Orchids and other Wildflowers in DuPont State Recreational Forest, Transylvania County, North Carolina — 2015-05-11

I had made arrangements to meet some out-of-town photography friends later in the week at DuPont State Recreational Forest near Cedar Mountain in Transylvania County, North Carolina. But first, I needed to check out the status of the wildflowers to make sure my friends had something to photograph. I was not disappointed. On this trip, Walter Ezell and I had taken a trail that I had not visited before. Having been to this section of the State Forest only a few times, I wanted to check out a new place I had heard about — one with a couple of large clumps of Cypripedium parviforum var. parviflorum or Small Yellow Lady’s-slipper orchids.

The hike in was a moderate one with many up and down sections. The last section was the worst — steeply sloping downhill, which meant it would be a challenging uphill climb on the way out. This is a favorite trail for those riding dirt bikes, but we saw only a couple of them on our visit. We spoke with one fellow when he stopped to ask what we were photographing. When I told him that we were there to photograph the Yellow Lady’s-slipper orchids, he told us that he had seen a few on another trail far back in the forest. That was a good sign that they were in bloom.

We finally made it to our destination, and after looking around a bit, we found the large clump of flowering orchids that we were looking for. Here is a single one from that clump of eleven blooms:

The plants were located on a hillside that sloped at about a 35-degree angle. Now, that does not sound like much, but it is quite steep when you are trying to set up a tripod and get a good footing so that sliding down the hill is not the first thing to happen. Here are some more shots of the plants in that group:

As you can imagine, there were many opportunities to get some with several flowers in the image:

I did manage to get one shot of the entire clump in flower. However, it was situated so that at least one flower is hidden from view:

We actually found a smaller group just a few feet down the hill from the larger group, and its flowers were just beginning to open:

Of course, we could not ignore the huge Trillium vaseyi or Vasey’s Trillium that was just a few feet away. The flower is about 4 inches (10 cm) across — one of the largest I’ve ever seen. And the velvety, dark maroon color made this particular flower be tops on my list of Trillium flowers! I had to bend the plant over, since its nodding flower was pointed uphill, and there was no way for me to get the camera positioned under the leaves:

Other Trillum species at this site were also quite large. Just up the hill from the orchids, was a group of six or seven Trillium catesbaei or Catesby’s Trillium. Fortunately, these were pointing downhill so all I had to do was point my camera uphill for a good shot. The size of these flowers is about 2.5-3 inches (6.3-7.5 cm) across. That is rather large for flowers of this species. There was also quite a range of color variation in the flowers:

We finished with the Yellow Lady’s-slipper orchids and the Trilliums, packed our gear and headed back to the truck — uphill… In order to break up the climb, I decided to photograph some of the other wildflowers we were seeing along the side of the trail. One of these was Asclepias quadrifolia or Fourleaf Milkweed. These were a bit more pink than the ones I had photographed along the Blue Ridge Escarpment last year:

Another stop brought us to an unusual flower that looks like it could be used as a bottle brush. It is called Chamaelirium luteum or Devil’s Bit. It’s also known as False Unicorn. Wonder how it got that name?

Farther up the hill, I spotted a small group of Geranium maculatum or Wild Geranium. These were a deeper color of pink/purple than I’m used to seeing:

Just about at the top of the hill, I spotted a large Rhododendron calendulaceum or Flame azalea similar to the one I had photographed earlier in the week. This one was a vibrant yellow/orange, about 15 feet (4.5 meters) tall, and literally glowed in the dark woods:

Sometimes, it is difficult for me to believe that a plant that is this beautiful can be found growing wild in our mountain woods…

We finally made it to the top of the hill. That meant that it would be just a relaxing hike back to the truck from that point. But there was one more wildflower that I wanted to photograph. And that one is Sisyrinchium angustifolium or Blue-eyed grass. However, it’s not a grass at all, but it is member of the Iris family.

What a day! Seeing those beautiful Yellow Lady’s-slipper orchids and the other wonderful wildflowers along the way, made the hike out seem not so bad. Perhaps I was just hallucinating after being in the heat for so long, but seeing wildflowers whose images could easily appear in a gardening catalog but are growing wild in the woods, makes for an almost spiritual kind of happening. The outdoors is my centering — the way I manage to forget those things that weigh on my mind from time to time. It is fortunate for me that I have so many places to go to get this “healing”. I know that you know what I mean, or you would not have made it to the end of this blog post…

Stay tuned for more from DuPont State Recreational Forest.

–Jim