Another windy afternoon shooed me off the beach and into the calmness of the woods around Spring Lake. The trail continues to surprise me with new and interesting things to examine.

Weird mushrooms growing on mushrooms. A jumble of three fern species fighting for space (as if that’s the only spot for a fern to grow). An old log playing host to a wide variety of life forms (a tree up here hosts more living cells when it’s dead than when it’s alive). The last of the Salmonberries. Ripening Red Elderberries. And more flowers – a promise of future berries.

Mushroom Growing on Mushroom

Mushroom

Tiny White Mushrooms Growing on Larger Black Mushroom

Delicate White Fungus

Trio of Ferns: Sword, Deer, Wood

Log, Filled with Life

Overripe Salmonberry

Glowing Salmonberry

Ripening Red Elderberries

Red Elderberries

Yellow Flower

Blackberry Blossom