The Hiker's Notebook©

 

A compendium of interesting natural and cultural facts about things you commonly see on the trails in the southern Appalachian Mountain region. 

                                                                                  William Needham

 

                                                                                  Contact:  Needham82@aol.com

 

A. General Information

  1. Introduction

  2. Equipment

  3. Cold Weather Hiking

B. Flowers

 

The Doctrine of Signatures

Alpine Wildflowers

  1. Bee Balm

  2. Bellwort

  3. Bloodroot

  4. Bluets

  5. Bulbous Buttercup

  6. Chicory

  7. Coltsfoot

  8. Columbine

  9. Common Mullein

  10. Cut-Leaved Toothwort

  11. Dutchman's Breeches & Squirrel Corn

  12. Dwarf Iris

  13. Goldenrod

  14. Heal-All

  15. Hepatica

  16. Marsh Marigold

  17. Narcissus

  18. Pink Lady's Slipper

  19. Queen Anne's Lace

  20. Solomon's Seal

  21. Spiderwort

  22. Spring Beauty

  23. Trailing Arbutus

  24. Trillium

  25. Trout Lily

  26. Violet

  27. Viper's Bugloss

  28. Virginia Bluebells

  29. White Wood Aster

  30. Woodland Sunflower

 

C. Trees and Shrubs

 

Autumn Leaves

The Masting Behavior of Trees

  1. American Beech

  2. American Chestnut

  3. Black Birch

  4. Black Cherry

  5. Black Locust

  6. Black Walnut

  7. Dogwood

  8. Mountain Ash

  9. Northern Red Oak

  10. Osage Orange

  11. Pawpaw

  12. Pignut Hickory

  13. Pinxter Flower

  14. Redbud

  15. Red Maple

  16. Royal Paulownia

  17. Sassafras

  18. Serviceberry

  19. Shagbark Hickory

  20. Sugar Maple

  21. Sumac

  22. Sycamore

  23. Tulip Poplar

  24. Tupelo

  25. White Oak

  26. Witch Hazel

  27. Yellow Birch

 

D. Evergreens and Ferns

  1. American Holly

  2. Balsam Fir

  3. Boxwood

  4. Bracken Fern

  5. Christmas Fern

  6. Cinnamon Fern

  7. Eastern Hemlock

  8. Eastern Red Cedar

  9. Eastern White Pine

  10. Horsetail

  11. Lycopodeum/Ground Pine

  12. Maidenhair Fern

  13. Mountain Laurel

  14. Norway Spruce

  15. Pitch Pine

  16. Polypody Fern

  17. Rhododendron

  18. Table Mountain Pine

  19. Virginia Pine

  20. Wood Ferns

 

E. Other Plants

  1. Black Cohosh

  2. Blue Cohosh

  3. Burdock

  4. Canada Thistle

  5. Cleavers

  6. Dandelion

  7. Devil's Walking Stick

  8. False Hellebore

  9. Fly Poison

  10. Garlic Mustard

  11. Ground Ivy

  12. Indian Cucumber Root

  13. Indian Pipe

  14. Joe-Pye Weed

  15. Mayapple

  16. Milkweed

  17. Mistletoe

  18. Poison Ivy

  19. Purple Deadnettle & Henbit

  20. Ramp

  21. Skunk Cabbage

  22. Spotted Jewelweed

  23. Spotted Knapweed

  24. Squawroot

  25. Stinging Nettle

  26. Sweet Cicely and Aniseroot

  27. White Snakeroot

  28. Wild Ginger

F. Fungi, Slimes and Lichens

 

The Mushroom Chronicles

The Mushroom Chronicles - Medicinal

The Mushroom Chronicles - Mycorrhizas

The Mushroom Chronicles - Nutrition

The Mushroom Chronicles - Toxicity

  1. Artist's Conk

  2. Beefsteak Fungus

  3. Birch Polypore

  4. British Soldier Lichen

  5. Chanterelle

  6. Clinker Polypore or Chaga

  7. Destroying Angel

  8. Dryad's Saddle

  9. Elegant Stinkhorn

  10. Fly Agaric

  11. Giant Puffball

  12. Hemlock Polypore

  13. Hen-of-the-Woods

  14. Honey Mushroom

  15. Jack O'Lantern

  16. Lion's Mane

  17. Many-Headed Slime

  18. Morel

  19. Oyster Mushroom

  20. Pear Puffball

  21. Rock Tripe

  22. Russula

  23. Sulphur Shelf

  24. Tinder Fungus

  25. Turkey Tail

  26. Witches' Broom

  27. Witches' Butter

  28. Wood Ear

 

G. Invertebrates

 

Ticks

  1. Bald-Faced Hornet's Nest

  2. Black and Yellow Argiope Spider

  3. Black-Legged Tick

  4. Brown Garden Snail

  5. Cabbage White Butterfly

  6. Cicada

  7. Crayfish

  8. Daddy-Long-Legs

  9. Dragonfly

  10. Eastern Tent Caterpillar

  11. Great Spangled Fritillary Butterfly

  12. Gypsy Moth

  13. Ladybird Beetle

  14. Luna Moth

  15. Millipede

  16. Monarch Butterfly

  17. Mourning Cloak Butterfly

  18. Northern Walkingstick

  19. Oak Gall

  20. Praying Mantis

  21. Red Spotted Purple Butterfly

  22. Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly

  23. Tumblebug

  24. Wolf Spider

  25. Wood Tick

  26. Woolly Adelgid

  27. Woolly Bear Caterpillar

 

H. Vertebrates

  1. Black Bear

  2. Black Rat Snake

  3. Bobcat

  4. Box Turtle

  5. Canada Goose

  6. Chipmunk

  7. Common Garter Snake

  8. Copperhead Snake

  9. Cottontail Rabbit

  10. Coyote

  11. Eastern American Toad

  12. Eastern Fence Lizard

  13. Eastern Gray Squirrel

  14. Five-Lined Skink

  15. Groundhog

  16. Mallard

  17. Opossum

  18. Painted Turtle

  19. Red-Backed Salamander

  20. Red Eft

  21. Timber Rattlesnake

  22. Turkey Vulture

  23. White-Tailed Deer

  24. Wild Turkey

  25. Wood Frog

  26. Wood Turtle

 

I. Berries and Fruits

  1. Apple

  2. Bittersweet

  3. Black Raspberry

  4. Blackberry

  5. Blueberry
  6. Chokecherry
  7. Elderberry
  8. Fox Grape
  9. Gooseberry
  10. Ginseng
  11. Honeysuckle
  12. Huckleberry
  13. Indian Strawberry
  14. Jack-in-the-Pulpit
  15. MountainWinterberry
  16. Mulberry
  17. Partridgeberry
  18. Persimmon
  19. Pokeweed or Inkberry
  20. Russian and Autumn Olive
  21. Spicebush
  22. Strawberry
  23. Wintergreen

J. Geology and Physical Science

 

Plate Tectonics

Meandering Rivers

The Greenhouse Effect

Paleoclimate

  1. Catoctin Formation

  2. Chilhowee Group

  3. Columnar Jointing

  4. Massanutten Sandstone

  5. Needle Ice

  6. Old Rag Granite

  7. Skolithos Ichnofossil