Lost in the wilderness

 

Blueberries

Swamp Azalea,
Rhododendron Viscosa

Colicroot at Windswept Bog, Aletra Farinosa

The arrowhead viburnum has run its course.  What was a field of irises at Windswept Bog is now a field of Rosa Carolina, and the colicroot field is blooming.   The false indigo was getting ready to burst near the Pout Ponds on July 1  and Josh and I saw the first sickle grass on our hike from Reyes Pond on July 8. It’s the parade of summer.  There were 6 types of mushrooms in Squam Swamp during my hike on  July 7, and I nibbled on a number of ripe high bush blueberries.

I got lost in the moors on July 9.  #wildnantucket is real!  I set out seeking the white-fringed orchid in the Sconset Dump.  There was lots of new growth and I lost the path, got disoriented.  Bushwhacking left me scratched bloody and tired.  I called Rob Benchley for a rescue.  Phew.  He talked me through my moves …which were there on Google Maps’ satellite, but which I was having trouble reading my location.

I did walk through a field of colicroot, see the remains of sheep laurel, tromp through huge ferns and smell the swamp azalea.  And I got a shot of the white-fringed orchid before bloom. Rob and Carol rescued me and drove me home.

White-fringed Orchid, before bloom

Colicroot at the Sconset Dump

The GreyLady is earning her name this summer.  We’ve been in a southeast wind/east wind weather pattern that keeps the fog coming.  Temperatures have been cool , in the sixties or low seventies, with a mean temperature of 67.85 for the first 7 days of the month.  Every day was foggy for the past several weeks,  until today, July 11.  The winds have shifted to the west and the sky is clear.  The temperature is also up to 77, the highest of the year.

Honey Mushroom, Armillaria mellea

Poison Champagne Amanita, Amanita crenulata

Eastern American Platterful,
Megacollybia rodmanii

Amanita Sect. Validae

Jellied false coral fungus,
Sebacina schweinitzii

Brown American Star-footed Amanita,
Amanita brunnescens