I've been hearing for a while now about a supposedly impressive waterfall hidden along Spruce Brook in the woods of Naugatuck State Forest. I say "hidden" because I've talked to people who know about it, and there are a few sources that mention it online, but it's not marked on any map I can find, and the written directions I've found are sketchy at best. So today, Paul and I decided to go on an adventure deep into the woods to try to hunt down this fabled waterfall. And while we didn't find the fall (probably because my directions hinged on taking a road that's currently closed, and we weren't sure exactly which paths we should follow coming from the other direction), we did see some other really lovely parts of Spruce Brook, and it was just a gorgeous day for a walk through some really beautiful woods.
A few woodland blooms greeted us on our way, including a large patch of Shinleaf (Pyrola elliptica):
And Poke Milkweed (Asclepias exaltata), which I don't think I've seen before:
Is it just me, or do these flowers look like they have fangs?
We walked along the brook for a while, which cut through a very pretty ravine with mossy cliffs, and reached a place where some small falls ran into a cute little pool (complete with minnows):
The rocks above these rivulets were mostly dry (although not exactly what I would call a path), and we were feeling adventuresome, so we clambered up the stream a little ways and ended up faced with some almost-falls coursing around big boulders -- it's difficult to get a sense of scale in this next picture, but the mature trees on the sides should help:
Surrounded by cliffs and rocks and running water, this would make a great place to sit and relax -- the only things marring the scenery were the empty beer bottles lying around. (Seriously, what is wrong with people? We picked up a few particularly offensive pieces of trash, but we couldn't clean up everything.)
It was fun exploring in the woods, and heartening that we didn't get lost! The road we were supposed to take should be open again in a few months (after the state finishes fixing a bridge), so we might come here again in the fall to see what we can find. I'm glad we took advantage of this beautiful, temperate day -- especially since I just glanced at the weather forecast and it's supposed to get really hot soon! Yay, summer. :P
Today was another great day for a trip to the Naugatuck State Forest: clear skies, sunshine, and cool breezes; it couldn't have been nicer. The animals and plants were very active, so maybe they agreed with me.
I've seen Red Squirrels in these woods a couple of times before, but much less frequently than I see their larger gray cousins. So I was pretty excited when this little fellow scampered out of the undergrowth and then posed for a few pictures -- it even let me sneak a little closer before it ran the rest of the way up the tree:
This guy was just barely bigger than a chipmunk, and so much daintier than the more common Gray Squirrels. Apparently Red Squirrels prefer forests with conifer trees, so maybe that's one reason why I never see them around my apartment. In any case, getting close to this adorable creature today was a real treat.
And speaking of treats, I've always wanted to see a slime mold (yes, I'm aware of the strangeness of that statement), and I'm pretty sure I found one today! Behold:
Isn't it magnificent? I had just assumed that slime molds were a type of fungi (or maybe I had forgotten what I learned in my 7th grade science class), but it turns out they're actually an entirely different thing! And there's a lot of crazy stuff to learn about slime molds, if the Wikipedia page is any indication -- I wish I had time to learn more. If you click the picture to zoom in you can see the crazy texture on this thing -- it's even starting to grow over that leaf. So cool!
The rest of today's walk turned up some more cool new things, but in familiar veins: bugs and flowers.
There were more dragonflies than ever, but all of the individuals I got pictures of managed to elude my attempts at identification (this is not surprising). However, even though I couldn't figure out their species, I got to see some cool behaviors. This dragonfly, for example, just recently metamorphosed -- it's still standing on the skin of its nymph form (from which it emerged):
And this rather large dragonfly is munching on what looks like a (still wriggling) ichneumon wasp (a non-stinging insect whose larvae are parasites on other insects -- I'm not sure of the exact species):
That looks like a pretty big meal, even for such a large dragonfly. These guys are serious hunters.
The flowers were putting on a nice display as well. Here's a whole bank covered in low-growing plants of the blackberry family -- are these actually dewberries, or can I just call them "blackberries" like I want to?
This pretty (and very small) flower is Deptford Pink (Dianthus armeria), originally from Europe but not considered invasive (to my knowledge):
Finally, here are a couple of new flowers for me, whose leaves I've been seeing all winter (since they're evergreen). These plants were growing on opposite sides of the same path and they look very similar, but they are different species. First there's Round-leaved Pyrola, with its glossy leaves that are tinged slightly purple at the stems:
And then there's Shinleaf, with leaves that are not as glossy, and there are some differences in the flowers if you look closely, too (it's hard to see the leaves that go with the stem in this picture, but the leaves directly below the flowers are from the same plant):
Also, a side note: I mentioned in a post last week that a couple of people had apparently seen a Black Bear in the Naugatuck State Forest recently. Well, according to this article, the DEP captured a Black Bear that was in a neighborhood just north of the forest, so I'm wondering if this is the same creature.... It seems likely!
