Sleepwalking? - Day 272

  I seemed unable to wake up all day. Walked anyway, of course. The mosquitoes were horrible, but there's only one more day in the woods for a while. Not sure I've ever anticipated paved trail quite so much.

These stands of red pine from the 1930s have been recognized as not a best forestry practice, but they are always picturesque.


This is Crown Lake, which seems to be turning into Crown Wetland. There is a campsite here, but I sure can't recommend it during mosquito season!


Here is the Boy River, which the trail crosses on a road bridge. The lazy, broad rivers of this area are so different from the rocky, jumbled and swift rivers of some of NY and PA.


Another new-to-me plant day! American Spikenard, Aralia racemosa. I thought it was a shrub because of the size, but it's actually herbaceous (not a woody stem). One of the largest herbaceous plants. The fruits will ripen to deep purple. Apparently this is also found where I live, but I've not seen it before.


Near the end of the day, the trail popped out on a road again. I wondered why. Well, duh- another river to cross. Oddly, this is named the Swift River. Is that like calling the fat guy "Slim?"


And I'll leave you with a pretty purple mushroom. Closest we can ID is probably to the genus Cortinarius. Mushroom identification is a minefield, and I will almost always defer to someone who knows them better than I. For more purple mushrooms, see Purple mushroom/fungus


Slept all afternoon after I got back to the trailer, so hopefully I'll be more alert tomorrow.

Miles today: 14.3. Total miles so far: 3214.5.

See Theoretically Two-Thirds