By Brandt Mannchen
Sierrans enjoyed a beautiful, sunny, mild, day in the Big Thicket on April 9th. We met at Big Thicket National Preserve’s Visitor Center and after making a restroom stop and talking with the staff about the Pitcher Plan Trail, we drove to the Turkey Creek Trail for a three-mile hike.
The hike began on uplands and upper slopes near a historic cabin and slowly wound its way downhill to the flatwoods and floodplains of Village Creek. There were “spring ephemerals” like cranefly orchids, Jack-in-the-pulpits, and Partridge Berries which greeted us with their blooms or leaves as they caught enough sunlight for their root storage before full tree leaf-out provided deep shade overhead.
We marveled at the Bald Cypress swamps and sloughs and enjoyed the quiet of the forest with natural sounds provided by the wind, hawks, and vireos that wafted in above our heads. We tracked the path of underground water as it ran downslope and into seepage creeks by the growth of Royal Ferns and Sweetbay Magnolias.
We ate our lunch next to a bridge which crossed Village Creek in a small clearing with Wild Onions, Lyre-leaf Sage, and Philadelphia Fleabane. It was a beautiful way to enjoy conversations and relax on this halcyon Spring day.
We next drove to the Pitcher Plant Trail where we crossed a recently burned Longleaf and Southern Pine Tree forest. We padded down to a boardwalk where there was a pitcher plan bog and were stunned by the 100’s of pitcher plants, sundews, and bladderworts blooming and or growing. On the uplands we saw sulfur and other butterflies eagerly sipping nectar from wildflowers.
Finally, we visited a Longleaf Pine forest that the National Park Service was restoring. A recent prescribed burn had reduced some of the brush and the seedling and sapling Longleaf Pines were growing vigorously along with Blackjack and Bluejacks Oaks.
This particular forest means a lot to me because about 10 years before, in two successive years, I planted Longleaf Pine seedlings here. I was very proud that some of the pines I planted were growing just fine and that I had helped begin the 100’s of years long process of forest rejuvenation, beauty, and grandeur.
That’s what I like about the Big Thicket. You can get soil deep in its’ living evolution and enduring growth. That’s a winner for me!