Trailing On: 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!