Sometimes the outing essays write themselves as we traipse across the landscape. This was not one of those times.
Big Bone was chosen for its proximity. We were just back from California where we spent much time in rental cars getting to and from our hikes in the national parks of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. We were looking for something close to home and the 15 miles to Big Bone met the bill.
Footpaths had hiked at Big Bone last winter and had a great experience, seeing the herd of bison and walking along Big Bone Creek. As I recalled that visit, I thought of open sight lines with little in the way of invasive species, and I was looking for a similar hike, but on different trails.
At the start things looked promising. As we prepped ourselves in the parking area I saw a Summer Tanager glide into a massive tree that was a member of the White Oak family . While it did not wait for us to get our camera ready, its short flight deeper into the wooded hillside pulled us onto the trail.
The White Oak family member turned out to be a massive Bur Oak. We were so busy chasing the Tanager we did not stop to get a photo that captured the size and grandeur of the specimen. Here is a closeup of its trunk.
And this photo, of its large, reaching lower branches gives a feel for its size.
We started on the Gobbler’s Trace Trail which was to deliver us to the top of the ridge. It is listed as moderate in difficulty and has a respectable incline. Early on in the climb we came upon a trail project that appeared to have been aborted in mid-installation. Instead of a series of stairs, you faced a series of low hurdles, as nothing was back filled above the log faces. It appeared that the hiker’s approach was just to steer wide of the stairs, and ascend to the left.
That said, the hillside climb did offer some nice settings, including the view up from beneath this arching Black Walnut. Looking up into mature trees with pinnately compound leaves is one of my favorite places in nature. It gives me the feeling of being beneath a massive fern.
Nearby we noted this large tree specimen that had bark that was somewhat unique.
As we glanced up into the canopy we noted opposite positioning of the branches (circled red in the first photo below) and compound leaves (circled yellow in the second photo below). My mnemonic for “opposite positioning” of leaves or branches is MAD-BUCK, which stands for the tree species that have opposite branching – Maples, Ashes, Dogwoods, and Buckeyes. If you notice, these leaves are pinnately compound, made up of many leaflets arranged along a central stem (rachis). Of the four species that have opposite branching, only Ashes are pinnately compound. So this is an Ash tree. But the bark does not look like a White or Green Ash. That leaves us with Blue Ash. Normally, if you have access to the twigs, you would look for the square or angled twigs that are characteristic of Blue Ash. But the canopy was 60 feet above our heads. Blue Ashes are rare in Northern Kentucky so it was something to ponder. They were however, much more likely to survive Emerald Ash Borer, with 90% surviving the onslaught.
We continued to climb up the hill, eventually reaching the ridge top. The trail veered east toward the campground, generally in the shade of an understory tunnel. Unfortunately, the understory contained a lot of invasive Bush Honeysuckle which obscured the view from the trail into the wood.
At the end of the trail the exit to the campground headed left, but the Cedar Run Trail, our second trail for the day, arose ninety degrees to our right. Almost immediately we descended down to a creek bed on a 100 foot slope that was filled with trip hazards.
After a series of switchbacks to ascend a hill, the Cedar Run Trail hugged a fence row that overlooked a beautiful neighboring hayfield of Timothy Grass to our east. In this area we suddenly start to experience a chorus of bird song. Unfortunately most of them were to our left where the sun prevented photography. But the species lists on the Merlin Bird ID App was impressive.
The wood here was more mid-aged with some larger specimens.
In one of the creek valleys we came upon several mature American Elm that seemed to be unaffected by Dutch Elm Disease. They had their characteristic vase shaped wide branching pattern.
The last significant sighting along the route was a grove of healthy Shagbark Hickories, one of my favorite trees.
As we approached the terminus of the Cedar Run Trail we opted to take a westward diversion to visit the Bison enclosure – because that will always keep the photographer happy. Note the flying insects around the snout of the small Bison in the first photo.
Because this was largely a woodland hike we did not see much in the way of wildflowers.
Skullcap and St. John’s Wort
One of the prettier ones we saw was Horse Nettle, which is a member of the nightshade family and is poisonous. It is native to the Southeastern U.S. and its fruit looks like a golden yellow cherry tomato. All parts of the plant are toxic, primarily causing oral and gastrointestinal irritation and ulceration. It may also cause liver inflammation and jaundice. Interestingly, other members of the Nightshade family include tomato, eggplant, and tomatillo. You can note the similarity of the flower structure.
Perhaps the photographers favorite find of the outing was this Ox-eye Daisy, glistening with drops of dew.
One of the lessons that we have learned over our years of hiking is if you see something interesting on the forest floor, look up to see what is the source of your finding. The first of these was this.
When we looked up we saw a relatively large native plum tree laden with fruit.
A little later on the trail, in the more mature section of the wood, we came upon a discarded Trumpet Vine blossom.
When we looked up through openings in the canopy, we saw the reddish-orange blossoms on display for about 60 feet into a mature Black Walnut. Trumpet Vine is a favorite of pollinators, especially Ruby-throated Hummingbirds.
The trunk of the Trumpet Vine was massive and very woody.
