Cycling
I've been enjoying my time on the trails this past week. So much color and the fragrance of autumn is overwhelming at times. Fantastic. These woods are home.
I needed some images for a project and while searching photos from 2020 I came across these. Taken when I was able to get out on longer gravel rides on the back roads. Taken on an early morning ride when there was still a bit of fog in the low lying areas.
From today's trail ride.
Ramaria caulifloriformis, coral fungi
Cortinarius distans or Laccaria, not sure!
After breakfast this morning I had about 90 minutes before the rain was scheduled to come in so I got out for a walk with the dogs.
There was a lot of bird song so I took the binoculars and went slow. They were deep in the woods, so I didn't see many but they were all around me: blue-winged warbler, Wilson's warbler, white-eyed vireo, red-eyed vireo, summer tanager, ovenbird, Carolina chickadee.
Birds that I did get to see were: indigo bunting, chipping sparrow and a gray catbird
Got back just in time to take a quick ride down to the creek. A peaceful twenty minutes before the storm listening to the birds and the light rain dripping through the forest.
A few hours later an unexpected visit from a friend who I've not seen in awhile (Hi Bill!). We spent some time catching up on the porch and listening to the bird song. He has an uncanny ability to identify birds by their song and it's always a delight to visit with him. While we chatted another welcome visitor stopped by, a bright red summer tanager landed on a branch not too far away.
My photos only show a small area along the trail but this hill is covered in Mayapples. It's quite something.
Lots of Mayapples on the trail as well as Andersonglossum, wild comfry which has simple, five petaled flowers. Very pretty evening bird song including: summer tanager, northern parula, and red-eyed vireo.
With all the rain we've had recently the creek is flowing really well. My favorite place to stop and be still. These are the best moments in my simple, slow life. Learning to be content in a smaller radius and with as little external fossil fuel input as possible.
Really nice trail ride today. Lots of wild flowers. Hypoxia hirsuta, common goldstar, one of those that's currently blooming.
Some nice trail rides in recent days. Always a treat to observe the woods wake up in the early days of spring.
I love early spring rides in the woods. I can feel spring right around the corner! It's the time of year when I can hear the spring peepers and in a couple of weeks the first wildflowers will start to pop!
Photo from yesterday's trail ride. Taken along the backside creek inflow to the lake. Some pretty grasses in this area.
One of my favorite trail ride sections is a patch of cedar trees with an abundance of moss near the trail providing some winter color.