Enjoying the Tastes and Sights of Summer

Friday morning I had plans to get up early and go over to Bradbury but honestly, I wasn't really feeling it, so I relaxed a bit and had an extra cup of coffee instead, took Sam to camp, hit the farmer's market for some fresh produce and ripe berries and then headed out from home around 9:00 am onto the powerlines.

It was a beautiful morning, with warm sun shining overhead and a cool breeze blowing. My legs felt kinda dead so I took it easy, stopping often to enjoy the blueberries and raspberries that I found trailside, taking photos of the beautiful wood lilies, stopping to enjoy the deer leaping through the brush and the two Monarchs I spotted on the way back, flitting amongst the milkweed and spreading dogbane. So lovely. (8.0 miles)

Puddle frog

A new gnome marker...

Monarch

Meanwhile, Sam was having a great time at camp, roasting marshmallows and hotdogs! Sounds fun to me!

This morning, I got out a little before 7:00 am and headed into the Cathance. Another nice morning, although a bit more humid than Friday. I headed past the Heath and down along the river, taking the trail out to Head of Tides. Took my time and just enjoyed the scenery, which included one deer, one wood frog, black raspberries out near Head of Tides (yum!), a few bullfrogs, lots of summer wildflowers and some blueberries too. Legs thankfully felt a bit more peppy today! (13.0 miles)

I had told Ryan and Sam about all the blueberries I found on a stretch of trail I don't normally traverse along the powerlines plus a new patch of wood lilies too, so after lunch we rallied to get Sam off the couch ;) and out for a walk around 2:00. It was kind of overcast and cool with a good breeze, perfect for walking. We saw lots of wildflowers including fireweed, spreading dogbane, swamp candles, bunchberries, rose rugosa, milkweed and of course wood lilies, blueberries and raspberries! We had a long stop early on to pick a good amount of blueberries and then continued on across Highland Green Road, enjoying the sweet smell of the hay-scented ferns and marveling at the cinnamon ferns as big as Sam! From there, we found a few nice patches of raspberries further along to snack on, finally turning around about 1.75 miles in. Also saw one Monarch! Yay! Sam did a great job, and it was a really nice afternoon for a walk and to stop and eat berries :) (3.5 miles walked)

Fireweed

Yum! Blueberries!

Wood lily

Swamp candle

Bunchberry

Rose rugosa