Due to constuction work by South Florida Water Management District, the Florida Trail is closed between the S-154 water structure and SR 70. An alternate route is available...
A delightfully rugged hike through the Apalachicola valley’s rare flora, in honor of Chattahoochee’s own world-renowned botanist.
I had the pleasure this spring of exploring a park and trail system that’s new to me but certainly not to the people who live in the small riverside community of Chattahoochee, right on the Georgia border. Even better, I took a hike with the park’s namesake and native son, Angus Gholson, who has spent his life exploring the rugged ravines of the Apalachicola River in search of unusual plants. Long retired, he’s a classical botanist with an extensive herbarium and deep appreciation for the rarity of the flora that grows in this most unusual part of Florida, where ravines drop steeply as tributaries cut their way down to the river’s level. Leigh Brooks, who worked at neighboring Torreya and Apalachicola Bluffs and Ravines, facilitated the hike. My focus was getting to know Angus and the flora that makes this area so special, so I didn’t take notes or a GPS track on the length of the network of trails we walked, and we didn’t get to them all. But this hike isn’t well-known, so I’m taking the opportunity to share it with you before I gather all the statistical details. You’ll find sometime to see here all times of the year, but the grand parade of wildflowers starts each February with trout-lily and trillium, and progresses to Indian-paint and fringed campion, an unusual flower seen frequently along these trails.
For as long as Angus can remember, the Chattahoochee Spring was a gathering place for local residents. He learned to swim there more than eighty years ago, as many folks did, since a swimming pool was created to catch the outflow of the spring, which pours out of a steep hillside. Abandoned decades ago, the pool has a lot of algae in it, and trillium grow in bunches along the edge. Walk around the pool to where the trail follows the creek that flows out of the pool and heads downhill.
In the heart of torreya country, this park has a substantial number of young torreya trees. Few, if any, mature torreya trees still exist in Florida, due to a blight. But young torreyas sprout from the remains of the dead, looking like small Christmas trees amongst the hardwood forest. Yellow popular, sycamore, pignut hickory, and Southern magnolia trees form a canopy of deep shade as you walk down the trail. In early spring, look for the bright orange blaze of flame azalea, the red bursts of trillium, and the yellow of the trout-lily. During my April walk, Indian-paint lined the upper slope of the footpath. Amble slowly, since there is much to see—it’s worth having a plant identification guide with you, and even better to walk with an expert.
As the slope flattens out, spruce pines tower overhead. The bluff forest has a very open understory, which enables you to see the rugged topographical relief in every direction. We heard, then saw, a barred owl well up in a hickory tree, and the burble of the creek is a constant companion. On our journey, we walked downhill to the first trail junction, then took a right to head back uphill – a steep uphill, I might add – to create a short but extremely interesting loop which took about an hour at a “stop and examine everything” pace, with several off-trail diversions to see young torreya trees. If you pass this trail junction, the main trail meets a T, where the trail to the right leads to a picnic table and more trails through the lower portion of the park. The park draws close to, but does not reach, the Apalachicola River in its lower extents. I hope to return this winter, to both see the parade of wildflowers and to gather details about the trails from a hiker’s perspective rather than just the pleasurable experience of a walkwith the person who knows this park the best—its namesake, Angus Gholson.
Location: Chattahoochee [30.697700, -84.849189] Estimated 2 miles of walking trails – NETWORK of LOOPS – rugged
Angus Gholson Nature Park (formerly Chattahoochee Nature Park) is tucked away in the residential area of Chattahoochee known as Torreya Heights. From US 90 in downtown Chattahoochee, take Morgan Avenue south. It goes down a steep hill and makes a long curve. Park Street is to your right along the curve, with a sign for the nature park. The entrance road, Park Street, is also a steep downhill. Trails begin in several places but the hike described (starting at the spring) is across the parking area from the restrooms.
