Autumn Along the Road

Despite one frosty-cold morning this week, the daytime temperatures have continued unseasonably warm here in Saratoga County, inviting me outdoors to enjoy this beautiful season. The crazy-quilt tree-leaf colors have mostly faded to a uniform cinnamon brown by now, but I remembered that the roadside rocks along Spier Falls Road support a marvelously colorful variety of plants late into the fall. Offering views of both mountainside forest and the Hudson River, this is always a beautifully scenic place to walk, but never more so than in autumn. So off I went to enjoy it.

The Palmertown Range of mountains rises dramatically from the riverbanks here, with steep ledges of exposed bedrock crowding the roadside.

Trees, ferns, mosses, lichens, wildflowers, and woody shrubs all thrive in this rocky habitat.

I wasn't sure about the identity of this shrub, but that didn't prevent me from admiring its vivid pink foliage.

For vivid leaf color this late in the fall, few shrubs can rival the Round-leaved Gooseberry (Ribes rotundifolium) that springs from cracks in the rock.

Combining shades of orange and pink and purple and gold and touches of green, the gooseberry leaves achieve an almost neon glow.

Few wildflowers remain still in bloom, so this Aster with tiny purple blooms was quite a surprise.

The ruby-red fruits of Bittersweet Nightshade (Solanum dulcamara) added a colorful accent to the rock-dwelling vegetation.

As I walked along the road, the sound of splashing water alerted me to the presence of tiny rills that danced from ledge to ledge as they coursed down the mountainside.

Many sections of bedrock were constantly wetted by springs that welled from within the rock, creating a perfect habitat for many species of moss.

Numerous mounds of Fountain Moss (Philonotis fontana) provide a constantly dampened home for the evergreen basal rosettes of Early Saxifrage (Micranthes virginiensis). In early spring, clusters of snowy-white flowers will emerge from these leaves, transforming these rocky ledges into breathtakingly beautiful rock gardens.

Here's another beautiful moss that thrives on these constantly spring-watered rocks. Beads of sparkling water are visible among its sharply-pointed star-shaped leaves. Its colloquial name, Marsh Cardinal Moss, is much easier to remember how to spell than is its tongue-twister of a scientific name, Ptychostomum pseudotriquetrum!

Masses of Common Haircap Moss (Polytrichum commune) spring from cracks in the spring-dampened, lichen-adorned bedrock.  I find this very common moss in drier habitats, too, but it looked especially fresh and lovely here on this constantly watered site.

Here, where water sheeted across the bare rock and small patches of green algae bloomed, I discovered dozens of tiny, pale, worm-like creatures, quite likely the larvae of some creature I might recognize in its adult form. But I sure did not know what that adult creature might be. 

Here's a little closer look at those worm-like creatures, one that reveals some antennae-like structures protruding from one end.  I also could see  tiny legs that extend the entire length of their bodies, similar to the legs on a millipede. So maybe they are the larvae of a millipede.  After looking at many images of millipedes on Google, I did find one that resembled these creatures,  one called Greenhouse Millipede (Oxidus gracilis). Informed opinions would be welcomed!

Heading home, I never fail to stop along Spier Falls Road to gaze at this picturesque view of the Hudson,  small pine-covered islands and forested mountains now bronzed by late-autumn colors. So beautiful, in every season!