Still Colorful - Day 320

  Although the snow brought down most of the leaves on the taller aspen trees, there is still plenty of color in the woods if you look a little more closely.

This is an area that is regenerating with aspen. I thought this was an amazing array of colors in just the one species of tree.


The young red oaks are demonstrating what red means.


Maple leaves are falling but keeping their color, simply transferring the gold to the ground layer.


I'm always a sucker for pictures of turkeytail fungus. I love how creamy this one looks.


Sometimes moss is so intensely yellow-green it almost hurts the eyes.


Finally, this beaver pond had so little color, the photo looks almost the same in black and white. Therefore, I did change it to B&W. Don't squint too hard hunting for subtle colors.


It was drizzly and cloudy all day. There wasn't enough precipitation to make much difference for hiking. It was chilly, but I had on enough layers, and I can definitely walk faster when it's cool. Tomorrow is supposed to be even colder, but with some sun. That works too.

Finally, I met the largest group of backpackers I've seen yet on this hike (Well, maybe there was a larger group of Scouts in New York, but that was a while ago, and they were only hiking a mile!). These people came from St. Paul for the weekend. I asked if they were a hiking club, but they are just friends who like to go out together. The oldest was 70, and he got a kick out of the idea that I was also about his age.


The trail today was pretty easy- fewer rocks and fewer hills. I was ready for that.

Miles today: 16.0. Total miles so far: 3684.6.

See Moving Day