Out for a ski on the last day of 2016 I came across a dead birch tree absolutely covered in birch polypore fungi. The fungi visible on the tree are just fruiting bodies of the larger organism -- at this point, what was left standing was probably as much fungal mycelia as it was dead wood!

The Edwards nature trail was donated to the town of Edwards, by the Iroquois natural gas line. It runs on the old New York central railroad bed. The train ran from 1893 until the late 1970s. Interestingly enough,in the distance, the sound of the train whistle running through Richville and Bigelow could be heard today. The trail runs about 1.75 miles southwest to the Talcville road. At about the 1/2 mile mark you cross the main branch of the Oswegatchie river on the old railroad trestle.

Just a short snowshoe trip back to boy scout bay on Trout lake. The trail-head sign says 1 mile, but it was closer to 8/10th according to GPS. We started from the the Cedar Lake Public Forest Access Road/ north shore road, about 1/3rd mile off county rt 19 in Hermon. We had freezing rain for a few hours this morning, but by noon everything was done. Mid 20s and overcast, so not too bad for snowshoeing. It's an easy trail and leads to a picnic area on trout lake (complete with an outhouse).

Although this wasn't in the north country, we are from there and loved the outdoors there as much as at home. Assateague island is in Virginia and Maryland, and we hit both ends of it. We are planning a couple days in April to explore the MD end again. We saw quite a few ponies, and several sika deer, (but didn't have the camera ready), hopefully we can get some shots of them then. It's pretty exhilarating to see these wild ponies right on the shore of the ocean. It's worth your time if you find yourself in the area.

This was a day to get off the couch and out to the winter world. We started off from the Minna Anthony Common Nature Center, on Wellesley Island . We walked the eel bay trail to the narrows trail, and from there we took the middle trail back to the nature center. We didn't see much wildlife, but the views were great. We had original planned to snowshoe, but the lack of snow made doing it in boots easy enough. Total distance was about 3 miles, +/-. From there we headed towards Cape Vincent and Tibbetts point (by car). The road is very close to the St.

This isn't the biggest white oak around, and not the oldest. But this tree has been through 2 world wars, a civil war, 37 presidents and the majority of the years that the town (and village) of Edwards has been in existence. I came to know this tree in the late 70s/early 80s. I have hunted, fished and trapped by this tree. Rode bicycles, ATVs, snowmobiles and dirt bikes past it. Camped and hiked under it's branches. I've thought often of what has happened in this tree's lifespan, so I decided to do some research.

It was a a great day for a hike, mid 40's, no wind (but a little overcast). We left from the Ames road parking area,on the blue trail. It's an interesting hike to watch the transgression from abandoned farm land (this was originally the Clark farmstead) to mature forests. There is a particularly interesting section between Moon and Huckleberry, where a stand of large white pine had died from damage (most likely from a recent ice storm) and naturally reclaimed the area with young pines in the 10' range. These have grown in thick, like the proverbial "hair on a dog".

Tonight I went for my first walk of the winter season. It was snowy and silent and a bit too long -- my ears were numb when I got back inside! Usually when I go for walks, I put in my headphones and tune out the world. But tonight, one song into my stroll, I unplugged and just listened. Listened to the frozen leaves and grass crunch under the still-fluffy snow, listened to the occasional exclamations of students returning to their rooms from a late night of studying, listened to my own breath -- and saw it, too.

A fluffy-bummed cottontail hopped off the path at the same time as a late-leaving flock of Canada geese honked by overhead.

I awoke this morning to snow falling outside my window. I immediately jumped out of bed and dressed for an adventure. Before light, I was out on my skis, carving my own start to the week in the snow. The only sign of life were the tracks of a deer who pranced about wherever she felt moved, carefree before the plow's arrival.