Quebec Run Wild Area is a gorgeous reserve tucked away in a gentle bowl at the flank of Chestnut Ridge, just minutes from the more heavily visited (perhaps notoriously congested even) Ohiopyle State Park. While its neighbor to the north features dramatic waterfalls, rapids, and slides associated with the Youghiogheny River Gorge, Quebec Run Wild Area offers gentle mountain streams bordered by stunning old-growth hemlock forests and cascading rhododendron. More importantly, the trails are not heavily traveled and solitude is a real thing here. Photos above are from a hike yesterday on the Mill Run Trail.
From top: Skunk cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus) and wood anemone (Anemonoides quinquefolia) at the edge of Mill Run; dwarf ginseng (Panax trifolius); creeping phlox (Phlox stolonifera); pin cherry (Prunus pensylvanica), also known as fire cherry; marsh blue violet (Viola cucullata); Canada mayflower (Maianthemum canadense) growing up a moss-covered trunk; northern white violet (Viola minuscula), also known as smooth white violet; heartleaf foamflower (Tiarella cordifolia); sessile-leaf bellwort (Uvularia sessilifolia), also known as wild oats; green false hellebore (Veratrum viride), also known as corn lily; a patch of green false hellebore and skunk cabbage growing together along Mill Run; and halberd-leaved yellow violet (Viola hastata).
