Land Conservancy ends 2022 Discovery Series with Changing Leaves hike

Erratic rocks, pileated woodpeckers and shelters created by hemlock boughs weighed down with snow were all topics of discussion as Up Yonda naturalist Rick Landry led a group of hikers to Bradley’s Lookout in the Pinnacle Preserve Saturday morning. The hike was the final of the 2022 Discovery Series hikes, a program of themed hikes offered by the Lake George Land Conservancy in partnership with Up Yonda Farm Environmental Education Center.

The series began in May and throughout the spring, summer and fall offered hikes that focused on a range of subjects including birding, the Lake George ecosystem, beavers, leave no trace principles, pond life, and the subject of Saturday’s hike, the brilliant fall foliage.

Bradley’s Lookout, which overlooks Lake George above Huddle Bay, is a 1.2-mile hike (round-trip) along a not-too-steep trail. Landry stopped along the way to point out notable features. At one point, the trail swerved to avoid a large boulder, a boulder Landry explained, is an erratic rock dropped in its place by a receding glacier.

“We see evidence of this in the Adirondacks and the High Peaks,” says Landry, “because you can actually see glacial striations. it looks like somebody kind of came through and just scratched right down the rock where rocks were trapped in the ice and dragged along.”

 At a time when there was more snow falling in the winter than was melting in the summer, a sheet of ice carrying bits of rock constantly pushed southward. Landry describes it as a conveyor belt of ice originating in Northern Canada. As the summer melt began to overtake the winter snowfall, the conveyor belt stalled at Long Island. “Long Island is just a pile of glacial debris from Northern Canada.”

As the glacier moved back, it paused in the Lake George area. “That’s what caused Lake George to form,” Landry explained. With the South end of the lake dammed up, each spring the snow melt would fill the basin creating the lake we know today.

Further up the trail, Laundry identified a stand of hemlocks and explained their importance to the Adirondack ecosystem. Not only are they aesthetically important, “but during snowfalls, they’ll pack up on top of branches and bend the branches down.” This provides shelter for animals and any hikers that may be out in a storm. Also, the broad, flat boughs help disperse heavy rainfalls so the water soaks into the soil, and then can be re-absorbed by trees or added to the groundwater.

Area hemlocks are currently under threat from the Hemlock Wooly Adelgid, an invasive insect that feeds off hemlock sap, threatening the tree’s health. “As these trees die,” says Landry, “unfortunately, what we see happening is, any of these big rain events push a lot more sediment down into the streams, into the lakes.” The sediment clogs streams, disrupting the habitat of the trout population, which spawns upstream.

Dead trees do play their part in the health of the forest. Landry pointed out a dead tree riddled with large, rectangular holes made by a pileated woodpecker. “With the amount of holes, and especially that low, that tree is not long for this world. Once that hits the ground, it’s going to give other animals a chance to start getting into it and opening it up … all that wood is left to rot and all those nutrients go right back into the soil.” The energy continues to flow through this area, says Landry.

The hikers reached the top of the trail, Bradley’s Lookout, as the morning mist was rising from Lake George. While the deciduous trees that grow up the mountains around the lake had already dropped a lot of their leaves, plenty of fall foliage still colored the landscape. Laundry explained the chemistry behind the spectacular show of color.

During the warm months, the leaves are filled with chlorophyll, necessary for photosynthesis. Chlorophyll absorbs all the colors of the spectrum except green. It reflects the green, and that is why summer leaves appear green to us. Cooler temperatures and reduced sunlight cause the trees to begin preparing for winter by stopping the production of chlorophyll.

“What’s left is we’re seeing oranges and yellows, and these are actually chemicals in structures called chromoplasts — they’re present all summer long, we just don’t see them because there’s so much green in there.” The brilliant red colors we often see in the fall are a chemical reaction that occurs when the days have been dry and cool and when a tree draws up slightly acidic water. Landry noted that there are several bright red trees this fall along the hill at Up Yonda Farm.

Landry says that he and the other naturalist at Up Yonda have a list of themed hikes they would like to offer for a 2023 Discovery Series should the program continue. There was no charge for the 2022 hikes, which were supported by the Town of Bolton and the Lake George Mirror.

Up Yonda Farm offers public programs year-round. Tickets are available for the Holiday Wreath Making workshop which begins in November. In January and February, Up Yonda naturalists lead snowshoeing hikes (snowshoe rentals available) with instructions on tree and animal track identification, animal winter adaptation and snowshoe games.