fungus

easter monday we stopped by mcgilvra woods for a brief afternoon walk. the forests are just waking up ’round these parts, so not too many species out and about yet. but saw some vibrant hepatica and virginia spring beauties. there was cut-leaved toothwort all over the place but about to blow in a few days.

mcgilvra is a mesic forest of mostly maple and basswood, known for its spring ephemeral display, of which we saw just the burgeoning swell (cf. supra). exposed sandstone in the southern portion of the site, but i didn’t get to it. next time.

here’re some lunes, and, breaking usual form, a short accentual four-liner. <gasp>

only those humblest

to the earth

ready to begin

hepatica blows

sheltering

between cold root flares

sunlight

chill air

blossoms say:

not yet

mayville ledge beech-maple woods is very much what it sounds like, tho’ “ledge” in this case refers very specifically to the exposed niagra escarpment present on the site. the niagra escarpment is the exposed dolostone ridge at the edge of the niagra cuesta that stretches from new york state up thru canada and down into dodge county (and a smaller exposure in waukesha county) here in wisconsin via door county. in some places, it’s dramatic seaside cliffs, in others, it looks more or less like a pile of rocks.

no trail to speak of here, we followed deer paths up the glacial drift-laden section up to the top of the ridge and walked thru the ungrazed woods atop the ledge. with a steady wind blowing up onto the plain, we were able to enjoy a late-summer hike thru beech, maple, and ironwoods, with lots of mushrooms and moss growing all around the glades of tumbled dolostone. american beech grows here in its westernmost limit.

dolostone drifting,

acorns fall

in quiet rock glades