Spring Walk At Fort Yargo State Park: Shelter A To The Old Fort, May 26th, 2015 (Part 2)

May 26th. (Continued from…). I started to walk again at Fort Yargo State Park in Winder, Georgia. One of my favorite walks is from the Group Shelter A to the Old Fort and back.This is a rewarding walk for viewing wildflowers and I’ve been trying to walk it weekly and document the wildflowers I see.

The route, which I described here, here, and here. 

  

I walked around the Fishing Area towards the ‘Rock Garden’ and got a very pleasant surprise.

A fallen log lying just above the shore was covered with Jelly Ear (Auricularia auricula) fungus. The only other place I had seen these was on one of the equestrian trails in Hard Labor State Park in Morgan County, Georgia, early this spring. (Unfortunately, the log was thrown into the lake before my next walk and I didn’t have the means to pull it out. On the walk after than, I managed to get the log out of the water and dragged it down towards the Rock Garden and put it in a patch of poison ivy. Hopefully, the Jelly Ears will survive; time will tell.)

At the ‘entrance’ to the Rock Garden, the only sign of the Scrambled Egg/Dog Vomit slime mold (Fuligo septica) that I saw on my previous walk was a stain on the log.

The recent rain had brought the Resurrection Ferns (Pleopeltis polypodioides) back to life. 

One of the lichens on a nearby boulder had dried and lifted off the boulder like a crust. Now…

it looked as fresh as it had earlier in the spring.

  

The developing seed capsule on the Perfoliate Bellwort (Uvularia perfoliata) looked healthy.

  

Throughout the woods I could see…

  

Pipsissewa (Chimaphila maculata) plants were in bloom. It was as if someone had flipped a switch and all the flower buds had opened. At a couple of points, I could see as many as a dozen plants blooming.

I continued along the Rock Garden trail and then rejoined the…

  

main trail to the Old Fort.

A non-breeding pair of Canada Geese (Branta canadensis) were feeding on the lawn below the fort.

  

I retraced my steps along the trail to its junction with the main trail and then…

  

continued south along the main trail.

  

Just north of the Fishing Area, I found this cluster of Pipsissewa plants in bloom.

It was gloomy, but the trail was quite scenic, at the…

  

cliff,..

  

south towards…

  

the first bridge, and the…

bent tree just to the south, and finally to the…

root steps before reaching the pine woods at the parking lot. 

I wasn’t anticipating an interesting walk, but this day had its highlights – the Pipsissewas in bloom and a wonderful display of Jelly Ear fungus.

Related posts: 

- Spring Walk At Fort Yargo State Park: Shelter A To The OldFort, May 26th, 2015 (Part 1)

- Redring Milkweed (Asclepias variegata)

- Spring Walk At Fort Yargo State Park: Shelter A To The Old Fort, May 18th, 2015 (Part 2)
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