Mothapalooza – List of Guided Field Trips
Optional Friday and Saturday afternoon guided hikes will expose participants to the stunning beauty of the karst country landscapes and Appalachian foothills of the larger region, with additional sit-down classes led by some of Ohio’s most knowledgeable naturalists and botanists. After you register and once we get closer to the event, we will be emailing you details, asking you for your preferences, and then confirming your assignments by email, along with all the driving directions you’ll need for the entire weekend.
Friday Field Trip Offering
Rocky Fork Creek Aquatics Exploration at the Highlands Nature Sanctuary
Distance from Forest Museum: immediately outside the back door
Length of Trail: .5 miles out and back
Difficulty: Moderately easy trail walking (includes a long stairway into the gorge). Stream bottom is rocky and uneven.
Any visit to the Sanctuary is incomplete without a deep immersion into the Rocky Fork Creek and its associated deep dolomite gorge. Not only is the scenery stunning - with its dolomite bluffs, vertical cliffs, springs, seeps, slump blocks, and grottos - but the waters are richly abundant with all kinds of colorful fish and fascinating invertebrates. We will be taking the breathtakingly beautiful Etawah Woods Trail down to the Rocky Fork Gorge below the Museum and then splashing right into the creek, armed with seines and buckets! Note:. Wear shoes or sandals you can wade in and clothes you don't mind getting wet.
Saturday Field Trip Offerings
#1 Trimmer Arch - a NEW Field Trip
Paint Creek Reservoir, Managed by the Division of Wildlife
Distance from Forest Museum: approximately 9 miles (14 minutes) to the north
Length of Trail: 2.75 miles of hiking
Difficulty: Moderately difficult because we will be walking in rocky, uneven terrain and will be off-trail much of the way. Hikers will need strength and balance.
We heard rumors of this enchanting location a couple of years ago and searched it down. When we saw it with our own eyes we were smitten. The Arc owns some very magical landscapes in the Sanctuary region, but this one is the crown jewel. The landscape boasts two waterfalls a pristine rock arch that is so big a group of people can stand below it. This is an incredibly beautiful landscape that is humid, sheltered, and brimming over with spring wildflowers, ferns, liverworts and mosses. Invasives are starting to enter this magical landscape, and we are trying to figure out how to help the State of Ohio care for this vulnerable place of beauty. Perha[s greater familiarity will ignite some solutions! Parking restrictions will limit us to taking only one group.
#2 Quiverheart Gorge, a NEW Arc of Appalachia Preserve
Distance from Forest Museum: approximately 30 miles (41 minutes)
Length of Trail: 2.0-mile loop trail
Difficulty: Moderate to difficult. The trail has been painstakingly improved with steps, bridges, and much maddock work, Nevertheless, the trails are rocky with several ascents and descents.
Quiverheart is a stunningly beautiful deep dolomite gorge just two miles north of the Arc’s Kamama Prairie Preserve, boasting rock shelters, intriguing rock formations, rich riparian forests, karst country woodlands, scattered cedar glades, and a beautiful waterfall. The best word for this preserve is “enchanting.“ So many people have fallen under its spell that even before the preserve officially opened, the parking lot was filling up every weekend with eager hikers! In addition to the stunning landscapes and rock formations we will enjoy, we will be botanizing and “creeking” as we hike preserve’s two new trails. Photo by Brian Prose
#3 NEW!! Hickory Hollows - Highlands Nature Sanctuary
Purchased last summer through an emergency campaign!
Distance from Forest Museum: 8 miles (20 minutes). We will meet at Ridgeview Farm in Sanctuary West, and then shuttle together to the trailhead (2 more miles)
Length of Trail: 2.0 miles covered
Difficulty: Moderately difficult only because trails have not yet been developed at Hickory Hollows. We will often be walking against the slope of a hillside and have a few unimproved stream crossings. That said, the understory is open, the soils well-drained, and although a few rock features exist, the trail route is not rocky.
