A walk in the woods reveals beautiful wildflowers
Shown is twin leaf during a recent hike at Cedar Creek park in Rostraver.
Picture is Cedar Creek that runs the county park of the same name at Cedar Creek Park in Rostraver.
Jack Hughes
It蘑菇视频 my favorite time of the year. The weather has finally shed itself of the cold and snow that long overstayed its annual visit. For the most part, the relentless waves of cold air have retreated and the late April sunshine is getting a chance to do its work and warm up the ground in preparation of our long-awaited spring. The warming temperatures are assisting Mother Nature with the installation of the new carpet on the forest floor and it is a real beauty. Like all other years, she chose green with a floral pattern of wildflowers to add a bit more color and visual expression.
After some hiking on the trails in Ohiopyle this past week, we decided to make our annual visit to Cedar Creek Park in Rostraver Township to see the Virginia bluebells and hunt for the somewhat rare white twin leaf.
Cedar Creek temperatures are a few degrees warmer than the mountains of Ohiopyle making for an earlier bloom and there are hillsides just covered with bluebells. Everything is late this year, so we delayed our visit until late April instead of earlier in the month.
Wow! What a sight.
The sunny hillsides were covered with Virginia bluebills and across the creek, the shady hillsides filled with white trillium. Along the bottom of the little valley, numerous lavender spring beauties, white blood root, purple and yellow violets and to my wife Diane蘑菇视频 joy, the elusive twin leaf which can be mistaken for blood root except the twin leaf has its distinctive double leaf. Blue-eyed Mary蘑菇视频 just ready to bloom, should add some additional color this coming week.
The Cedar Creek stream runs right through all these wildflowers as it empties into the Youghiogheny River and the Great Allegheny Passage bike trail also passes through the area. There is plenty of parking, picnic tables and restrooms. After our hike, we always enjoy a little picnic and use one of the table蘑菇视频 overlooking the river and review the beautiful pictures of the wildflowers we havetaken.
Spring is finally here and what better way to celebrate its appearance than a hike or walk in our woods. Average temperatures are 67 degrees for the afternoon high and 45 for the morning low. In the mountains, averages are a few degrees cooler, but a sunny late April or early May day is a great time to get outside for some wildflower viewing. The forecast for the coming week should be mostly on the dry side with cool weekend temperatures warming as we head into the coming week.