We were having some “triple H” weather here last weekend, which means hazy, hot and humid, so I wanted to get to a shady forest. I chose High Blue trail in Walpole because I was fairly sure that there would be a good breeze on the summit, which faces west. The trail starts out following an old logging road.
I started seeing things of interest almost as soon as I reached the old road. False Solomon’s seal plants (Maianthemum racemosum or Smilacina racemosa) bloomed all along it. Some grow close to three feet tall but most are less than that; about knee high. False Solomon’s seal has small white, star shaped flowers in a branching cluster (raceme) at the end of its stem. Soon the blossoms will give way to small reddish berries that provide food for many birds and other wildlife. It is said that a Native American tribe in California used crushed false Solomon’s seal roots to stun fish. Others used the plant medicinally.
Brittle cinder fungus (Kretzschmaria deusta) in this stage are stunning, in my opinion. I like the powder gray against the bright white margin. As they age they blacken and look like burnt wood and become very brittle and are easily crushed. They grow on dead hardwoods and cause soft rot, which breaks down both cellulose and lignin. In short, this is one of the fungi that help turn wood into compost.
This photo taken previously shows what the brittle cinder fungus will become; a black lump. Younger examples have a hard lumpy crust or skin, a piece of which can be seen in the upper left of the example in the photo. It’s hard to believe that it’s the same fungus that’s in the previous photo.
Grasses are flowering nearly everywhere I go now and I like looking at them closely. I don’t know this one’s name but I’ve learned enough about grasses to know that the yellow bits at the top are the male pollen bearing flowers and the wispy white bits on the lower half are the female flowers.
Fringed sedge (Carex crinite) grew in wet spots along the road. It’s a large sedge that grows in big, 2 foot tall clumps. I like its drooping habit and I’m not the only one, because it has become a popular garden plant. Many animals and waterfowl eat different parts of sedge plants, especially the seeds. Other names for this plant are drooping sedge and long-haired sedge.
The trail does a loop but I always take the left at the High Blue sign and walk in and out.
From here the logging road narrows down into little more than a foot path. The sunlight was dappled and my camera doesn’t do dappled well, so this isn’t the best photo I’ve ever taken.
Hay-scented fern (Dennstaedtia punctilobula) does well up here and grows in large colonies all along the trail. I like the repeating patterns that they make. This fern likes shade but will tolerate extreme dryness well. Its common name comes from the way it smells like hay when it is bruised. This fern does well in gardens but gardeners want to make absolutely sure they want it because once they have it they’ll most likely have it for a long time. It’s very difficult to eradicate.
Last year the meadow suddenly became a cornfield and the corn attracted animals of all kinds, including bears. I’ve seen a lot of bear droppings all over this area ever since, so I carried a can of bear spray. Thankfully I didn’t have to use it.
Our brambles are coming into bloom and it looks like we might have a good blackberry harvest. Easy to pick blackberries can be found along virtually any rail trail and many woodland trails. Blackberries have been eaten by man for thousands of years. The discovery of the remains of an Iron Age woman called the Haraldskær Woman showed that she ate blackberries about 2500 years ago. The Haraldskær Woman is the body of a woman found naturally preserved in a peat bog in Jutland, Denmark in 1835. Native Americans made a strong twine from fibers found in blackberry canes, and they used piles of dead canes as barricades around villages. I’m guessing that anyone who had ever been caught on blackberry thorns wouldn’t have tried to make it through such a barricade.
Orange hawkweed (Pilosella aurantiaca) was dotted here and there in the meadow. I see thousands of examples of yellow hawkweed for every one orange hawkweed plant and I’m not sure why that is. The plant might be from Europe but it’s far from invasive in this area. Maybe their scarcity is due to the color orange being virtually invisible to bees. Orange Flowers do reflect ultraviolet light though, so that means that some insects must find them.
As I usually do when I come here, I had to stop at what’s left of the old foundation. I’m not sure who lived up here but they had plenty of courage and were strong people. All of this land would have been cleared then and sheep would probably have lived in the pastures. It was a tough life in what the Walpole Town History describes as a “vast wilderness.” But it was populated; many Native Americans lived here and they weren’t afraid to show their displeasure at losing their land.
One of the reasons I chose this place was because there is a small pond on the summit and I wanted to see if it was covered with duckweed yet. I wanted to take a close look at the tiny plants but about all I could see was pine pollen floating on the surface.
