5 July 2013 Hiking Little Drummer

The rain of the day before washed away. We were prepared for big adventure and a hike along the ANF Little Drummer Trail in Elk County. The trail is named for the grouse which makes a very memorable drumming sound just before flying off. We didn't see any grouse today, but were treated to amazing weather and lots of cache finds.

Ths clintonia was past blooming, but it was interesting to see the plant with seeds forming.

Without Eva around to share the fun, Gwen ignored blueberries today. They used to attack ripe blueberries on the trail. Gwen did celebrate her 1200th geocaching adventure this afternoon. She took a rest after the find

Ali spotted a heron on the beaver dam as we approached the pond. It was really skittish and gone before there was any chance of a photo. We would see the same heron twice more with the same results.

We diverted from the Little Drummer Trail for a detour along an old railroad bed. The tall ferns were waist-high in sections.

Gwen is tired, but unlike most recent days, seems happy as we near the end of the loop.

We are getting better at picking likely areas for finding orchids. We found a few clusters this afternoon.

Our journey brought us back for another view of the water and my third missed chance at the heron who had been in the trees to the right in the image.