Qualla: Lake Katharine State Nature Preserve

Lake Katharine State Nature Preserve: Introduction

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Jaknouse, CC BY-SA 4.0. Two magnolia species reach their northernmost edge here. The bigleaf magnolia, with leaves up to three feet long, and the smaller umbrella magnolia, both more typically found in the Carolinas and Tennessee. Walk a few hundred yards farther on the same trail and you will pass wolf-foot clubmoss, a plant more comfortable in cooler northern forests. Lake Katharine State Nature Preserve sits exactly on the seam between northern and southern Eastern Woodlands - close enough to the Hocking Hills sandstone country to share its bones, far enough south for warmer-zone species to lean in. It is a botanist's puzzle laid out across 2,019 acres of southern Ohio.

Image: Jaknouse | CC BY-SA 4.0

Lake Katharine State Nature Preserve: Sandstone Gorge

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Jaknouse, CC BY-SA 4.0. The preserve sits in a small gorge cut into the same southerly extension of weathering-resistant sandstone that forms the famous Hocking Hills to the north. Blackhand sandstone, the iconic cliff-builder of the region, forms the bluffs at Lake Katharine. Erosion has been working o...

Image: Jaknouse | CC BY-SA 4.0

Lake Katharine State Nature Preserve: A Botanical Edge

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Jaknouse, CC BY-SA 4.0. What makes Lake Katharine unusual among Ohio nature preserves is the species mixing. The bigleaf magnolia (Magnolia macrophylla) has the largest simple leaves of any tree in North America, sometimes exceeding 30 inches long, and pale white flowers up to a foot across. Most of its...

Image: Jaknouse | CC BY-SA 4.0

Lake Katharine State Nature Preserve: The Three Trails

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Jaknouse, CC BY-SA 4.0. Three primary trails open the preserve to visitors. The one-mile Calico Bush Trail follows the easier ridges, named for the mountain laurel that blooms pink and white in June. The two-mile Salt Creek Trail descends to the creek bottom, where Little Salt Creek runs cold and the so...

Image: Jaknouse | CC BY-SA 4.0

Lake Katharine State Nature Preserve: Why the Seam Holds

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Jaknouse, CC BY-SA 4.0. Most ecosystems push hard against their edges. Climate, soil, and competition keep species sorted into the zones they tolerate best. Places like Lake Katharine, where the boundary is permeable, give scientists rare data on how plants negotiate with geography. The blackhand sandst...

Image: Jaknouse | CC BY-SA 4.0