Thursday Hikers

We had an energetic, long, full of fun and fungus hike. Can anyone tell me what those black fungus are in the first photo? They were about 2″ tall, and, for such a small size, were quite menacing! Our trek started at hiker friend Deb’s beautiful home. Deb has a complicated broken arm with extensive nerve damage that has caused her left hand to hang limp and useless. It will be a while before she can hike again. Deb had put about 60 acres into Conservation Restriction land that now abuts the Trustees of Reservations land at Chapel Falls so we hiked from Deb’s to Chapel Falls. Along the way we were, for a while, on the 1700s Military Road (now a path) where once Prussian mercenaries walked. Is that some form of Chicken of the Woods giant fungus we found ? (photo 3) I found Lactiporus sulphureus and L. cincinnatus in a book, but I don’t think so. The one we found was growing on the ground and was easily 2 feet across. If it was a Chicken of the Woods, we should have built a campfire and had a feast. I understand a Riesling and some Bechamel Sauce would have been in order! We found huge boulders covered with Liverwort (?) or Rock Tripe (?). Lissa fashioned a few of them into a snappy little hat. Then, way on down the trail … another huge fungus quite like the first one. We needed a Guide to the Fungus with us today for sure. I took so many fungus photos; too many to include. At trail end we found our spotted cars at Chapell Falls and drove back to Deb’s for our bag lunches and watermelon from Joe, oatmeal cookies from Lissa, and a freshly made blueberry pie from Tony. A really great day , we all agreed. The dogs were fully tuckered out and slept under the lunch table on Deb’s screened porch. July is racing along. Hope things are well with you. Special thoughts to you, Christine and Elie. Penny