Posted By auntie on July 13, 2014

5.49 miles, chepachet, ri

this was a providence county hiking club hike, and there were just the 4 of us. this property is a botanist’s paradise. so many different plants! we had a lot of fun; this is a great property, with lots of well blazed trails and excellent signage.

slime mold

and not just plants! this is a slime mold. google it. there are a lot of very interesting things being done with them, including basing road networks and computing systems on their growth and movement patterns. yeah, they move. creepy.

food

black raspberries! these were all over the place, and they were delicious. sorry birds. we didn’t eat many…

yellow loosestrife, aka swamp candles

the summit of steere hill is a vast meadow which is just chock-full of all sorts of wildflowers, and some not-so-wild flowers, too. i even saw some golden raspberries.

giant patch of indian pipes

there was a giant patch of indian pipes—i’ve never seen so many in one spot. indian pipes are a plant that produces no chlorophyll, and it gets its nutrients from fungus that, in turn, gets its nutrients from the tree roots it lives with. so ultimately the indian pipes sponge off of their chlorophyll-producing cousins, via fungal networks. sneaky.

striped pipsissewa

finally got a semi-decent shot of these flowers, too… i’ve been trying for a week. they either get blown out in the highlights or they’re out of focus.

dog rose

the dog roses were almost gone by, but they were lovely too.

i have added this hike to the hikefinder.

Categories: Rhode Island, Walks and Hikes
Tags: 5–7 miles, Chepachet RI, RI