Beidler Forest (3.0 miles; d=3.00)
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Audubon Center at Francis Beidler Forest
Arriving at the visitor center. Though small it contains a wealth of information regarding the ecology of the forest. They also have guidebooks and binoculars that can be borrowed for a small fee...
Exiting the back of the visitor center we immediately emerged onto the 1.75 mile boardwalk which would take us through the forest...
Where the ground was higher and drier the understory was covered in clumps of Dwarf palmetto. Despite their small size these miniature palm are extremely long-lived, the oldest on record surviving 500-700 years!...
A busy sapsucker has left its tell-tale marks on this pine...
It wasn't long before the understory became much wetter...
Every so often we passed small shelters like this one which no doubt are handy escapes from the hot summer sun or in the case of a surprise storm...
Our first swamp resident of the day...an Eastern Mud Turtle catching some rays...
By nature, this swamp is an ever-changing place...this means that frequent repairs of the boardwalk are needed as you can see here...
Bald cypress and Tupelo gum are the dominant tree species in the forest. Of the preserve's 16,000 acres some 1,800 consist of virgin forest, part of which we'd be passing through on this hike...
Cypress knees, above water extensions of the Bald cypress root system, are a common sight in the swamp. Scientists to this day haven't nailed down their exact purpose, though one thing is for certain...the bigger the knee the older the tree it belongs to...
Running along the boardwalk rail ahead of us was this Green Anole...
Getting into the virgin stand of cypress we started passing some seriously large trees. Some of the cypress in the forest measure 10' in diameter and are over 1,500-years old...
We had been anxiously awaiting a glimpse of one of the forests most popular residents, the Prothonotary Warbler. It didn't take long before we spotted one, darting in and out of his home in a nearby hollow cypress knee...
Wandering through the Four Hole Swamp...
We spotted this Brown Watersnake lounging on a log next to the trail. It looked a bit like he had just had a big dinner...
At the eastern end of the loop the main trail heads right while a spur boardwalk heads left to an overlook at Goodson Lake...we'd head right first...
Making the turn right at the east end of the loop the boardwalk immediately became a bit more aged than the one we had been using to this point...
Our booklet stated that the preserve also offers guided canoe tours, I'd love to be able to do that someday...
A look at our lush surroundings as we began the south half of the loop...
The trees were starting to get big...real big...
The highlight of the whole hike was being able to sit and watch this Barred Owl, not 100' off the trail, for a good 20 minutes. He seemed completely indifferent to us snapping pictures as he patiently waited for a tasty snack to pass by beneath him...
As you can see the terrain had elevated a bit and we were now crossing dry ground. Though we could hardly tell this was the 'high point' of the hike...
Winding our way between two immense old cypress...
Looking into the canopy, well over 100' above...
kw
on June 9, 2014What a unique place ---- I'm guessing it was the perfect time of year to come here.... before it becomes hot and very buggy..... really liked the variety of just everything!