Willmarth Woods at Snake Mountain

One of the trails leading to the summit of Snake Mountain begins at Willmarth Woods. Please read our Preserve Visitation Guidelines.

What to See: Plants

Beeches dominate the forest although sugar maples are nearly as abundant. Other trees here include white ash, hophornbeam, yellow birch, white pine, hemlock, American elm, and shagbark hickory. The understory is dominated almost exclusively by young beeches.

Dry limy cliffs and an oak forest dominate the upper reaches of the mountain, and there is a dwarf shrub bog on the summit. Common herbaceous species in the understory include sweet cicely, beech-drops, early meadow-rue, toothwort, red baneberry, large-flowered bellwort, bishop’s cap, hepatica, shinleaf, Canada violet, downy yellow violet, dwarf ginseng, Christmas fern and rattlesnake fern. Colonies of spring wildflowers, especially white trillium, dog-tooth violet and bloodroot are prolific.

What to See: Animals

Many common species of animals live on the mountain. It’s not unusual to see signs of white-tailed deer, coyote, bobcat, woodcock, turkey and ruffed grouse. In the fall, migrating hawks are attracted to the wind currents that provide uplift near the summit of Snake Mountain.