Ben Utter Trail & Stepstone Falls

Posted By on September 2, 2012

Ben Utter Trail & Stepstone Falls

3.18 miles  ★★★★½

back to stepstone falls, this time with a friend. unfortunately, there isn’t a lot of water in the falls river right now, so it was far from impressive. but my friend really liked arcadia, and i’m sure we’ll be back again.

partridge berry, mitchella repens

there was a lot of partridge berry along the ben utter trail. there were a lot of people out today, too… many with small annoying dogs. i’m just not used to being out in the woods on weekends, much less holiday weekends. guess i’m kind of spoiled.

beech blight aphids, grylloprociphilus imbricator

there were a lot of these guys in the beech trees, too. they left a characteristic sooty mold spot under the branches they were infesting. according to mr. google, they are not particularly injurious to the tree, although there were so many infestations, i kind of find that hard to believe. but if it says so on the internet, why, it must be true. right?

fungus?

think this is a fungus of some sort, but don’t quote me. there were several in a small area, and this one was the only one that was peeking through its skin.

giant green scorpion

finally, this wasn’t, strictly speaking, sighted on the trail, but i had to bring my friend by to see it because i thought it was the kind of thing she would appreciate. i was totally right. seriously, what’s not to like about a giant lime green, teal, and orange scorpion made from scrap metal?

Comments

2 Responses to “Ben Utter Trail & Stepstone Falls”

  1. Linda Ferrara says:

    There’s such a paradox – I want to tell people about the beautiful spots in nature, but I don’t want to see anyone when I’m out there!

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