A magnet for adventure tourists and nature lovers, Ohiopyle State Park sprawls across twenty thousand square acres of steeply-sloped wild lands on the flanks of the Youghiogheny River Gorge in Pennsylvania’s Laurel Highlands. The Great Allegheny Passage bike trail runs through the heart of the park, which also anchors a thriving whitewater rafting industry. I fortunately live within a short drive of the park, so a day hike is always in the cards. Especially on a beautiful Memorial Day holiday.
From top: black raspberry (Rubus occidentalis), an aggressive colonizer with delicious fruit coveted by humans and animals alike; longstyle sweetroot (Osmorhiza longistylis), also known as anise root, because its roots have a licorice-like flavor; Indian cucumber (Medeola virginiana), easily identified by its two tiers of whorled leaves and odd, pendulous flowers; and speckled wood lily (Clintonia umbellulata), also known as white Clintonia or black-bead lily, a close relative of yellow Clintonia (Clintonia borealis), which tends to occur at higher elevations in Central Appalachia.