…and a diminutive sourwood with its species-distinctive corkscrew reach into the intermediate canopy.

 

I imagined how underwheleming a rapid hike through the forest might be if the wonders I discovered in plain sight were unseen. As Henry David Thoreau observed:

I have no time to be in a hurry.

The older I get, the stronger my feelings about not wanting to miss anything. Fourteen months with five surgeries (July 2023-August 2024) reminded me that time…my time…is finite!

Although still early afternoon (2:38 PM), the sun was alreadt setting deep in the Glen, representing the special Nature of one of my favorite places at Oak Mountain State Park.

 

I accept the challenge of distilling these Brief-Form Posts into a single distinct reflection, a task far more elusive than assembling a dozen pithy statements. William Wordsworth captured Nature’s magic in simple beautiful verse:

Come forth into the light of things, let Nature be your teacher.

Feeling the Glow of an overdue return to Nature!

Monte Sano

 

 

Intergenerational Woodland Venture at Wade Mountain Nature Preserve

/in /by

On Monday, November 25, 2024, Alabama grandsons Jack (17) and Sam (11) hiked the Devil’s Racetrack Trail with me at the Wade Mountain Nature Preserve near Huntsville, Alabama. The 935-acre preserve includes the 1,453′ elevation Wade Mountain summit. The racetrack loop circles a lesser peak at 1,050′. We covered just under four miles…not bad for an old forester recovering from two total knee replacements in 2024 (left in January; and right in August).

I posted two photo essays from my 2022 visit to Wade Mountain:

  • https://stevejonesgbh.com/2022/09/21/mid-august-hike-my-first-visit-to-wade-mountain-nature-preserve/
  • https://stevejonesgbh.com/2022/10/05/mid-august-hike-circuiting-a-summit-glade-racetrack/

Those two posts focused on the Nature of Wade Mountain. I chose a different theme for this one: the magic of sharing Nature with grandkids. I frequently turn to Albert Einstein, the 20th Century’s greatest intellect, for wisdom far beyond theoretical physics:

Our death is not an end if we can live on in our children and the younger generation. For they are us; our bodies are only wilted leaves on the tree of life.

Do not grow old, no matter how long you live.

Look deep into Nature and then you will understand everything better.

 

We arrived mid-morning (8:30) at the trailhead. Three months after total right knee replacement surgery I felt confident in my strength, stability, and endurance to cover the distance and navigate the trail. The boys knew I would not maintain the pace they might prefer to keep. I was surprised and pleased that I managed a full-saunter rate. Jack climbed into the basket of a three-stemmed white oak while Sam posed on the trail. I will recall moments like this until my final breaths. My hope is that they will remember the essence of our outdoor ventures deep into adulthood.

Wade Mountain

 

Wooden benches offered resting opportunites; fallen trees provided bridges into toppled crowns, and imagination portals to other worlds. Albert Einstein would have approved:

Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.

Wade MNPWade MNP

 

Boulders and rock ledges beckoned climbers. I was content to capture images of their ventures, knowing they would have offered helping hands if I asked to join them. With no small measure of melancholy I recall Sam enjoying hikes perched on my shoulders.

Wade MNPWade MNP

 

 

 

My trek with the boys brought to mind a quote of John Muir’s:

I care to live only to entice people to look at Nature’s loveliness.

I had not realized until now that he struck clearly on one of the pricipal themes of my retirement wiriting, teaching, speaking, and contemplating.

The rounded portal in the trailside limestone ledge invites all passersby to peek through for a photo-op (Jack at left; Sam to right)!

Wade MNP

 

I posted myself on the trail and passed my camera to one of them on the far side. A clearer perspective, don’t you think? A lesson for life and living — perspective changes with where you find yourself in a landscape…or on an issue…or along life’s journey.

Wade MNP

 

I viewed the boys through their sunrise portal, they in the bright light of youth. Retrospectively from my 15-month five surgeries period (June 2023 through August 2024), I saw their view of me as their Pap approaching a sunset. Perhaps a bit too macabre, I again quote John Muir:

Let children walk with Nature, let them see the beautiful blendings and communions of death and life, their joyous inseparable unity, as taught in woods and meadows, plains and mountains and streams of our blessed star, and they will learn that death is stingless indeed, and as beautiful as life.

I enlightened them, as we walked, about the cycle of life and death in the forest.

The Magic and Wonder of Trees

 

Grape vines reach into the main canopy of many of our north Alabama hardwood forests These two individuals ascended simultaneously with the twin-boled hickory.

Wade MNP

 

I love finding and catologuing tree form oddities and curiosities. This persistent Eastern red cedar was decades ago slammed to the ground by a fallen branch from above. It recovered with a new stem reaching vertically (more or less) into the intermediate canopy. Like many of the remaining cedar trees, it is fading, outcompeted by the overtopping hardwoods.

