Sue Helps Me Find the Caves

Whew! I found those caves and that Walking Fern I was looking for in my last post. My friend Sue took me right to them today. And they weren't where I remembered them at all. I'm afraid I'm getting very forgetful in my old age. Plus, the forest looks very different now than it did when covered in snow, which it was the last time Sue and I visited the site, following a porcupine trail right into the mouth of one of those caves.

Here's Sue photographing that Walking Fern. The fern gets its name from the way it sprouts new plants from where the tips of its long narrow fronds touch the moss it grows on. This particular plant had walked about two feet from where I first found it last fall. Although Sue and I searched and searched among many boulders, we never found another one of these unusual ferns.

There are quite a few caves up there on the ridge overlooking Moreau Lake. Sue wondered if they might all be connected underground. I don't think I'd want to crawl in to find out.

Some folks believe these caves are the remnants of graphite mines, but I tend to think they were formed by running water. In fact, we found a little stream running out of the mouth of one cave.

That rushing stream that Evelyn and I followed up the ridge two days ago? Today it was lined with ice, with beautiful icicles hanging down over the water and streamside mosses beaded with crystal drops. Of course, we had to take pictures.