The Forty Acre Rock Solstice Hike

On the Ascent
Originally uploaded by toadshade

For the Summer Solstice we decided to go to Table Rock. Abandoned that since the weather was gonna be blistering and over 100 degrees. We opted instead for my old piedmont stand bye - 40 Acre Rock. It's a little over 50 miles from town and offers a real piedmont experience with a hint of the mountains. The occasion was Father's Day for Med and the Summer Solstice. The Queen of Cutlery, Ann-Marie, was doing show and tell all the way up there on the difference between a Survival Knife and a Camp Knife. Med was bringing his Digital SLR to do some Wildflower and nature shots. Viv, who had been there before, was going to explore the Beaver Pond since she came in another way last time. I was going to see what summer wildflowers had replaced the spring ones. Ann-Marie was getting in shape for her fall backpacking trip in the foothills. We took it slow and easy around the Beaver Pond which was a little hilly and got everyone's sweat glands working pretty well. We stopped and took pictures of plants, ponds and people along the way, and almost got bogged down in the Switch Cane type grass. Tons of spiderwebs (with spiders) were blocking the path so it was a little slow going. After we rounded the pond we were pretty much at the base of the rock which we climbed with only one stop for the picture on the left. We then reached the summit and I took a picture of the group and sent it to Bill on my iPhone. After that we descended on the far side of the rock and followed the stream back to the approach trail. Then it was a short walk to the car - and ice, and cold Gatorade, and air conditioning! Ann-Marie was trying out her new hydration bladder and it was a resounding success.

After that we rode to Kershaw to eat at (I'm not kidding) The Garden of Eat'n!! We really hogged out and the food was great. Even though everyone was tired hot we all a great time just joking, playing with knifes and bladders, and snapping photos. We're thinking about Peach Tree Rock next time since it's a project (like 40 Acre Rock) of the Department of Natural Resources where Viv works!!

And now for my nature schtick. As far as wildflowers we saw Heal-All, Bergamot, St John's Wort, early fruiting Jack-in-the-Pulpit, Bloodroot leaves, Spotted Wintergreen, Red and Yellow Buckeye, Wild Ginger and a couple of Burley Cudges Bill is helping me ID. As far as the birds go, this is the list I sent to eBird, the national bird database:

Location: Forty Acre Rock
Observation date: 6/20/09
Notes: Heard more I couldn't ID. Pretty good for hot day.
Number of species: 17

Great Blue Heron 1
Green Heron 1
Mourning Dove 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker 1
Acadian Flycatcher 2
Great Crested Flycatcher 1
Red-eyed Vireo 2
Blue Jay 1
American Crow 1
Carolina Chickadee 1
Tufted Titmouse 1
Carolina Wren 1
Prothonotary Warbler 1
Common Yellowthroat 1
Summer Tanager 1
Red-winged Blackbird 2
Brown-headed Cowbird 1

This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)