Last week my family and I hiked along Carrick Creek at Table Rock State Park in South Carolina. I really wanted to see some wildflowers and I wasn’t disappointed. The weather was overcast while we hiked and it was a beautiful day!
I used 3 free apps on my phone that you might find useful and fun.
Gaia GPS - I use the free version that maps out our route as we hike. It would help if we got lost and it is fun to look at when we end our hike. I start the app and I hit record. Then at the end, I end the recording and it shows the outline on a topo map of where we hiked.
Seek - a free app that helps me identify what plants, amphibians, and insects I’m seeing. It doesn’t always work for every plant but most of them. I sometimes have to adjust where I’m aiming my phone camera to get a better angle for identification.
Merlin Bird ID - another free app. I can put in some info about the birds I see and it will give me some images to match which could help identify the birds. But what I like the most is that sound ID. I hit the record button and it hears the bird sounds and will list the different birds that I hear. I can then hit each selection and hear that bird’s call. When I listen to my recording and I can pick out all the birds that I hear.
We hiked about 3 miles I saw:
- A corn snake
- Violets
- Spotted wintergreen
- Dwarf crested irises
- Robin’s plantain
- Jack in the Pulpit
- Doghobble
- Sweetshrub
- Bloodroot
- Hooked buttercup
- Solomon’s plume
- Christmas fern
- Broadbeech fern
- New York fern
- Little Brown Jug
- Yellow Star Grass
- Rattlesnakeweed
- Bellwort
- Dogwood
- Cinquefoil
- Salamander
- Wild azalea
- Rhododendron
- Mountain Laurel
- Squawroot
- Buffalo nut
Do you use any of these apps? How do you like them? Please share.
Original photo by Pat Hensley
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