Old growth trail is behind Oty’Okwa camp grounds. its a dirt path that goes a few miles into the woods. many trees are marked and labeled by the organization taking care of the trail. at the end of one of the trials was a place called split rock which had a bunch of large boulders in an area, and some large poison ivy plants growing on some of them. There was a number of old large trees and many saplings scattered about. Smilax was along side a good portion of the trail. the trail was almost totally shaded due to the large old trees.
American Hornbeam Carpinus carliniana
tree
American horn beam is also known as iron-wood. Its so hard that its rarely used to make furniture. instead its used for things like tool handles, or back when we used horses to travel, coach wheels which had thousands of pounds of stress on them due to the carriage weight and what it held
American beech Fagus grandifolia
tree and fruiting plant
The beech tree provides food to many animals in the forest. The beach tree produces a nut that many animals eat, from birds to mammals. A few of the animals the eat the nuts are woodpeckers, ducks, bluejays, rabbits, deer, fox and many more. Also during the colonial era colonists would stuff their pillows with beech tree leaves.
Virginia creeper Parthenocissus quinquefolia
woody vine and fruiting plant
Virginia creeper is an important plant to humans and wild animals. It is used for watershed protection and erosion control. and the berries the plant produces are eaten by small mammals and birds.
Chinkapin oak Quercus muehlenbergii
tree and fruiting plant
Smilax Smilax rotundifolia
woody vine and fruiting plant
Smilax has edible berries that can be used to make jams and jellies. But this woody vine also has edible roots, they can be dried and ground into a flour like substance or like other edible roots they can be stewed, boiled, roasted etc.
poison ivy Toxicodendron radicans
woody vine and fruiting plant
Shag bark hickory Carya ovata
tree and fruiting plant
Picture of part of split rock
