Unfolding of Spring: Part 2

Today was another beautiful spring day, a couple weeks after my last visit. A big rain event over the course of a few days had just occurred, and the river was higher than I’ve ever seen it before. The trail that I use to get to my site as well as the little beach next to my site were flooded. The water came up onto my site, several feet higher than it usually is.

Finally, I saw some signs of spring on my site. Two different varieties of shrubs displayed beautiful buds. The honeysuckle had new berries. New grasses and ephemerals were growing in the little patches of dirt on my site. A few of the trees on my site, including common buckthorn, yellow birch, and box elder, had not yet begun budding, but are probably close.

On my way up the trail, I was blessed enough to see some ostrich fern!

flooded path
flooded site
shrub #1
shrub #1
yellow birch
shrub #2
shrub #2
common buckthorn
ephemeral
box elder
ostrich fern
ostrich fern