During one of my weekly runs on the Kip Track Trail, I noticed this fungus all alone in a sea of pine needles and brush. I stopped and crouched down to take a closer look and noticed the little bird's nest next to it. Normally when I run, I try to clear my head or I have random thoughts and ideas jumping around--sometimes even a random playlist of music (I never run with headphones). After encountering these two pieces of nature, I continued running and began to think of a story that coincided with their placement.

I spent a few hours today wandering through the forest at a snail's pace. I looked through the mosses, peered into wood pecker holes, turned over a few leaves and stumps to see what lay beneath. As I lifted a rotting mushroom to see how it was changing now that it stopped growing and had given up its spores, I spotted this little spring peeper clinging to the underside. They are a common find here in the North Country, but it was especially neat to watch this peeper for a long time, observing its breathing and wondering where it might be going next.

If you would like to witness the impressive ability of beavers to structure a forest community, take a hike at Wolf Lake State Forest. There is a very significant beaver dam that has been there for years. As you hike, you approach from below the dam, walking across the dam outlet and slowing going up hill until first your eyes are level with the water and then you find yourself standing on the shore of the beaver pond. Very impressive (not to mention beautiful) spot.

While hiking toward the huge beaver dam at Wolf Lake State Forest, Jake and I found this log that had been stuffed full of some kind of fruit. This is likely the cache of an animal that was storing the fruit for later eating. The tree in which the fruit was stashed had fallen, and a trail crew had cut through it with a chain saw, revealing this pile of old seeds.

After a somewhat hard rain, a beautiful double rainbow appeared over Canton. The first image is the view along County Route 27. The second image (not on the map) is a view from in front of the old Jubilee store in Canton.

The Northern Ringneck Snake was the first my husband and I (both St. Lawrence County natives) had ever seen. Its head had been removed and we speculated that perhaps a bird had had it and dropped it from above. It was on a portion of trail we'd already come down, so it was freshly killed (an hour to 1.5 hours), I believe.

The caterpillar was also a first sighting for us. I still do not know what it is.

My first reaction to the scat is that it is bear scat; it had a lot of berries in it. Nonetheless, I'm not sure that it is bear scat.

In two hours we were able to pick 2 quarts of blackberries along the SUNY Canton river trail. Well worth a few thorn pricks and mosquito bites. We also saw an abundance of leopard frogs, which were so prevalent we had to be careful not to step on them.

This nymph is the larval stage of the damselfly, a smaller, thinner relative of the dragonfly. While at this stage, they are a fearsome predator in the aquatic ecosystem. However, they are prey to many fish, especially trout, likely contributing to the name of this river.

Beautiful falls just off the road in Parishville. The hike in is about 1/10 of a mile. For scale in the first picture, you can see two people at the bottom of the waterfall.

We found a milk snake in the road, hit by a car. Milk snakes have patterns of white, black, and red. Some share a resemblance to the coral snake, protecting them from predators.