Meek's Run

March 18, 2020

Meek's Run

Today the sun was shining, so I headed outside. I wanted to follow up on some tips to visit the Montour Woods. I was delighted with this lovely place!

I learned today that as the virus began to impact eastern PA, DCNR shut down all the state parks in that part of the state. The public outcry resulted in their decision to reopen public lands, although all facilities including restrooms remain closed. However, although I have heard nothing about any public trails being closed to hikers, it's important to acknowledge that parks remaining open is largely dependent on the good behavior of us park users. I dearly hope to encourage everyone to get outside and enjoy our parks so we can all see spring arrive together. But please do your very best to "leave no trace".

I parked in the parking area at 1899 Hassam Rd. in Moon Township. There is a port-a-potty there, although of course we've been warned not to use public facilities of any kind. I wandered around and mainly followed the Meek's Run trail, with a short side trip on the Cave Trail to see the cave. All the trails are well marked, and maps are posted. The map they have posted is the one which can be found here: http://hollowoak.org/conservation.html.

There is a small fenced-in vernal pool where wood frog eggs can be seen. You can tell they are frog eggs (as opposed to salamander eggs) because of their grape-like shapes. Salamander eggs tend to have one lump of "jelly" surrounding all the eggs together. They appeared to be very newly laid. Amphibian eggs are transparent, and you can see the embryos inside growing. These were still just round dark spheres.

In the creek, when I looked under the rocks near the edge of the water, I found LOTS of two-lined salamanders. The smallest ones, which must have recently hatched, were very fast! The larger, older salamanders took a different tactic when uncovered and just stayed still, relying on their camouflage to protect them.

I also found many strange, shrimp-like creatures that turned out to be mayfly larvae. I checked here and decided they could be spiny crawler mayflies. (Macroinvertebrates.org is a marvelous effort to exquisitely document the residents of our local streams, with many creatures found at Powdermill Nature Reserve making their contributions.) Both the salamanders and the macroinvertebrates they like to eat are good signs of a clean and healthy stream.

Aside from trees, the only things I found blooming were some snowdrops which perhaps escaped from a garden long ago. But the birds were singing their hearts out, and certainly wildflowers are on their way.