Wildflower Walk at Bat Cave

We had a very enthusiastic outing at Bat Cave with over 25 attendees.  The weather was a little warm, but did not seem to deter the spirits.  We started roughly at 10 and finished in time for a late lunch.
The event was initiated a number of months ago by Marilyn Kolton and Louis Dwarshuis.  They contacted Michael Horak who did a lot of the planning that made it such a pleasurable experience.  Marilyn and Louis led the hike with assistance from Randy Richardson and many of the other botanists on the walk.  
Michael provided a list of the wildflowers, trees, shrubs and ferns we might see along the way – my guess is we saw 80%.  A few of the plants I had not seen before in the wild were the Maple Leaf Viburnum, Walking Fern and American Bladdernut.  Of course we saw the more common Cohoshs, Trilliums, Solomon’s Seal and Plume, Mayapple, Dwarf Crested Iris, Foam Flower and Violets.  And yes we saw at least one salamander that was in one of the rock crevices.  We were treated at the terminus of the hike to the cool breeze coming out of a couple of the Bat Cave’s blowholes.
I think we all look forward to doing this walk next year at maybe an earlier time of the year.  I will maintain connection with Mike Horak, the Sr. Associate Director of Philanthropy for Nature Conservancy who so graciously supported the event.

Randy has generously shared some of his photos at the link below:https://www.amazon.de/photos/share/WLDI6Du7o5vbkR5bRpz0l7FQvnwazjUoDVe6k0ElPkp.

Below are a few pics of our group having lunch at the picnic tables following the walk.