Our next stop is Green Mountain in Southeast Huntsville.  Located on top of Green Mountain is a secluded 72 acre park that is open to the public everyday from sunrise to sunset and designated as a wildlife refuge.  The nature trail has a 2.25 mile walking trail around Sky Lake, a covered bridge, a historical log cabin,  a pavilion, chapel, picnic tables, and a number of other nature trails within the park.  The Madison County Commission acquired and developed the site in 1975 and has continued to improve all its facilities and trails.  It is noted to have Alabama's largest and oldest champion elm tree on the trail.

10a

Depending on which trail you take or which season you hike in, you will come across a great setting for appreciation of nature.  It has a canopy of decidious hardwoods and pines, with an understory of dogwoods, azaleas and other flowering plants many of which are identified by both common and scientific names.  The forest floor changes from week to week, depending on the amount of moisture in the soil and in the air.  There could be a blanket of colorful mushrooms or thick mats of mosses and ferns.  It could be teeming with butterflies and dragonflies or colorful moths.  There are several springs and creeks on the trails with numerous animals such as frogs and salamanders.  Throughout the park, we will see wildlife such as geese and wild ducks, deer, squirrels, racoons, skunks, beaver, ground hogs, chipmunks, snakes, foxes, coyotes and hawks.

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There are numerous exposed boulders of  sandstone.   Like Monte Sano just about ten miles away, the area is generally capped with the Pottsville formation made up of  sandstone, shale and coal.  The Pottsville is of the Pennsylvanian system (320-286 mil. years old).  The sandstone is underlain with limestone of the  Mississippian system (360-320 mil.years old).  The Paleozoic rocks that form the base of Green Mountain are 545-245 million years old.

• We will hike the nature trails around the lake, observing several rock formations to review the geology of the area.
• We will observe and identify the trees and wildflowers and list their common and scientific names.
• We will discuss the hydrology and climate of the Green Mountain area.
• We will collect, observe and classify (by phylum and class or major group) the different organisms that are found in this aquatic and riparian ecosystem.  After noting the information down we will release what we have collected.

12

Along the trail, we will encounter a few  rock formations such as in the photos.  This one is a sandstone boulder overhang formed when the sandstone was slowly eroded by water running below the overhang, leaving the old leaf debris behind.  The decaying leaves form tannic acid that enhances the erosional work of water that comes down regularly from the top of Green Mountain after rain.

3 This sandstone boulder shows some of the strata were formed by sediment that was deposited by flowing water then compacted and lithified to form these "flowing rocks".
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Althought the strata of rocks are essentailly flat and almost level with a slight slope to the south-southeast at about 50ft/mile, there are local waves and irregularities that show evidence of past geologic activity.  A slight syncline or trough runs north to south along the axis of the mountain.  This is why the water drains to the middle of the mountain tops and into the lakes and ponds.  The anticline strata are found on the valleys below.  The erosion was much greater in these parts forming  the valley areas with anticline.

6b 7b
The ripples on this sedimentary sandstone rock shows the deposition of the sediment by flowing water.  Each layer was lain down by one water level then another.
8b 9b
The cycle  continues, the sedimentary rock that is exposed here is being eroded away by water.  Eventually the sediments that are loosened by the water will be deposited, compacted, then lithified again.
 

11b  13b
 

4 5

Throughout the nature trail where humidity and soil moisture is very high, we will find a great variety of colorful mushrooms and other fungi.

6 7
4b12b
Ferns and Mosses are also abundant.  We should be able to see snails and slugs near the creek's edges.  We will discuss the importance of the riparian habitat in supporting the flora and fauna of the preserve.
 
 

914b

A log cabin from the 1800's is a relic of Huntsville's past.  The well dates back from the same time period.  There are several springs to be found in Green Mountain as well as perched water tables.  The lake is fed by several of these springs.  To follow the path of a stream from the nature trail which disappeared into Green Grotto, dye was placed into the stream.  The dye emerged at White Spring which is close to Ditto Landing at Hobbs Island near the banks of the Tennessee River.

3b

Teachers are going to be given a special permit to fish by using bag nets for collecting the fish.  We will identify the fish as best we can or photograph them and compare them with the fish identification information we will encounter at the Tennesse Aquarium in Chattanooga.

As we hike through the nature trail, we will see many of the plants and trees labeled with scientific names.  We will see hazelnut (Corylus americana), Eastern red cedar (Juniperus virginiana), pine (Pinus echinata), American chestnut (Castanea dentata), hickory (Carya glabra), sugar maple (Acer saccharum), and mountain laurel (Kalmia latifolia).They are a representative of the common hardwoods and other deciduous trees, shrubs, and herbs found in a humid subtropical climate (Cfa).  We will note these down and refer to them again as we travel through our seven-day adventure.

26 Phlox sp.

5b
Phlox carolina

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