Photos A Walk in Nature

[Just Tom.]

Lower moco has dogwoods at the end of their life expectancy. Houses and original landscaping from the 60s. I had one where different major limbs would die every 5 years or so.

Sassafras was the other great wood for walking sticks. A dying sassafras will send up saplings from its roots. You can't get rid of them.

Now I have to live with Aspen saplings. They seem ok, but are not as robust.

Greetings fellow lower moco person…

I will keep an eye out for sassafras. As a kid we used to pull up the young plants when camping, to make sassafras tea from the roots. Apparently now they say not to, as it is supposedly carcinogenic. It never occurred to me to look for larger plants.

 

[DirtDawg]

Nature Trails East - Quincy, Illinois
National Take a Hike Day 2025
Only a mile out, and a mile back, but it was the best two miles I've ambled in a long time.

When I come to a fork in the trail and am not sure which way to go, or if I really don't care at the time, I always go left. Sycamore Trail and the Amber Bone 63032CV it is.


"Let's go Liberty. We can take the Creek Trail on the way back."


Pausing for a look-see with Liberty. What a gorgeous day for a little saunter in the woods.


Ha! I didn't know that was a thing. Pretty cool.


Checking out the fungus on the way back with my 1995 Buck 112 Ranger with Custom Elk Antler scales. Liberty approved!


Cedar creek was pretty much dried up on this day due to the drought we have been experiencing this year. Just a few pockets of still water lent credibility to the term "Creek".

 

[DKIN]

This past weekend, the wife and I stayed at the Hike Inn – a backcountry inn that is only accessible via a five-mile hike into the Georgia foothills.






The inn is LEED-certified and almost completely off-grid. The most impressive factoid to me, though, was that the total construction waste only took up the space of a single pallet.


The views are eastern-facing, and sunrises are a focal point.




At the 'Starbase' right below the inn, the equinoxes are marked when the rising sun shines through the monument keyhole and into the back of the crib.


I pocketed the new Northfield 66 for this trip. It's becoming a highly favored hiking buddy.

This backcountry inn type-of-thing is totally my bag. I have a couple more on my radar (Leconte Lodge in TN, and another in NC). If anyone has any experiences with these places or other hike-to lodgings, please post them up!