Flower Safari & Woodland Walk

Enjoy numberless ephemeral flowers, new leaves, and local fauna while hiking along the Potomac River and C & O Canal, and through upland woods to a dramatic view that is fast disappearing below the expanding tree canopy.

We’ll look out for many inhabitants, whether flowers already going by, in bud, at peak, or yet to flower - including bluebells, blood root, spring beauties, cutlet toothwort, cranefly orchid, violets, Dutchman’s britches, smooth rockcress, trillium, trout lily, perhaps elusive hepatica, also turtles, heron, and maybe an eagle.

We’ll hike about 8.7 miles. Expect about 617 ft of elevation gain, some rock scrambles and a stream crossing, moving around 2 mph, and pausing to admire discoveries, especially during the first section along the Billy Goat B Trail. From there we take the towpath to the canal crossing at Angler’s on up to a woodland loop including out and back to overlook for lunch, then return via towpath.

Note: Sign up only if you know you can make it, and please remove yourself from the Going or Waitlist as soon as possible if you find you can’t.

The Sierra Club welcomes a $2. Donation to cover expenses

Meet: Carderock North parking lot
At 8:45 am for registration, we will start hiking at 9 am.
There are privies at the parking lot, and a bio-break op after lunch.

What to Bring / Wear: Plenty of water, snacks / lunch, bug spray, sunscreen, hat, grippy hiking shoes, camera. You might want to record finds on the i-Naturalist App, and contribute to citizen science, including to phenology, the study of periodic biological phenomena, such as flowering and migration.

For carpooling, the closest metro stations are the ones on the Red line: Friendship Heights, Bethesda, Medical Center, Grosvenor-Strathmore.
Arrange for carpool in Meetup Comments, on your own.

Questions: Use comments below or Text / Call Hike Leader Barbara 703.772.5401

To participate in this event, you must:

Read the liability waiver (officially, the Sierra Club Participation Agreement) http://bit.ly/3Qd4F1B
2: Tap ATTEND at the bottom of this event
3: When prompted, type ’I accept’ to the liability waiver, your first and last name, your contact cell number, and an emergency contact number – Example: I accept, Jane Doe, (703) 555-5555, (301) 666-6666”