Landsford Canal State Park

And the Rocky Shoals Spider Lilies

Between the months of May and June – roughly from Mothers Day to Fathers Day each year – one of the most amazing things I’ve ever experienced happens: the rocky shoals spiders lilies bloom. Landsford Canal, in the Catawba River between Chester and Lancaster Counties, has the largest outcropping of these hearty but endangered spider lilies in the world!

You can view the lilies from the trail at Landsford Canal State Park, where park admission is just $6 per adult, $3.75 for a senior citizen, and $3.50 for a child (as of 2023). It’s on the honor system. You put your money in an envelope and leave it in a drop box at the entrance. Karma is real, y’all. Pay your park admission honestly. Then just park and start walking south, or to your right as you face the river. You can choose the nature trail, the canal trail, or the eagle point trail. All are very easy hikes. The canal trail is the longest and most popular, especially in lily season, as it takes you to the lookout for the lilies.

A second option for viewing the lilies involves more adventure – and sometimes more danger, so take stock of yourself before you embark – and that option is to kayak to the lilies. My favorite springtime excursion is to take friends who’ve never seen the lilies on a leisurely kayak trip to see them. We pack a picnic and have our lunch or dinner on the rocks and then head to the takeout. There’s something sublime and majestic about floating among those beautiful flowers – especially when they’re at their peak bloom. Mitch and I have been known to do office work out there in the rocks because I want to be there every day possible during the season and I’d rather do work in my kayak than work in the office!

If you choose to kayak to the lilies, I recommend going with a guide, especially if it’s your first time. I take many friends who are first-timers (if the flows are below 5,000 cubic feet per second) and give them a kayak lesson as we go. Local guides know what the differing flows mean for the rocky shoals. My favorite local guide (maybe the only truly local guide) is Great Falls Adventures. It’s a small business run by a lifelong resident of the area who loves this part of the river as much as I do. And he knows the river. Rapids are not the same in this area as you may have experienced them in other places. They’re often milder, but don’t let that make you too comfortable. The rock outcroppings can be difficult for inexperienced paddlers to maneuver and you really don’t want to broadside a rock in heavy flows, or take a route that gets you continually stuck on rocks in lighter ones. One positive is that in most – but not all – parts of the Landsford Canal area, you can stand up if you fall out. But I’ve seen people sink their boats or lose their paddles in such circumstances – and several friends (including me) have had to replace their phones. Also, NEVER paddle without a life vest. And take some water.

The spring of 2022 had several days of exceptionally fast water. And it also seemed to have a large percentage of elderly and otherwise inexperienced kayakers who seemed to have been told that they could just “float” to the lilies. A friend and I did several impromptu water rescues that spring. I recall one day at the height of the season where we saw about a half dozen sinking boats and their former occupants hanging onto tree branches they had grabbed as their kayaks went on without them. As much as I want people to experience the wonder of this phenomenon, it’s important to consider whether the trail may be a better fit. It’s equally important that no matter if you’ve been planning the paddle for weeks, that you not get on the river if the flows are higher than your skill level – and you must evaluate that based on USGS data and not by eyeballing the water at the put in. It always looks relatively calm.

Now that I’ve given context and warnings, let’s talk about the beauty of the place…

I am not a botanist, and what I know about the lilies is just what I’ve picked up – and maybe even unintentionally made up – over the years, but I think it’s essentially correct and its borne out by my experiences too. These lilies only grow in rocks in rushing waters. That’s why they’re so rare and endangered – even though they’re exceptionally hearty. Some years – like 2018 – they’re completely flooded out, but then they come back the next year. Dams and development have destroyed many of the habitats in which they thrive. Also DO NOT PICK THEM or try to take the bulbs home with you. Both of these are criminal offenses and these lilies will not grow in your yard! It’s also decidedly NOT cute to have an endangered lily in your hair!

Each flower blooms for a day and each stalk has a yesterday, today, and tomorrow bloom. The yesterday bloom has wilted and is hanging. The tomorrow bloom is still closed. As we get closer to the end of lily season, these flowers seem to follow the life cycle of women. They look robust at their peak and they seem to follow the rules of the yesterday, today and tomorrow blooms. As they near the end of the season, fewer bloom, but many still do. They start to look more lacy and delicate. And the ones that bloom are more likely to have twins and triplets.

I try to keep visiting them until the last of them has gone. It may be silly but I think of them like the elderly and fewer and fewer people come to see them towards the end, so I try to keep visiting until the end. See you next year, lilies.