Photos Around Camp

I finally got around to taking some photos in our woods.  These are some of my favorites.

Slime mold?

A carpet of moss

Neat small moss and ferns

Epipactis Helleborine orchid

Lycopodium

Lichen and moss

Jack-in-the-pulpit fruit

Wild Basil or Satureja vulgaris in the Mint Family, or Lamiaceae, grows along our driveway.

A Stroll up the Driveway

It is a crisp fall day, perfect for a walk up the driveway to see what is there.  This plant's common name is Doll's Eyes for obvious reasons; also White Baneberry.  The Latin name is Actaea pachypoda in the Ranunculaceae.

The sun lit up some Beech Drops (Epifagus virginiana, in the Orobanchaecae) which are all around now.  They are parasitic on the roots of beech trees.

I love our moss and lichen covered rocks.

Around the Camp

There are lots of foxglove blooming this year.  Since they are biennials, I'm never sure how many or where they will show up.
















































And the mayflies are out.

Paddling Follensby Clear Pond

It's been a while since we paddled anywhere but on the Flow, so it felt good to put in on Follensby Clear Pond this morning.  We paddled the circumference for a total of about 6 miles.  We found these flowers in abundance again.  They are Swamp Loosestrife (Decodon verticillatus) in the Lythraceae and they grow out into the water in several places around the lake.




There was the usual log covered in sundews.


We stopped for lunch on a small island and were serenaded by loons on both sides of the island.


We saw a couple of loons with babies.


At one point we saw a group of at least nine loons and wondered if they are already gathering for migration.

Orchids!!!

I got a chance to try the macro setting on the new camera today.  These teeny orchids are growing along the driveway!  I found six plants and there may be more.  Okay, so the wildflower book says they are aliens, not native, but they are still welcome along my driveway.  They are Helleborine orchids, presumably because the leaves are similar to those of false hellebore, with Latin name Epipactis helleborine.

Milkweed

Our milkweed is flowering nicely.  We rarely see monarch butterflies but do see quite a few swallowtails.  This is a particularly ratty-looking specimen.

Walking at the Paul Smith's VIC

I'm excited to report that I hiked about 1-1/4 miles at the VIC this morning and my knee did very well, just complaining a bit on the downhill slopes.

This was our annual trek to see the orchids and we weren't disappointed.  I was trying out the new camera we got for our Arctic voyage and found I still have a lot to learn.  Some of the plant photos came out ok.

Rose Pogonia Orchid

Calopogon Orchid

White Fringed Orchid

Pitcher Plant and Flower



Marsh Cinquefoil


And this great photo of a cedar waxwing from quite a distance.  I couldn't tell what bird it was until I loaded the photo onto my computer.  Pretty impressive.

Orchids at the VIC

It actually wasn't raining today so we went to the Visitor's Interpretive Center (VIC) to see the orchids.  The Boreas trail leads to a boardwalk through the bog and lots of neat orchids.


Rose Pogonia


Calopogon, which is my favorite.


White Fringed Orchis


And of course there were lots of pitcher plants blooming.

Ladyslippers

After a couple of rainy days when we first arrived at camp, we finally got some sunshine today and went to Hayes Brook Trail to see the lady slippers.  They were wonderful as always.  The rains have really brought out the wildflowers this year.


After we got home I discovered 5 lady slippers in the area to the left of our deck.  I need to explore to see if I can find more.

Trillium

We have never seen as many trillium as are in bloom now.   Our woods are full of painted trillium.

We have some red trillium as well, but not nearly as many as are now in bloom along the trail up Goodman Mountain.  A friend told us about them so we stopped there on our drive back to New Jersey today.  

There are apparently also lots of dutchman's breeches and trout lilies in bloom near the summit.  We'll have to be sure we get up there next spring.

Lady Slippers

We hiked the Hays Brook trail system again this year to see all the lady slipper orchids.  It was a beautiful day to hike the 4-mile loop.  There weren't even very many bugs.

Paddling Middle Saranac and Weller

The two of us paddled about 9 miles today.  We put in at South Creek

paddled through Middle Saranac Lake

and into Little Weller where we saw this amazing sight.  We couldn't tell what we were seeing so we got closer than we should have to this loon on a nest, which was trying to look like a log.  We backed off as soon as we realized what it was, but I got a great telephoto shot.

Then we paddled into Weller Pond and explored, lunching at campsite 85.  The white water lilies (Nymphaea odorata in the Nymphaeaceae) are in bloom

and so are the pickerelweed (Pontederia cordata in the Pontederiaceae).

Orchids at the VIC

We walked at the Paul Smiths VIC today looking for orchids, and we found them.
Rose Pogonia (Pogonia ophioflossoides)

Calopogon (Calopogon pulchellus)

White Fringed Orchis (Habenaria blephariglottis), which was just starting to bloom.

And this was the first time this season we had seen pitcher plants in bloom (Sarracenia purpurea)