February 14th - Lion's Lair trail

Started at the Lion's Lair Spur trailhead around 1:15pm. Sunny day with light wind and a high around 50 degrees. Surrounding area was ponderosa pine forest. Relatively clear understory. Understory vegetation cover consisted mostly of grasses with ground covered in ponderosa pine needles. Larger shrubery was present in openings in the canopy cover that allowed more sunlight. Surrounding forest area was sloped hillside. No snow had fallen recently; there were some patches of snow present in shaded areas and the trail was mostly clear. Along the trail we talked about two species of lichen; Xanthoria parietina and Pleopsidium. A couple of witches brooms were seen on ponderosa pines and an unidentified species of woodpecker was seen in a tree near the summit. Additionally, we noticed black knot on a bush and mullen along the side of the trail.

Publicerat 22 februari 2023 05.30 av epfaller