Wildcat Mountain

Yesterday was a beautiful day to be in the woods. We started out at the playground at Wildcat Mountain State Park, but it didn't take long 'til we were out and wandering the woodlands and riverbanks. 

the view from Wildcat Mountain

yellow violet

morels!!!

 more morels!!!

Can you tell I was very excited about the morels?

columbine and bellwort

spring beauty

 While Sylvia, Ayla, and I were wandering and foraging, Camille was crafting a beautiful walking stick and hiking with two of the State Park rangers, as part of the Kickapoo Teen Drop-In. We also joined the folks from Echo Valley Farm for a delicious grill-out of burritos and s'mores.

 woodland phlox

 fiddlehead ferns

Camille and the park rangers ate fiddlehead ferns while on their hike up Mount Pisgah, but Sylvia, Ayla, and I preferred nibbling on ramp leaves for their sweet, onion-y goodness.

 bluebells and ramp foraging

Ayla's "magical wand of dead and alive nature"

 wild geranium and wild ginger

 

 on the bank of the Kickapoo River

 a moment of quiet

 trilliums, I adore

 some sort of anemone flower (I think?)

mullein

An afternoon aimlessly wandering in nature at the pace of a child; this is my happy place, my contented sigh, my peaceful heart, my hope. 

"Come forth into the light of things, let Nature be your teacher." 

~ William Wordsworth