Leaf show, Lantern Hill

Before I dropped my granddaughter Stasia off for a much-hoped-for sleepover at Auntie's, I wasn't able to interest her in one of our former-favorite-activities: a hike up Lantern Hill. But I certainly needed the walk, so I went myself. In addition to just the simple pleasures of putting one foot in front of the other, I wanted to check on the progress of the fall leaves and, if I'd managed to pick the right time, photograph migrating hawks. Alas, there's still not a lot of vibrant color in the hardwoods, and there's a definite dearth of migrating anything.

I took the great circle route back to the car, and on a particular cliff face that, this time, I managed to find without difficulty, I was successful in another part of my agenda. I located the colony of a Mountain Spleenwort that has long been a Species of Special Concern in the state and has been under observation on Lantern Hill for decades. I can report that it's apparently happy and making spores in a few pockets on the rocks and, even under torture, I won't reveal its location. The naturalists who have to know, know. For everyone else, a picture is worth a thousand potentially Spleenwort-threatening searches.

Mountain spleenwort, LH