Knoxville's Urban Wilderness South Loop Hike #5

Ijams Nature Center's Senior Naturalist, Stephen Lyn Bales, leads once a month hikes along the South Loop Trails of Knoxville's Urban Wilderness--1000 acres of parks, trails, forests and historic sites.  Routinely, rain or shine, we tackle about three miles of the south-loop trails in a "wilderness' that is found only a short distance from the center of downtown Knoxville in Tennessee.

Above, my June hiking companions.    

This portion of the South Loop takes you to Burnett Ridge, a high point in the Ross Marble Natural Area. Our morning was punctuated by cool breezes, lush shade and plenty of fauna and flora to draw questions and challenge identification.  

Above, Ijams Senior Naturalist, Stephen Lyn Bales holds an Eastern Box Turtle, a common reptile found in many suburban areas, as well as, woods .  Their primary predators are racoons.  This one was walking across the trail as we approached.

The Urban Wilderness trails are marked with the stylized arrow, below, and many trail segments are marked with difficulty levels (chiefly keyed for bikers but useful for everyone) and directional arrows to help orientation where trails divide.  The trails are receiving upgrades and changes, so having a map is a good idea.  The most recent map was updated March, 2014.

Below, hikers round a curve on the last mile of our hike.

 Rasberry plants were in their fruit producing stage...  
and Butterfly Weed was growing in the middle of a kiln waste area, clearly enjoying the alkaline soil along with the cedars.

At the beginning and near the end of our hike, we came across the below species of centipede, the first being the red variety, this one, the yellow.  As a defense, these herbivores curl up in a ball and release a fruity fragrance.  I was told this yellow one smelled of almonds, while the other one, mimicked strawberries.  I was satisfied to accept everyone's word for it.  I'm an established non-buggy person, content to leave them alone!

Below, our hiking group, again, with Stephen Lyn Bales, front.  Eric Johnson, Ijams Volunteer hike leader, third from right.  I'm behind the camera this time.

This was the fifth of our monthly hikes.  Our first hike in February can be found here.  Below, our March hiking group.

Our hike last month took us through the Forks of the River Wildlife Management Area along Hyatt's Way, a thoroughly pleasant hike that included a bit of rain and our youngest hiker thus far!

Photo credit:  Stephen Lyn Bales

Piece-by-Piece--Hiking the South Loop
Stephen Lyn Bales--Nature Calling
Knoxville's Urban Wilderness
Ijams Nature Center