Francis Carter Preserve
Posted By auntie on December 19, 2012
3.79 miles ★★★★
today was a beautiful crisp day for a usual suspects hike. we hiked for 2 hours and it seemed as if it was over too soon.
tunnels in heartwood
there were a lot of blowdowns throughout this preserve, although someone had been through clearing most of the trails, so the going wasn’t difficult. we noticed several downed trees that looked like the one above, where the heartwood was riddled with carpenter ant galleries and tunnels. it’s not hard to see why these guys blew over. i once heard that an estimated 80% of all the trees in the woods have carpenter ant infestations.
mosses
the only color in the woods this time of year, aside from the occasional lone partridge berry, is the brilliant green of the mosses, particularly where they get lit up by the sun.
moss close-up
here is a close-up of the mosses. i believe the gray/white one on the left is reindeer moss, but i couldn’t identify the one on the right.
big rock
and here’s a big rock with another rock on top. a common site, actually.
the francis carter preserve is in charlestown, rhode island, and it is a nature conservancy property. be aware that there is some limited hunting allowed on this property, so wear blaze orange during hunting season. you can get a trail map from the nature conservancy website.
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