Beaver works was the name of my first adventure today. Last fall, some of the Greater Lovell Land Trust’s docents and I walked along the trail of this private property and saw the beaver trees, dams, ponds and lodges. But today, I felt like I was stepping into a completely different territory.

This week, thanks to the generosity of the landowners, we have a walked planned on the same property and someone has been rather busy–cutting off the path with a fallen tree and a flooded pond. With today’s pre-hike we have a sense of what to expect.

You know they are busy when you see their well-traveled path

and downed trees.

Or those that have been girdled but have yet to fall.

This old dam is quite large and no longer productive–you can see that the pond it once held is diminished to a small stream. The vegetation on top provides another sign of inactivity.

Inactive on the part of a beaver perhaps, but someone else passed by and left a baby-hand type print in the mud recently–or sorta recently.

The beavers moved on and changed things up elsewhere–one needs wellies in order to follow the straight line. We chose to go around.

In the process, we got to see another beaver pond. They’re everywhere!

The landscape is constantly evolving. I used to think it took a hundred years for a forest to change–that belief founded on what a junior high school science teacher said. I now know a wee bit more–it’s all in a state of constant flux. I think the same can be said for us–growing and changing with the years–physically, mentally, emotionally, socially and spiritually.

Off my soapbox–There are other fun things to see along this particular trail. I’ll only mention one–some bear sign. And yesterday morning, while placing a land trust sign on Route 5, I watched a young black bear cross the road–less than a mile from this trail and in a seemingly straight line with what we found today. I know that because of my X-Ray vision. (Disclaimer–what we found wasn’t created by the bear yesterday, but it shows evidence of a bear’s presence. Then again, there’s lots of bear sign in these woods.)

My guy was working and it’s been a while since I’ve gone on a solo trek, so I decided to journey on at another GLLT property–Flat Hill and Perky’s Path.

I was on the purple trail to begin and surrounded by hues of green.

So shades of red like the stems of red maple leaves became my focus. They were subtle, but I was surprised with how many examples I found.

The salmon-colored inner bark of northern red oak.

Striped maple leaf stems.

Wild sarsaparilla leaves.

A Rusulla, I think.

The kitchen table of a red squirrel.

Sandstone-patterned red pine bark.

Wintergreen berry  and

partridgeberry.

Not red at this moment, but home to many a red sunset, the view from the summit of Flat Hill. Don’t you love an oxymoron?

Following the orange trail of Perky’s Path provided more shades of red.

A whorl of starflower leaves and bunchberry fruits.

A single red maple leaf.

The fruit of a trillium.

And hobblebush leaves and fruit.

More Russulas emerge, displaying their red caps.

And finally, a pink steeplebush.

Though my eyes were fixated on red, I did see a few other things.

A yellow Russula. (Hope my partial ID is at least partially correct.)

A leaf and twig bird nest tucked against the tree trunk. Surely, someone can help me ID the creator of this masterpiece.

And the world’s largest Indian cucumber root. Soon those berries will turn red.

I thoroughly enjoyed today’s wander through rose-colored glasses. Thanks for coming along.