Blue Ridge Bartram Trail Conservancy

History. Art. And the Great Outdoors.

southern appalachians

Geologic Hike to Scaly Mountain with Dr. Dan Pittillo

We’re in for a special short hike and grateful for Dr. Dan Pittillo to be able to lead us and share his thoughts and understanding on the geologic history and current activity of these wonderful southern Appalachians. You may be surprised to learn these mountains are still rising!

We’re planning to meet at the Hickory Nut Gap Rd parking area (just outside of Highlands) and side-trailhead for Scaly Mountain at 10am. The hike is a moderate ~3 miles round trip. We should be able to wrap up around 2pm.

We’ll send out additional information closer to the event to discuss carpooling options.

Please RSVP below to help with planning:

Visit with Dr. Dan Pittillo at Nodding Trillium Garden

RSVP for this event is now closed (3/13).

We’re excited to be able to visit with Dr. Dan Pittillo at his Family’s Nature Preserve and Nodding Trillium Garden to see some early spring flowers. Dr. Pittillo will lead us on a short walk along the Nodding Trillium Garden Loop trail, which is relatively short in distance but time consuming when enjoying the time to seek individual flowers are sought. We will also take a longer hike with a little climbing elevation.

The Garden walk will last 30-45 minutes. Participants are welcome to join along the longer hike or stay and linger in the garden.

Hikers wanting to spend the energy to hike up some 200 more feet elevation can join Dan and the group after the garden walk. By this time, there will be a lot more Trout lily and Trillium masses up the first 100 foot elevation and declining thereafter to the top and back down. On this hike, we are transitioning from Rich Cove, with basic soils, to more acidic Oak-Hickory Forest and acidic soils. There are 2 oak tree falls and a big pine fall that we’ll pass by and Dr. Pittillo will comment on.

Dr. Pittillo will also discuss the geology of this region, including Miocene impact (about 10 million years ago), plate tectonics of this Appalachian mass, and Pleistocene flora some 18,000 years ago.

Dr. Pittillo is among the original founders of the North Carolina Bartram Trail Society, organized in 1977. We are very fortunate to still have Dr. Pittillo as an active member on our Board of Directors

The Preserve is owned by Dr. Dan Pittillo and his family and is conserved through the Highlands-Cashiers Land Trust. Nodding Trillium Garden, located within the Preserve, has one of the finest and most extensive collections of native spring wildflowers that can be found in the area. Dr. Pittillo is known for his extensive knowledge of the flora and ecology of the Southern Appalachians and his passion for sharing his knowledge through stories!

To get an idea of what to expect on this nature walk, watch and listen as Dr. Pittillo shares some of his special stories of plants at Nodding Trillium Garden on YouTube.

RSVP
RSVP for this event is now closed (3/13). This event will have limited registration and we will follow up with folks regarding more details and carpooling.

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