Pine Lake and Mud Lake Hikes – Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Report by Aleda Koehn – Our group met at 9 AM at Pine Lake. We divided into two groups, one going to Mud Lake and the other, led by Julie Smith, for a walk around the Pine Lake property. The Mud Lake group of 7 warmed up considerably on the initial uphill part of the trail. The morning was humid and annoying gnats and their relatives buzzed around. We walked out on the sphagnum mat to see the flowers of the pitcher plants standing a foot or so above their funnel leaves. Although somewhat drier than in the spring, standing too long on the moss resulted in slowly sinking into the water. Strangely enough, we were not bothered by insects while standing on the edge of the bog. After a quick water break at the junction, we made the mostly downhill hike back to Pine Lake where we had our lunch with some of the other hikers.  Photographs by Doug Fielder: 1) Group on Mud Lake Bog, 2) Pitcher plant in flower, and 3) Scene across the bog and Mud Lake.