I refer to it as the "Snowman Trail" based on its shapeš and to differentiateĀ it from the nearby Boardwalk and Dewberry Trails. It is at P20 on Anderson Road.
The trail has always been a place for young kids to hang their bird houses/feeders assembled and painted from kits available at the dollar stores. TheĀ kit structures are not sturdy and tend not to last too long. Last year, due to avian flu(?) the NCC took them all down from the main tree where they were hung, and cut off all the low branches to prevent more going up.Ā
Well..... Another suitable tree has been found and more are being spread out along the trails.
And for those that don't have kits, they can always hang their shoes....
As in other locations around town this year, fall colours are spotty. The first photo are beech leaves.
For all the years I have walked the trail, I never really paid attention to the pine plantation area. This time the difference in the pines struck me. Red pines with the bare trunks and white pine with the branches lower to the ground.
A long since dead maple tree's broken trunk was hosting a new tree growing aboutĀ 10 feet upĀ the dead trunk.Ā
(I need to get a better shot of this from another angleš)
Alongside a boardwalk at one point was a small pond completely covered with duckweed, and a little further on, a fallen tree trunk covered with moss.
One spot on the trail has a profusion of indian pipes growing along it. Well over 50 plants. At this time of year, they have all died of course, but the flower stems are still standing "tall" and dark brown.
The asters had all gone to seed
I managed to find one mushroom
But the fallen trees were hosting lots of fungus:Ā white, brown, grey and black
And one tree was sheltering a minion
