Mike Breiding's Epic Road Trips: August 2025

10 August 2025
Butterflies, Caterpillars, and Ferns: McTrail Rail-Trail - Marion County WV

This morning, Betsy and I left Cabin № 18 at 7:30 and made the 30-minute drive down to the western trailhead of the McTrail Rail-Trail. It was a very pleasant 66 degrees at the start.

Last week, when I was cycling the same Rail-Trail, I noticed an interesting fern at the west entrance of the 1200' long Meredith Tunnel. I recognized it as one of the Fragile ferns which are in the genus Cystopteris. Cystopteris are tricky to identify, so I knew I would need to return to take photos and collect a couple of fronds for later identification.
That was our mission for today, that and to have a very pleasant 4.5 mile stroll on a nicely wooded Rail-Trail.

The Meredith Tunnel is now 111 years old. It was in rough shape by 1989 when the Marion County Parks and Recreation Commission (MCPARC) bought 125 acres of Monongahela Railroad property and started work on developing the Rail-Trail.

Ahhh... what could be better than a bit of fern gazing on a fine summer morning?

Here we have the Cystopteris we came for. There were about a dozen mature clumps and some youngsters as well.

The next generation.

Betsy spotted this Zebra Swallowtail resting in the middle of the trail.

Quite the beauty, don't you think? Zebra Swallowtail caterpillars are specialists; they exclusively feed on pawpaw trees. No paw paws, no Zebra Swallowtails.
After taking a few photos, we set papillon free and it was soon safely on a tree branch.

WOW! What a bonus. This is the caterpillar of a Catalpa sphinx moth. As with the Zebra Swallowtail, the Catalpa sphinx moth caterpillars are specialists, feeding only on the leaves of the Catalpa tree.

These big, juicy caterpillars are sought out by anglers for bait.

These two photos from WikiPedia nicely show the color variations of the Catalpa sphinx moth. The one on the right is certainly well camouflaged.

After all this nature bathing, we took a walk through the tunnel, did an about-face, then headed back to the van. A nice walk it was.

See you next time...
Mike and Betsy

 

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