2021-7-22, Blue-Orange Trail, Bigelow Hollow State Park, Nipmuck State Forest, Union, CT

 On 2021-7-22, I walked the blue-orange trail in Bigelow Hollow State Park and Nipmuck State Forest in Union, CT, and Sturbridge, Massachusetts.  I made an interactive map with location numbers that I'll refer to.  Here's a link to the interactive map: https://arcg.is/qn5Tb .  Here's a static screenshot of the Connecticut Forest and Park Association online map with my GPS track overlaid on the map in pink and my location numbers shown with yellow icons:




1.  I parked near 1, walked maybe fifty feet on a white-blazed trail and then turned onto a blazed with blue-orange blazes.  Here's a picture I took of one of the blue-orange blazes at Location 1:



2.  One of many places on the blue-orange trail where there were evidence that someone had recently cut back the mountain laurel.


3.  One of the few fallen trees that I saw on the blue-orange trail on 2021-7-22.



4.  Another spot on the blue-orange trail where there was evidence of recent trail widening achieved by cutting back mountain laurel.



5.  Another small blow-down.



Near 5.   I had a lot of trouble trying to get clear pictures of this delicate plant which I think is naked-flowered tick trefoil, Hylodesmum nudiflorum.



Near 5. 


Near 5. 



Near 5. 


Near 5.  Here, the CFPA online map seems to deviate from reality  ---- note that my pink GPS track (both out and back) made a curvy line while the CFPA map shows a straight line.



6.  Evidence of recent blow-down cutting.



7.  One of the many mushrooms I saw along the blue-orange trail.  I think this is painted suillus, Suillus spraguei.



7.  What's that membrane that seems to be coming off the underside of the cap?



7.


8.  A sturdy-looking bridge.



Near 9.  I think coyotes defecate on prominent spots to mark their territory.  I think this mass of hair is the remnants of coyote scat.



9.  Almost a view at a highpoint here.



10.  Someone has organized rocks to make the stream crossing here easy.



Near 10.  One of the spots on the blue-orange trail that was not four feet wide on 2021-7-22.


Near 10.  A view of a big swamp.  I looked for, but didn't see, moose.



Near 11.  Have you noticed that, sometimes along trails in the summer, there is a fishy smell?  Maybe the smell comes from this mushroom as it decays.  I think the species is fishy milkcap, Lactifluus volemus.


Near 11.  Fishy milkcap?



Near 11.  



11.  The most substantial blow-down I came across on 2021-7-22 on the blue-orange trail.



12  Another species of mushroom I saw on 2021-7-22.  I think this is yellow patches, Amanita flavoconia.








David Reik

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