The hardwood branches are bare.  The green leaves of summer are brown and crunch under your feet.  It’s dark at 5.  Gone away, is the bluebird (our state bird) and most of our feathered friends but chickadees, nuthatches, blue jays and a few others stay and spend the winter with us.  Jack Frost is nipping at your toes and folks are dressed like eskimos.  And, the mosquitoes aren’t biting anymore.  Our Upstate New York winter season is definitely on its way.

Weather was dry and chilly for our postponed hike in Letchworth, on a nice woodland trail.  The blazes make the trail easy to follow.  Joining our small group was a family from Olean.  One of them turned out to be a mushroom expert.  Besides woody polypores, which can be found all winter, some soft mushrooms were found on the trail and brought by Pam, from her yard.  These were medium sized light brown and looked like Pluteus cervinus, commonly known as deer or fawn mushroom, a mushroom that’s quite abundant in our area.  Some were also found on the trail.  This mushroom is edible but there are some poisonous mushrooms that look like it so it’s not recommended to be eaten unless positively identified by a true mushroom expert.

Springwater Trails welcomes our new hikers and we are pleased that Chuck is back road walking after his hip surgery.

Looking forward to pristine Canadice next week.  Current forecast calls for temps in the 50s.