Note: Wow, time really got away from me this week! I again decided to hike close to home this week… really close to home. The Wild Turkey Trail is at Henry Horton State Park, which is about 15 minutes from my house. What little camping I did with my family as a kid, we did most of it here. The park has changed a lot from back then. In fact, I don’t think the Wild Turkey Trail even existed back then. The park is mainly a resort park with an inn, a restaurant, and golf course. But they do offer car (tent) and RV camping as well. The Wild Turkey Trail is the longest of the two at the park.
Trail: Wild Turkey Trail
Distance: 2.5 miles (1.7 actual travel according to my GPS)
Max Elevation: 870 feet
Total Elevation climb: 130 feet
Trail Type: single track dirt
Temperature: 70s, cloudy
Time: 35 minutes moving with 7 minutes of lolly gagging
Significant Features: just forest
The trail head is away from the main park, just south and off the highway. This trail is a nice short getaway. If it weren’t for hearing the traffic from the highway during the last half of the trail, you’d have a nice peaceful walk in the woods. I was surprised to not see very many wildflowers along the trail.
I saw a lot of this plant that looked like a rhododendron, but looked too small to be to me. Do you know what they are?
Download the Google Earth track
4/17/2007 Update: I noticed the plant in the picture above on the Warner Woods trail in Percy Warner Park, so I emailed the park nature center. Here’s the response:
What you have here is a Mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum). It produces one edible fruit, but the fruit is edible only at certain times, so read up on it more before eating it.
Thanks to Keith and the Warner Parks Nature Center for ending the mystery!