There was some duckweed but it was too far off shore to be easily reached. This pond must be spring fed because it never dries up completely, even in last year’s drought when streams were disappearing. I always wonder if it was the family’s water source.
There are an estimated 259,000 miles of stone walls in the northeastern U.S., most of which are in New England, and many are here in New Hampshire. The stones were found when the recently cleared pastures were plowed and they were either tossed into piles or used to build walls, wells, foundations and many other necessities of the day. Sometimes entire houses were built of stone but wood was plentiful and easier to work with, so we don’t have too many stone houses from that time. Most of what we see is used in stone walls like this one, which cross and crisscross the countryside in every direction.
I always take a photo of the sign when I come here, but I’m not sure why. What it means is that at 1588 feet above sea level the summit is higher than the surrounding terrain, and the view is always blue.
As I thought it would be the view was very hazy on this day, but there was a nice cool breeze blowing and that alone made the short hike worth it on such a hot humid day.
It was so hazy I couldn’t even see Stratton Mountain over in Vermont, which is just across the Connecticut River Valley seen here.
The stone pile builder has been busy. I’ve wondered why anyone would carry stones all the way up here just to build an eyesore like this, but on this day I realized that it was much more likely that these stones are being taken from the stone wall we saw 4 photos back. I wonder if this person knows that taking stones from stone walls is a crime, punishable by having to pay three times the cost of restoring the wall, plus legal costs. This is because many of these old walls mark boundary lines and are recorded as such in property deeds. I’m not sure why anyone would risk it just to put piles of stones in other people’s way, but to each their own.
We’ve had a lot of rain recently but I was still surprised to see a slime mold growing on the side of a log. The book Mushrooms of Northeast (no, not northeastern) North America-Midwest to New England by George Barron has quite a good section on slime molds and it starts off with one called Ceratiomyxa fruticulosa. I believe that the photo above shows the cylindrical white fruiting bodies of Ceratiomyxa fruticulosa, variety fruticulosa. There is a second variety of this slime mold called porioides, and the fruiting bodies look like tiny white geodesic domes. The fruiting bodies shown are so small and so fragile that one swipe of a finger can destroy hundreds of them.
If you reconnect with nature and the wilderness you will not only find the meaning of life, but you will experience what it means to be truly alive. ~Sylvia Dolson
Thanks for stopping in.
Our hot weather starts today, according to the forecast. Although we don’t get the humidity, we are supposed to get into the 90s and 100s this weekend. I remember east coast humidity, and do not miss it.
So many beautiful photos! The slime mold is very beautiful and delicate. I seem to remember more orange hawkweed when I was young. Out here it seems mostly of the yellow kind.
We had more heat and humidity today. I was trying to transplant some plants but it was just too hot for them.
We have mostly yellow hawkweed too. The orange must be very particular about the soil it grows in.
The walk was worth it not just for the cool breeze but the elegant slime mold too.
Thank you, there will be more slime molds coming. We’ve had that kind of weather.
Good as far as seeing slime molds go but I am sorry about your weather.
It’s only supposed to last until Wednesday.
Such a variety of interesting things in this post! I always enjoy seeing slime moulds! This one looks like the tentacles of coral or a sea anemone – but much smaller!
I’m afraid those stone heaps irritate me too when I see them. I often find little ribbons and bits of cloth tied to branches near the stone heaps so I know that these places are special to certain groups of people.
Than you Clare. That’s exactly what this type of slime mold always reminds me of too. I found some even better examples yesterday so they’ll be coming along soon.
In all the years I’ve been going to this place I’ve met exactly one person up there, and he was an author who had just published a book about Mount Monadnock, which I bought. He said he lived nearby but I can’t picture him building these silly things.
He doesn’t sound like a likely suspect! I look forward to your next installment!
It was hot, humid, and hazy here last week also, I hope that the cool down occurring here makes it your way.
Because of my health issues and the way that insect repellent bothers my skin, I haven’t spent any time in the woods this summer, so I have to see the sights of the forest through your blog, something that you excel at! Loved seeing the slime mold and the fungi, as well as the views from the top of the mountain.
I’ll bet that if you were to sit quietly at the edge of the pond around sunrise or sunset, that you’d see animals and birds coming to drink or bathe there in the water. But, with bears around, that may not be a wise choice to make. 😉
Thanks Jerry! It’s pretty steamy here now but they say we’ll see 70s again by midweek.
