Assessing some outdoor outcomes

I've been itching to get back to Lake Katharine to check on the progress of the wild orchids I found last week, but nasty weather kept me indoors yesterday and then I had an assessment meeting this morning that I expected to last for hours and hours and hours, so you can imagine how excited I was to find that the bulk of the assessment activity can be completed on my own time, so there I was at 10 a.m. on a gorgeous sunny day with a sudden unexpected opportunity to get out to the woods. Sit inside completing an assessment activity or take a hike in the woods? No contest.

One problem, though: I didn't know that a long stretch of the Salt Creek trail was under water. Now I've been down that trail in high water before and had to find detours through the woods around the flooded spots, but this time the water was so deep that I couldn't even see how far it extended up into the woods. Nothing to do but turn around and go back. By the time I'd retraced my steps and walked up the short loop trail to the parking lot, I was too worn out to go around the other way and find the orchids. Maybe next time! 

Meanwhile, though, I marveled over the way the umbrella magnolia leaves catch the morning light, and the alternate trail up to the parking lot led me through a small patch of perfoliate bellwort, the first I've seen this year. I also saw bear corn cropping up around the base of trees, its colors still fresh and bright, and I caught a brief glimpse of a fox dashing through the undergrowth. At this time of year everything feels so alive out there, with energy coursing through each leaf and branch and bird and beast. My assessment of this morning's hike: I may not have seen the orchids, but all other essential outcomes were achieved.

Umbrella magnolia leaves seem lit from within.

Bear corn.

Jelly fungus.

Jack in the pulpit.

Perfoliate bellwort.