It’s only been two and a half weeks since I last visited, but there’s been so much change. The trees are starting to change color, with the canopy now being a mix of yellow and green, as opposed to the solidly green canopy during my last visit. I noticed that while some of the trees directly off the trail have some yellow leaves, the ones off the trail are almost completely yellow, and I’m curious as to why that is. On some maples, the leaves have changed colors, but not to yellow. I’m not sure if I didn’t notice it last time or if this is a new phenomenon, but many of the maple leaves have black spots on them, which seems to indicate tar spot disease. It’ll be interesting to see if this gets better or worse as time passes.
The eastern white pines, despite being evergreens, are also much different than last time. Although they’re very high up, making it difficult to assess foliage levels, the ground is now covered in pine needles and pine cones, which seems to indicate that the pines are dropping their needles.
Unfortunately, I didn’t see much wildlife during this visit as there was a lot of human activity. I saw a few joggers, a dog walker, and a class that was doing fieldwork; all this activity kept the wildlife away. However, after everyone left, I began to hear birds chirping, insects buzzing, and even saw a few squirrels and chipmunks. The wildlife may not be very active when there’s a lot of people present, but it’s definitely there.