Union Mills

I found peace close to Westminster in rural northern Carroll County this weekend. While slogging over creeks, steep switchbacks and upland forests, I felt solitude creep over me slowly. After wading through creeks, streams and bogs I entered the present, but only after I started sweating like a penguin in the Grand Canyon.










Sweet Cicely, Osmorhiza claytoni. "Before the days of mass-produced candy, the roots of Sweet Cicely, which resembled carrots, were a favorite treat among country people, when chewed, the roots released a refreshing licorice-like flavor." Wildflowers of the Appalachian Trail by Leonard Adkins.

Yes ladies and gentlemen, Union Mills was a scorching hike, lined with wasteside wildflowers, horses and yodelling mountain bikers. But, I didn't give a damn. I got to check out a grist mill and a Bollman-design bridge. Did you get to do that this weekend? I'd be 100 bucks not. What the heck is a Bollman-design bridge anyway? Union Mill house was built in 1797 by Andrew and David Shriver and has been continually occupied by the family. The mill itself, also built in 1797, is a large brick structure, built of locally manufactured brick. "On June 30, 1863, General J.E.B. Stuart of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia camped at Union Mills and was hosted by part of the Shriver family. On the following day Union troops arrived. General James Barnes of the 5th Corps of the Army of the Potomac arrived on the site and welcomed and entertained by other members of the family" - Union mill website, National Register of Historic Places. Most of the men from both sides died at Gettysburg the next day.




Milkweed for monarch babies.



Saw this little man while I was eating peanuts. HE crept very close but ran away right before I was able to pet him - probably very used to people.

Big Gunpowder Falls State Park

Now imagine for a minute that you've spent a summer hiking the ridgeline of the southern Appalachian mountains and then you find yourself in gorgeous Maine. Hills are lined with blueberries, endless rocky coastline, beer flowing from conch shells held by mermaids with seaweed bras... Now you may have an idea of how difficult moving to the big city of Baltimore has been. Yes the job is great, but I'm heart sick without a trail under my feet. Good thing medicine is close by - Maryland woodland here I come. Gunpowder Falls revealed vine-heavy sycamores and poplars, humid air thick with soon-to-fall rain, Day Lily's bordering a lazy shallow river, pollen floating from living thing to living thing, toads and frogs discussing amphibian things, and an all encompasing dark green... I was obviously in the South, wait...maybe the Appalachian lowlands, well, maybe the Ozarks? Maryland seems to have a little bit of it all.


Along the banks of Gunpowder Falls







Nope, there are no huge cascading, booming rapids here, but the hike was a wonderful 20 minute-away respite from the concrete and sprawl of Baltimore. (Insert banjo music here) Story goes, because the streams draining this 500-square mile watershed fell from the peidmont to the Tidewater, early settlers called this water system a falls. The gunpowder part of the name comes from the saltpeter-used to make gunpowder-found along the banks.


This is the guy who discovered the saltpeter.


Portal


Day Lily (Hemerocallis fulva), a native of Eurasia, introduced into our gardens and quickly escaped from cultivation. It reproduces vegetatively from the roots. Each flower only lasts one day. Every part of the plant is mild and edible. Apparently, the flower bud tastes like green beans when cooked and served with butter. - Audubon Field Guide to NOrth American Wildflowers: Eastern Region


Hostas (of the lily family, Liliaceae)about to explode their flowers unto Maryland, even though they are natives of northeast Asia.



Gunpowder Falls State Park (nearly 18,000 acres in Harford and Baltimore Counties) was established to protect the stream valleys of the Big and Little Gunpowder Falls. I hiked the Sweathouse Branch Wildlands Area because it was listed on the Maryland Department of Natural Resources as a place that birders and wildflower enthusiasts enjoy. My little sister Laura also copied me a page from a book on hikes close to Baltimore that was instrumental in helping me find toads and lilies. What a southern delight of a hike!


Grandmother - she'll point you in the right direction if you are lost.






Pot Rocks - I'm hikin' up my trousers and taking a dive in here next time!