If you followed the dramatic “save” last August of Hickory Hollows and Sylvan Deep, you already know that this NEW 77-acre addition to the Sanctuary is a gem. A mature hickory forest with towering trees overlooks the sparkling waters of a private lake that borders the property’s eastern boundary. It shelters one of the largest, oldest forests that we have ever found in the larger Sanctuary region. Hickory Hollows is a rare whisper of the original hickory forests that once dominated the woodlands on the western half of the Sanctuary; and this is a one of the few guided hikes that has ever led into this newly acquired tract. A trail is on the master plan for this property, but for now we will be walking cross-country. Photo by Tim Pohlar
#4 Kamama Prairie : Botany & Butterflies
Distance from Forest Museum: 31 miles (43 minutes).
Length of Trail: 2.5 miles (out and back)
Difficulty: Easy to moderate, with little elevation change and small creek crossings.
“Ka-ma-ma, ” the Cherokee word for butterfly, is a gracefully succinct name for the rare alkaline shortgrass prairie community that is protected inside this preserve. Kamama has one of the richest Lepidoptera diversity in the state, including many rare butterfly and moth species. Kamama Prairie is the crown jewel of the Arc’s biodiverse preserves, sheltering 27 state-listed rare and endangered plant species and 67 species that were previously state-listed. Nearly one out of every four state-listed species in the entire 10,000-acre-plus Arc Preserve system lies in this singular relatively small preserve! This is an ideal trip for Mothapalooza participants who love to explore the rich diversity of prairie botanicals and their pollinators.
#5 Barrett’s Rim Trail : Jewel of the Gorge
Distance from Forest Museum: approximately 2 miles (5 minutes)
Length of Trail: 2.5-mile loop trail
Difficulty: moderate due to length. Only one descent and ascent of roughly 40 feet.
Barrett’s Rim is a karst country landscape often called “Jewel of the Rocky Fork Gorge” because of its beautiful dolomite rock formations and heady spring floral displays. At Barrett’s Rim, the bedrock forms a palisade of bluffs that borders a long stretch of the Rocky Fork Gorge, broken only by a few ephemeral waterfalls seeking their confluence with the Rocky Fork. Across the creek valley, hikers can see Miller State Nature Preserve on the far side. Barrett’s Rim is a botanical paradise of high botanical diversity, even in mid-summer. We will be immersing ourselves in the beauty on this entire hike! Photo by Brian Prose
#6 Kamelands Odonata Extravaganza - Dragonflies & Damselflies
Distance from Forest Museum: 1.8 miles (4 minutes)
Length of Trail: 2.0 mile loop
Difficulty: Moderate. A mostly level trail with an optional descent into the canyon floor. Expect short hikes to the habitats and possible shallow wading (if desired) in a stream.
Led by dragonfly and damselfly experts, we will be visiting two local habitats to look for representatives of Odonata at the water’s edge. Participants can expect to see up to a dozen common species of large dragonflies, many of which perch for observation with binoculars or for photography. There will also be a number of species of damselflies out, and a few rarer species will likely make a surprise appearance. Participants are encouraged to bring close-focusing binoculars or cameras with a bit of zoom (300mm). Be sure to wear shoes that can get wet.
Photo: Flag-tailed Spinyleg
#7 Cliff Run Gorge - Be the first to hike this NEW preserve!
Distance from Forest Museum: 5 miles
Length of Trail: 2 miles
Difficulty: Moderate. The route is rocky in places. There are a few short ascents and descents on a trail that has been improved with steps and bridges.
The Arc is now in the final stretch of bringing this new 300-acre hard-won preserve to the public’s awareness, requiring three phases of land acquisition. We are now putting the finishing touches on its gorgeous new trail! Embedded in Clliff Run is its tributary, Lewis Gorge, a shallow flat-bottomed creek bordered by tall, vertical dolomite walls. Here we will enjoy the pleasure of natural air conditioning in the heat of the summer. Cliff Run and Lewis Gorege are among the most beautiful tributaries in Paint Valley - presenting a karst landscape of seeps, springs, and grottos with cliff walls that are awash with ferns and liverworts. Photo by Tim Pohlar