Exploring Southern Appalachian Forests: An Ecological Guide to 30 Great Hikes by Stephanie Jeffries
Exploring Southern Appalachian Forests: An Ecological Guide to 30 Great Hikes by Stephanie Jeffries is a book that is both a says-on-the-cover hiking guide and an excellent, approachable reference for learning about the ecology of the Southern Appalachian Mountains.
The hikes cover from Georgia to Virginia, though most are focused on Tennessee and North Carolina. Nearly every chapter has a sidebar about a unique issue in the natural or human history of the Southern Appalachians (e.g., bald summits, rhododendron, second growth forests, American chestnuts, etc).
Quotes
I love this quote from Darwin about how the more you learn about the specifics and details of nature, the more you will appreciate the whole. I have found it to be very true – the more I learn the species and ecology…the more fun I have out hiking and camping.
In the Voyage of the Beagle (1909), Charles Darwin noted, “The pleasure derived from beholding the scenery and general aspect of the various countries we have visited, has decidedly been the most constant and highest source of enjoyment…. It more depends on an acquaintance with the individual parts of each view: I am strongly induced to believe that as in Music, the person who understands every note will, if he also has true taste, more thoroughly enjoy the whole; so he who examines each part of [a] fine view may also thoroughly comprehend the full and combined effect. Hence a traveler should be a botanist, for in all views plants form the chief embellishment. Group masses of naked rocks, even in the wildest forms; for a time they may afford a sublime spectacle, but they will soon grow monotonous; paint them with bright and varied colors, they will become fantastic; clothe them with vegetation, they must form, at least a decent, if not a most beautiful picture.”
Charles Darwin in Voyage of The Beagle
What I liked
I love how the book is organized and written. It is more useful and thorough than a typical hiking guide book, and it’s more approachable and skimmable than a typical naturalist’s guide. It’s a solid combination of both.
I love that it provides specific locations to see specific natural communities. Even though these communities occur throughout the region, it is helpful to see the “platonic ideal” of [example community] – like, “ahhh, so this is what a montane oak community looks like…I’ve seen this in X and Y locations too!”.
What I Did Not Like
Not a whole lot. I spend most of my time in North Georgia, so I wish there were a few more hikes there (or maybe a “Georgia” version of some of the hikes in North Carolina / Virginia).
- The book is well-organized and well-written.
- It combines the best aspects of a hiking guide and a naturalist's guide.
- It provides specific locations to observe various natural communities.
- I wish there were more hikes in North Georgia.