That’s too bad about the bug spray. I wonder if there’s anything natural you could use that wouldn’t bother your skin. A guy at work swears by garlic pills and vitamin B12 and says he never has to use bug spray, but I’ve never tried it.
I’d bet that I’d see lots of animals up there too, but I’d also bet at least one of them would be a bear. They were really after that corn last year and there were either several bears or one that really got around. They left piles everywhere.
Stay safe if it becomes ugly today 😦 Finally this week it will feel like summer.
Thanks, I hope we don’t see any severe weather.
I’m ready for summer!
We barely got any rain you? Out there I herd there was lots of rain
We didn’t get much but to the north of us in Westmoreland and Walpole, they were hit pretty hard.
Seems to be there and in VT up to Bath that get nailed.
Yes, that area seems to get hit hard each year now.
crazy
Thank you, lovely like usual!!
You’re welcome!
Lovely, the reflection in that pond.
Thank you Susan. The light always seems to be just right up there.
The cylindrical white fruiting bodies of Ceratiomyxa fruticulosa are amazing! It never ceases to amaze me what can be seen of we take a close look.
I agree! There are some fascinating things out there and most people don’t know they’re even there.
I just photographed that same grass and sedge in my yard recently too, and was pleased to find the latter identified in your post. I also have a surprising bumper crop of orange hawkweed this year in one location. As you noted, they usually are way outnumbered by the yellow ones. But I seem to have a bumper crop of many things this year — perhaps because of the wet spring and now [almost] summer.
Thank you Pat. If you have the sedge in your yard you must have some damp spots.
You’re lucky to have the orange hawkweed. I see two or three plants here and there, but that’s about it. They don’t seem anywhere near as robust as the yellow.
Yes, the water table is quite high and I have a variety of sedges here — mostly not too far from a brook.
Then that makes life a little more interesting!
That’s a very pleasant place for a hike! The pond must be a very valuable fixture for the wildlife. I sometimes see stones piled up here too but I can recall only once where they actually marked the intersection of a trail. Just last week I encountered one and destroyed myself.
Thanks Montucky. Yes, the hike is easy and quick and it’s one of my favorite places when I’m feeling lazy or old, or when it’s hot.
I’ve seen deer tracks at the pond so I know they use it. I’m sure many other animals and birds do too.
I can understand a cairn to mark something important but these are just piles of stone that mark nothing and get in the way of seeing the view.
I hope you destroyed the rock pile you saw and not yourself!
We’ve got 2 Hs, hot and humid. Better than hot and dry, which we had for the first half of June.
Interesting that you don’t have haze. I haven’t been in many cities but I always think of them as hazy places.
Lovely going on a walk with you. So much to see! I found the slime mold especially fascinating as I have never seen any in central Maine. Perhaps I just haven’t looked in the right places.
Thank you Laurie. I have some vision problems so if I can find them anybody can. They’re almost microscopic but they grow in large groups, so this makes them easier to see. I look for what looks like smudges of color on the shaded side of logs and on last year’s fallen leaves. White is easiest to see against a dark log but they come in yellow, red, and even blue. Once I see that smudge of color I look closer and a lot of times it turns out to be a slime mold. They can’t take dryness so the best time to find them is a day or two after a good soaking rain. I hope you’ll find some!
Thanks for the info!
You’re welcome!
Great hike. Glad there was a cooling breeze at the summit. We are in FL now getting the roof on Waldo fixed and HHH is the order of the day nearly every day!
Thanks Laura. Oh how I pity you! I lived in Florida and it got so hot in mid May that I had to leave. I can just imagine how it is in June. I hope you have AC nearby!
Enjoyed that. Especially the bit about stone walls. Always was fascinated with them.
Thank you David. There are some good books about stone walls that you might enjoy. One I have is called “Stone by Stone” by Robert M. Thorson. It’s a good look at the history of stone walls in New England.
I love this part of the year (among other of course 😉 when all the leaves are just almost bursting with vibrant new life, vigour and deep green.
Thanks Ben. I don’t mind the heat but the humidity here can be brutal at times. Luckily the beauty of it all makes it easier to near.
In those conditions, which happily don’t occur very often, my mind and body shut down and I have to lie down or sit in a stupor until (more) normal service returns.
I wish I could do the same. Working in it can be trying sometimes.
I think I’d have to move somewhere else.
Don’t choose Florida!
Little chance of that, I think. 🙂