21: Shortoff Mountain Trail

Shortoff Mountain is so named because it kinda just "cuts off" all of a sudden. We headed there this past Monday to do some work.

The day started off cool and cloudy, with low fog that got closer the higher we went.

We had waited until the weather started getting cooler to do this as there is little to no shade up top (due to a fire couple of years ago). There were plenty of other things to take photos of, though.

There were the usual assortment of skeletal trees poking up through the fog. Kinda like hands reaching for the clouds.

You can't tell it here, but we were really quite high up.

Believe it or not, there are mountains back there, somewhere....

After a while the fog began to lift, and we could see Lake James off in the distance. 

And then of course, there were the interesting plants and animals that are usually out and about this time of year. I spotted a few monarch butterflies chasing each other through the flowers, but they didn't stop to pose for me.

Up top, there was a whole field of goldenrod. everything looked quite yellow! Besides the monarchs, there were all sorts of other butterflies and bugs visiting. 

This stuff is apparently a fungus, Pulcherricium caeruleum  AKA Cobalt Crust. I thought it was quite unusual.

I saw quite a bit of this stuff as I cut back brush away from the trail.

On the way out, we spotted this little guy on the trail. He wasn't too happy to see us, and I don't know that he appreciated being moved off the trail. But I told him he had a pretty shell.

I also spotted a tiny baby blacksnake, but he wriggled away before I could get a photo.

All in all, a tiring but rewarding day.






Stay tuned!
Aye, Kraneia