When you spend time backpacking, you get close to nature. We’ve shown you some of the wonderful things we’ve seen out in the woods in other posts. Here’s a look at the variety of critters and plants we saw over a few days this spring.
Early spring brings new green growth with the trees leafing out. These pictures were taken from the top of Frank Grubb Ridge in Deam Wilderness in southern Indiana. It was a grey, misty morning, but you can see the green just starting to show.
A couple of days later, Walt took this picture on Terrill Ridge. You can see how much more green is visible.
We saw a really different looking fungus on this trip. There were actually several around the base of a fallen tree. We think is is a gyromitra esculenta, but need a mycologist to be sure.
We saw some early wildflowers, including these trillium. The one near the center is nearly fully open, and others are not even fully up.
This little white flower is fairly common to see in the woods in early spring. We also saw may apples just coming up. They look like umbrellas unfurling.
Critters
We also saw a snake while we were hanging around camp one day.
We camped near a pond one night and saw numerous turtles on the logs in the pond.
The other critter that was very common near the pond was frogs! This recording was taken in the evening of the peepers looking for mates. We had to use earplugs for a while!
One frog even decided to check out our tent the next morning.
We had a wonderful view of the sunset from our camp.
Sherrey
Looks wonderful and peaceful out there in the woods, except those frogs! Oh my! Way too loud!