Alcott Smith led a group of about two dozen hardy souls on an adventure up Tunis Road, through beautiful forests and frozen wetlands, and back down to the Tunis Brook Mill Lot owned by the Hanover Conservancy which sponsored this hike yesterday.
Along the way we found tracks of deer, turkeys, coyote, fisher, deer mouse, shoeshoe hare, long-tailed weasel, red-backed vole, porcupine, red squirrel, and ruffed grouse. We saw many moose browsed trees as on the right and below.
We saw some great trees: butternut, red maple, black ash, and a huge old yellow birch. Alcott took us to an active porcupine den, but porkie was too far inside to be seen. We found a modified snow roost where a ruffed grouse had spent the previous evening.
We saw cellar holes of long-departed homes. One tree sported two oyster mushrooms. And then there was an amazing balanced bolder.
Just before we reached the Tunis Mill site we saw an extraordinarily large glacial erratic. On one part of it was eatable rock tripe, a lichen, and a neat rock pattern.
Here is a slide show of some of the photos I took during this great learning experience.
