Annual Ephemeral Wildflower Hike at Kelly Hollow - Saturday, May 6 11:00 AM

This is a chance to find and identify the beautiful Spring ephemeral wildflowers which are so named because they appear in early spring when they flower and fruit and then die back, all in a short period before the trees have had a chance to leaf out. Most hikers never see these flowers because they wait for late spring or summer to get into the woods. We will look for Trillium, Spring beauties, Trout Lily, Hepatica, Violets, Squirrel Corn, Dutchman's Breeches, Jack-In-The-Pulpit and many others. We may also find ramps and some early mushrooms. Kelly Hollow is one of the most beautiful short trails in the Catskills with rocky streams and waterfalls. It has a combination of coniferous and deciduous forests with a lovely, abandoned beaver pond near a lean-to at the top. Event Duration: About 3 hoursLevel of Difficulty: The trail is an easy to moderate loop of about 4 miles.Leader: Howard RaabBring lunch, and/or snacks, drinks to have at the lean-to (there is a privy nearby), waterproof footwear, and bug repellant.Registration required by May 5th. Register by contacting the leader at - howardjraab@gmail.com. Group size is limited to 10 – please register early.Addt’l info: Leashed or well-behaved dogs are welcome. Questions about event may be director to leader via email.  In case of steady rain, the hike will be moved to Sun, May 7th. If in doubt, call before 10:00 am on Saturday, (845) 586-3112.We will meet at the trailhead at 11:00 am. GPS Coordinates: 42.079007, -74.649885The Kelly Hollow Trail is located on Millbrook Road in the town of Middletown, NYNJ Trail Conference map #142, F-5,6.Directions to trail-head: 2.2 miles West of Margaretville on Rt.28 go left across from the Old Stone School house and then right on the NYC reservoir road (BWT10) for 3.7miles. Then left on Millbrook Road for 5.3 miles to the trail-head parking area on the right.