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Thursday, August 11, 2011

AUGUST 6TH HIKE: TIMBER CAMP


[Click on photos to enlarge them]


A large and enthusiastic group of hikers headed off to Timber Camp and beyond, guided by two able WVAIA hike leaders, Gary Moak and Dan Newton. On the way, they heard the story of a small sparrow of some kind, whose nest was unexpectedly found, the previous week, next to a water-bar just below the Timber Camp kiosk. At the time, there were four red freckled eggs in the nest. One would like to think that all four flew the nest to young adulthood, but can't help but wonder, why did she build her nest in the ground? We have our research staff looking into this, but if anyone out there knows why, feel free to let us know...





The time of year did not grace us with a plethora of wildflowers or mushrooms; however, we saw several species of clubmoss, the dissembling fern allies that look like moss but aren't; such as, Staghorn Clubmoss, Shining Clubmoss, or Ground Cedar Clubmoss [pictured below]





Other nefarious species [pictured below], were seen, but not identified...




Hikers at the stone bench beyond Timber Camp enjoyed a fabulous view of Painted Cliff [below and right], the sheered-off eastern edge of East Osceola. From the same vantage point, two other cliffs were seen: K1 and K2 on the western side of Mount Kancamagus; and, north through the Mad River Notch, the expansive cliffs on Mount Huntington.