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A Trek to Big Cliff on Eagle Mtn February 2018 |
All Text & Images: Copyright (2018) |
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A Trek to Big Cliff on Eagle Mtn February 2018 |
All Text & Images: Copyright (2018) |
| The upper slopes of Eagle Mtn. have a number of boulderfield-cliff communities. I call this one "The Big Cliff", due to its notable appearance on satellite views: |
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| Several friends had posted their first images of early spring wildflowers from further south in Georgia. Being on the NC line, we're always a bit later, but on the way up to the cliffs, I stopped by the old stand-by spot where I usually see my first blooms of the year. Sure enough, the first Sharp-lobed Hepatica were starting to bloom. |
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| These horizontal lines of holes are left by the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. |
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| Destruction caused by wild hog rooting has reached epidemic proportions in the Southern Appalachians. |
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| A huge rock, looking somewhat like a super slug, as I neared the boulder-fields.. |
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| Large grape vine hanging from a tree. Bigger around than my thigh! |
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| Approaching the boulderfields below the Big Cliff. |
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| Jumbled rocks the size of trucks... |
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| I think this is my new "favorite" boulderfield |
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| Roots extending from tree base... |
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| A couple of house-sized boulders |
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| A small sampling of ferns seen in the boulderfield: |
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| Rockcap Fern (Polypodium appalachianum) |
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| Marginal Wood Fern Dryopteris marginalis |
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| Evergreen (Intermediate) Wood Fern (Dryopteris intermedia) |
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| At least four fern varieties are pictured here... |
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| I managed to catch the sun shining through a narrow crack between these boulders |
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| A closer look at the large gap in this boulder formation |
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| Base of the cliff, above the boulderfield. |
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| Hanging moss... |
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| A section of the cliff above the boulderfield The photo doesn't do it justice... |
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| A lot of Witch Hazel was growing at the base of the tall cliffs. After the fall blooming period, the flower loses its long streamer-like petals, and only the sepals remain. |
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| This rock pinnacle is the top of the boulder formation which had the gaps/holes through it... |
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| View down into the cove from one of the large boulders below the cliff. |
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| Another view of the sheer cliff Again, the photo doesn't reflect the size of the precipice. |
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| Mossy boulder |
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| Heading through a gap in the boulders as I departed.
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