So, all in all, this seemed like a somewhat mundane hike – what the disappointed photographer termed, “a sweaty exercise”. With Bush Honeysuckle obstructing much of the view, there was really nothing too exciting to write about. But days later, as I pondered the experienced, and recalled some of the things I had learned while writing about other hikes, I realized that perhaps this was a more eventful experience than met the eye. The first remarkable specimen that we noted was the Bur Oak, just above the parking lot on the hillside – not rare, but just somewhat unusual in our Northern Kentucky region. Its structure, with large branches arising relatively close to the ground told me that it initially grew in a pasture or grassland. Then, within fifty yards, we came upon several large Blue Ashes – indeed, rare in the woods of Boone County. Finally, we found a grove of what I initially thought were Shagbark Hickories. But perhaps they were Shellbark Hickories, a less common tree that on first glance can be mistaken for Shagbark. That would leave me with the triad of trees that where common in the Bluegrass Prairie ecosystem (Bur Oak, Blue Ash, and Shellbark Hickory) that once covered much of Kentucky. Many in Northern Kentucky would have trouble recognizing the region as part of the Bluegrass but this map depicts the regions of the state, where Boone County (with the red dot) is clearly considered part of the Outer Bluegrass.
With that uncertainty in my mind, I decided that I had to revisit Big Bone to study the situation further. My first stop was the Bur Oak,where I captured it from parking lot.
But it was better appreciated up close. At breast height it measured 147 inches in circumference – just a hair under 4 feet in diameter. Mature Bur Oaks are reported to be 2 to 4 feet in diameter and can commonly live to be 200 to 300 years old, and may live up to 400 years.
I then went to revisit the suspected Blue Ash. While I could not reach up to the canopy to look for the angular twigs, I could search the ground beneath the tree for twigs that it had discarded. Sure enough, I found what I was looking for – twigs that demonstrated the sharp corners characteristic of Blue Ash (yellow arrows).
Then as I looked around I noted that this was not an isolated specimen. If I strained to look beyond the Bush Honeysuckle I could see 8 to 10 other large Blue Ash specimens. One carcass that I found was massive and could have been centuries old when it died. And again, it demonstrated branching close to ground characteristic of a tree that grew in a grassland and not a forest.
Since I had already ventured off the trail I started to assess other trees on the hillside that had been obscured by the Honeysuckle. I saw additional Bur Oaks, but also some large Shellbark Hickories. You differentiate Shellbark from Shagbark by the number of leaflets on the compound leaves – Shellbark have 7 to 9, Shagbark have 5. The many hickories that I noted on my revisit all had 7 leaflets and therefore were Shellbark. A leaf with 7 leaflets is circled in the second photo below.
Finding these large hickory shells from last year amongst the leaf litter on the forest floor reinforced my identification. Shellbarks have the largest nuts of all the hickories.
My Bluegrass Prairie Tree Triad was confirmed.
So perhaps what I was seeing was a remnant of the bluegrass prairie that undoubtedly existed when herds of Bison were visiting the region to acquire minerals from the salt licks that made Big Bone famous. The Bison grazed on the understory, resulting in a grassland marked by well spaced, large Bur Oaks, Blue Ashes, and Shellbark Hickories. With the loss of the grazing Bison, the grassland has been replaced by a mixed deciduous woodland. Based on its size, I believe that the Bur Oak is old enough to have been alive in 1803 when Meriwether Lewis, at the request of President Thomas Jefferson, oversaw a paleontological dig at the famous salt licks of this creek valley. The Bur Oak sits on a hillside about 200 yards above where those excavations took place. So perhaps Lewis had stood in the shade of this beautiful specimen, as I did. That is why Meriwether Lewis graces the title photo.
So rarely do unanswered questions necessitate a return visit to a hiking venue, but that is what happened here. First, I wanted to have a better assessment of the Bur Oak – was it as big and old as I thought – yes it was. I returned and got the photos that it deserved. In addition, I could confirm that there were large Blue Ashes and Shellbark Hickories as well. So our mundane hike turned out to be outstanding and intellectually challenging. It recalls a piece of Northern Kentucky’s history that has been all but lost – the Bluegrass Prairie.
Footpathsblog.com posts are released every Sunday morning and some bonus content is added periodically. Please click on a social media icon above to follow for future posts and to make sure that you catch all our reflections on, and adventures with, the great outdoors.
Photo credits to Peggy Juengling Burns and Patrick Burns.
Overview:
Location – 3380 Beaver Rd, Union, KY 41091, about 20 miles from downtown Cincinnati.
Parking – large asphalt lot.
Trail Conditions – generally bare dirt that could be challenging after a rain given the slopes. There are some trip hazards on the Cedar Run Trail. The Bison Trail that we diverted to is gravel or paved.
Print Map Link – none. There are maps just outside the front door of the museum.
Benches – several on the Gobbler’s Trace Trail.
Picnic Tables – many throughout the park.
Facilities – both at the museum (limited hours of operation) and a free standing unit along the drive back to the museum and parking.
Kids – 8 and over should do well.
Dogs – welcomed on a leash.
Suggested Paired Hikes – The Big Bone Creek Trail is an enjoyable, relatively flat trail that overlooks a nice stream.
Links:
https://parks.ky.gov/explore/big-bone-lick-state-historic-site-7807