#38 2022 52-Hike Challenge: Wolf's Hollow - Octoraro Ridge and Forest Loops 4.5 mi
On this beautiful day, Amos and I took a very chill hike in Wolf's Hollow circling around the Octoraro Ridge Trail. Almost all of the trails in this beautiful Chester County park are old wagon and farm roads with some gentle ups and downs to keep it interesting. We could see clear down to Octoraro Creek as it glimmered in the sun. We met many other dogs out on walks with their humans. It was a nose-boopy calm kind of hiking day as he greeted every pup with a coonhound "kiss" rather than his exuberant LET'S PLAY! approach.
We ran into an old hiking friend who walks here regularly with her little Scotty, Captain. This was opening day for firearms deer season so our conversation was interspersed with gunfire from across the hills and valleys. Amos is usually pretty anxious around gunfire but he gently played with Captain while Cheryl and I talked. Such was the rest of our hike in the woods, friendly and calm, and for first day of firearms season and an active shooting range nearby, Amos kept it together.
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| Old road/trail - Octoraro Ridge |
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Christmas fern, Polystichum acrostichoides
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| Christmas fern grows in clumps |
Clumps of Christmas fern brightened the edges of old charcoal hearths. These ferns will stay green through the winter although there were also patches of Lycopodium and Intermediate Wood Fern that added to the early winter greenery.
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| Intermediate Wood Fern, Dryopteris intermedia |
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| Intermediate Wood Fern |
Up and around the big hill we went until we came out on to the open pastures of the hilltop farm where we followed the Fence Line Trail as it looped back to the Octoraro Ridge Trail and then down to the Forest Loop Trail. Amos discovered that the small acorns of an enormous Black Oak made an excellent snack. As Amos browsed acorns I stood in awe of the huge oak trees that lined the sunny woods edge.
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| Black Oak, Quercus velutina |
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| "Deer hooves" oak leaf buds |
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| Black Oak acorns |
In the valley bottom we checked out many trees and shrubs that prefer wetter soils. Here we found Winterberry, Sycamore, Hazelnut, and Silver Maple. Sadly for Amos, none of these plants offered anything as sweet as Black Oak acorns.
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| Let's go this way! |
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| American Sycamore, Platanus occidentalis |
One of the features that was consistent throughout our hike was the presence of charcoal hearths. The sheer number and size of them suggests a forge community was sited somewhere nearby on the Octoraro Creek. The fast moving waters would have provided the power needed to run a hammer mill. The ruins along the Charcoal Trail within the park (and visible through the woods across the creek) suggest an iron-working community grew up here. See Fred Kelso's excellent historical survey in Notes.
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| Stone fence for livestock |
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| One of a dozen huge charcoal pits or hearths along the old wagon road |
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| Black Birch, Betula nigra |
A nearby shooting range was busy and loud but Amos remained calm and interested in everything we came upon. I was pretty pleased with my pup that we actually got to hike on opening day. We met up with Cheryl and Captain one more time on the return loop and stopped to share a snack at a picnic table. While there, I looked up and watched a Bald Eagle and a Red-Tailed Hawk coast over the bare treetops. A graceful ending to a very chill hike for Amos and me. Good boy, buddy.
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| Chill Amos |
Notes:
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