Sharon Day/iStockPhoto.
Osage orange in fall leaves.
Osage orange in fall leaves.
Andy Lane and Appalachian trails up and back to Tinker Cliffs area. 7.4 miles.
The Greatest Day Hiker Of Them All proves herself as such anew now and again, as in suggesting the hard climb up the Andy Lane Trail and the Appalachian Trail to Tinker Cliffs when her real focus was on the first flat mile or so of the hike, where there is a collection of maybe a dozen osage orange trees, near Catawba Creek. It is time for their fruit, and Gail adheres to the theory that the big green balls repel spiders, among the very few forest (and domestic) creatures she doesn't care much for.
Here, by the way, is part of what it says on a University of Washington website dedicated to spider myths: "There is no evidence that spiders are repelled by osage-oranges. They live on the trees and even make webs on the fallen fruit."
"I'm gettin' some anyway," was The Day Hiker's response to that bit of news.
Along the creek, near the trees, the suspense built only momentarily. No osage oranges. Not on the ground, not on the trees. Nor were there blossoms.
Too early in the year? The trees skipped a year? Space-alien heist?
Or, in these days of the comeback of farmers' markets, natural approaches to things and wild bogus health claims believed by many… had they been harvested? After all, they are kid of ornamental too, in addition to the alleged arachnid antipathy. Girls just like 'em.
We walked on, over the last stile on the way up, past the cement company gate, up the steep stretches, over the switchbacks and onto the AT at Scorched Earth Gap, returning to the puzzle of the green osage now and again.
Along the cliffs, the first two "picnic tables" were taken by other hikers, and so we walked a bit father along to find our own private boulders of the long outcropping that gives such great views to the north, south and west. And receives that great breeze from the west as we ate lunch.
On the way back down, back at the osage grove, two things happened: One, son Adam and his ladyfriend appeared, headed upward at an hour that had them in a hurry to get to the top and beat the darkness back down. And two, Gail cast her eye toward the very top of the very tallest osage orange tree. And there, alone on a branch, were two fine green specimens, 60 feet in the air.
Which I took to verify the harvest theory.
And which The Day Hiker took as her signal that the fruits had indeed been borne and that she was going to get her some even if they cost her 50 cents apiece on the Roanoke City Market.
Where yes, yes, you don't see all that many spiders.
September 13, 2009