Mohican State Park- Ohio

The beginning of September is a wonderful time for homeschoolers to take vacations, because the weather is still lovely and the start of school often makes your destinations less crowded.  This year I took Jasper to Ohio to visit his grandparents.  We met up with homeschooler Jennifer and her two amazing sons to explore Mohican State Park together.  (Jennifer blogs about their adventures here).  I was so grateful she took the time to hang out with us!  It was a really fun day.

We stopped to climb the fire tower.  It was kind of scary for us grownups, but the boys didn't seem to mind!  Jennifer came up with the genius idea of bringing bubbles, which were perfect for blowing from the fire tower.

The view from the top.

Check out this huge 4" North American millipede with red legs!

Caterpillar of the hickory tussock moth.

We found lots of these little guys, which I believe are either Northern dusky salamanders (which are hard to ID but are known to live in the park) or  two-lined salamanders.  I checked this database and was amazed at the variety of colorful Ohio critters!  This totally makes me want to come in the spring for a herp and wildflower hunt.

Big Lyons Falls.  So late in the season, it was barely a trickle.

Yellow jewel weed.

Graffiti at Big Lyons Falls.

New graffiti might seem annoying and disrespectful in a state park, but old graffiti somehow seems cool!

We were amazed at these huge colonies of swaying, fuzzy insects.  I believe these are beech blight aphids.

Jennifer's son found a magnificent garter snake!

Little Lyons Falls.  It was also barely a trickle.

A dam on the Clearfork River creates Pleasant Hill Lake.  At the dam was a flock of turkey buzzards.

We found this impressive wasp's nest.

The grassy slope of the dam was perfect for catching grasshoppers and crickets.

Jasper finding bugs on the slope.  It was also perfect for rolling down!

Great lobelia.  Flowers were identified using Wildflowers of Ohio by Robert L. Henn.  This amazing book has a perfect system of identification, arranging flowers first by color and then in the order in which they bloom.  (Thank you mom for all your help with identifications!)

Yellow goatsbeard.

Turtlehead wildflower.

Boneset with a goldenrod soldier beetle making itself at home.

Green headed coneflower.

The kids found this tiny insect pupa on a dried-up leaf.  What could be in there?

I believe the frogs we found were Northern green frogs.

Grey goldenrod with a bumble bee.

Thistle seeds.

Mohican's covered bridge.