Mount Philo

On Saturday my lovely friend and I took her children for their first hike up a mountain. We chose Mount Philo, since it would not be too hard for the children and, although it is small, it has lovely views.

As we gamboled through the woods, I was pleased to hear the children chattering about the plants around them. The little lady saw a dead tree with many holes in it and proclaimed it a snag. She remembered from our last hike that "Woodpeckers make the holes." Why? "To find insects." What happens to the holes when they are done? "Other animals move in." Not bad for 6 months later!

Near the beginning of the hike we came across such a beautiful specimen of ash, I'll admit I got over-excited. I love ashes, how they shoot up so straight and tall right through the rest of the trees until the top is invisible behind the canopy. The bark is so distinctive with its oblong hexagonal diamonds.

Diamonds!

Thus, inadvertently, this was my pet tree for this hike. We also saw some white pines, which had not been forgotten from last time either. The young gentleman and the little lady counted out the needles for me, 5 per bundle, just like I promised.

This hike was pretty magical in terms of things to see. We discovered fairy homes, tree scars and burls, rocks that had been moved by glaciers, and various types of mushrooms speckled everywhere.

A fairy home

We discussed how sometimes we see a lot of one type of mushroom spread out over an area. It may look like individual mushrooms, but actually they are connected by root-like mycelia that run under their feet. After all my talk of not overwhelming the children with information, here I am discussing glacial erratics and mycelial mats! Luckily for me, the little lady ate it up (though not literally, since the mushrooms were toxic) and the young gentleman was content to listen while he faced the obstacles of roots and rocks our long-legged bodies barely registered.

View of Lake Champlain from the overlook

The children were amazing, never complaining, always pushing toward their goal of reaching the top. And we were all rewarded when we got there, as you can see. Since the children did so well, we told them we want to hike another mountain. We want to do Snake Mountain next (slightly larger than Philo, but the children proved themselves!)

Showing the children the next mountain we'll hike, Snake Mountain. Wait, hold on...

that one!

On the way down we found some patches of jewelweed, otherwise known as touch-me-not. I'd shown the kids this plant before, so they were very excited.

Pale jewelweed

For your information, not only are the leaves good for insect bites and poison ivy, but the mature seed pods burst to the touch, shooting seeds like they were spring-loaded! It happens to be the right time of year, and there were plenty of good, ripe, bean-looking pods.

"I love exploding touch-me-not!" ~The little lady