Wade MNP

 

Most other cedars have already succumbed, leaving their decay-resistant carcasses behind to haunt the scrub forest near the summit sandstone glade.

Wade MNP

 

 

Most trees (all in my previous experience) consume the normal tree diet of nutrients, moisture, and sunlight. However, this old hickory seemed well prepared and tooled to consume unwary trekkers. The boys chose to stay clear of the gaping maw!

Wade MNP

 

Perhaps I will keep a distance from this spooky forest at evening’s gloaming. A long ago gale tore the crown from this ridgetop tree. The decapitated denizen recovered with fresh branches, appearing now as zombie-like, reaching blindly to our left.

Wade MNP

 

Even without a gaping maw, this hickory (left) and oak are openly devouring trail signs.

Wade MNPWade MNP

 

The forest (all forests) holds tightly to their secret doings. This one made no effort to hide its mischievous secrets, and I felt the better for it.

 

Emerging at the Racetrack Summit

 

 

The racetrack encircles an ecotype previously unfamiliar to me — a limestone glade, which I defined and described in one of the previous photo essays referenced earlier. The boys and I welcomed escaping into sunshine beyong the closed forest.

Wade MNPWade MNP

 

The baldness is of edaphic (soil and site factors) origin.

Wade MNP

 

My 59-second video tells the barren’s tale far better than an old forester’s prose:

 

I find the stark beauty and literal harshness attractive.

Wade MNP

 

Cedars persist in distressed form, holding true to the halloween mood.

Wade MNP

 

It’s a rough life on these infertile, shallow, and xeric glade soils.

Wade MNPWade MNP

 

 

A major power line at the ridgetop provides a refreshing vista to the north, and furnishes enough openess to support a colony of prickly pear cactus.

Wade MNP

 

I recorded this 32-second video at the transmission line.

 

Thoughts and Reflections

 

I offer these observations:

  • Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world. (Albert Einstein)
  • Our death is not an end if we can live on in our children and the younger generation. For they are us; our bodies are only wilted leaves on the tree of life. (Einstein)
  • I will recall moments like this until my final breaths. My hope is that they will remember the essence of our outdoor ventures deep into adulthood. (Steve Jones)

Inhale and absorb Nature’s elixir. May Nature Inspire, Inform, and Reward you!

 

Note: All blog post images created & photographed by Stephen B. Jones unless otherwise noted. Please circulate images with photo credit: “©2025 Steve Jones, Great Blue Heron LLC. All Rights Reserved.”

I am available for Nature-Inspired Speaking, Writing, and Consulting — contact me at steve.jones.0524@gmail.com

 

Reminder of my Personal and Professional Purpose, Passion, and Cause

If only more of us viewed our precious environment through the filters I employ. If only my mission and vision could be multiplied untold orders of magnitude:

Mission: Employ writing and speaking to educate, inspire, and enable readers and listeners to understand, appreciate, and enjoy Nature… and accept and practice Earth Stewardship.

Vision:

  • People of all ages will pay greater attention to and engage more regularly with Nature… and will accept and practice informed and responsible Earth Stewardship.
  • They will see their relationship to our natural world with new eyes… and will understand more clearly their Earth home.

Tagline/Motto: Steve (Great Blue Heron) encourages and seeks a better tomorrow through Nature-Inspired Living!

 

Steve’s Four Books

 

I wrote my books Nature Based Leadership (2016), Nature-Inspired Learning and Leading (2017), Weaned Seals and Snowy Summits: Stories of Passion for Place and Everyday Nature (2019; co-authored with Dr. Jennifer Wilhoit), and Dutton Land & Cattle: A Land Legacy Story (2023) to encourage all citizens to recognize and appreciate that every lesson for living, learning, serving, and leading is either written indelibly in or is powerfully inspired by Nature. All four of my books present compilations of personal experiences expressing my deep passion for Nature. All four books offer observations and reflections on my relationship with the natural world… and the broader implications for society. Order any from your local indie bookstore, or find them on IndieBound or other online sources such as Amazon and LifeRich.

I began writing books and Posts for several reasons:

  • I love hiking and exploring Nature
  • I see images I want to (and do) capture with my trusty iPhone camera
  • I enjoy explaining those images — an educator at heart
  • I don’t play golf!
  • I do love writing — it’s the hobby I never needed when my career consumed me
  • Judy suggested my writing is in large measure my legacy to our two kids, our five grandkids, and all the unborn generations beyond
  • And finally, perhaps my books and Blogs could reach beyond family and touch a few other lives… sow some seeds for the future

 

 

Wade MNP