Forest Magic

Right now the forest here in PA seems magical. It is in the autumn transition of losing leaves and going dormant. Recent rains have everything glistening and dewy. Perhaps I could venture to say soggy! I know my boots are soggy each day I get done.

So many different colors and every day it seems less and less leaves are on the trees. The wind sends so many tumbling down to the ground.

Beautiful sphagnum moss

A ridge top pond we found. These are more common than I expected.

I learned that a lot of these trees on top of the ridges are cherries. They were quizzical little meadows that left me wondering what trees they might be.

When we do get a view out across the landscape it always makes me wish I had a cabin and a mug of coffee with a good book to go with the view.

One of my coworkers identified this as a type of mullein.

It reminds me of the common garden plant, lambs ear.

A few flowers do linger but most everything has gone to seed, including this strange seed pod.

Hey, it’s me! Yes, I have to wear a hard hat in the woods. The client we are working for requires it. It’s a bummer. The only good thing is that it does keep the rain off your head really well and does come in handy with some branches. Just realized we totally look like foresters.

Streams are very common and though we have a map delineating known streams we are finding a lot of ‘unknown’ streams.

A cute little slug

This is a good reason not to build near a river! This was an old hunting camp that was removed from its foundation and turned around. Lots of destruction from the recent flooding up here.

There’s a lot of forest magic going on up here!