2. Upland Forest Upland Forest “The Whistlin’ Highlanders”

4. Lookout Point

6. Woodpecker Hole: As you walk the Hire’s trail, keep your eyes open and you will encounter a rather unusual White Pine. It contains a large rectangular hole about 4 by 8 inches and about 8 feet above the ground, complements of a hungry Pileated Woodpecker.

9. Intersection of Hires and Brook Trails: As you approach the intersection of the Hire’s and Brook trails, note that the two trails lead to two distinctly different types of forest. The Brook Trail enters a primarily coniferous region, while the Hires Trail leads to a mainly deciduous region. The coniferous region has a heavier canopy cover, which means that the deciduous region is better-lit and more conducive heavy ground foliage growth.

10. Flowers

12. The Lower Brook Trail: After crossing the road, you will enter a section of forest, which has no dominant tree type. These trees aren’t primarily coniferous or deciduous, but rather a mix of the two. The main trees you will encounter are Maple (both sugar and red), Aspen, Hemlock, Birch, and Ash. As you near the end of the trail you will be met by a grove of beautiful hemlocks, which provide perfect shade for a snack by the river.

13. Lower Brook Trail

15. Working with Rocks

16. This gully was cut through the land by the brook An abandoned streambed and a waterfall along the Brook trail

17. Rocks in the brook and Laura standing by a tree A curved tree shows that the land is moving and the tree is curving to keep up with it

18. If you hear some bird calls, it could be any one of these birds: American Crow - Great Blue Heron Hermit Thrush - Red-Shouldered Hawk Black-Capped Chickadee - Northern Shrike Red-winged Blackbird - Tufted Titmouse Common Raven - Canada Warbler Mourning Dove - Bohemian Waxwing and many, many more…………..

19. Make sure you don’t step on these amphibians: Mud puppy Salamander Newt American toad Frogs (Green/Wood/Pickerel)

20. As you are walking along the trail, take notice of these various mammals: Deer Mice Squirrels (Grey/Red) Chipmunks Beavers Raccoons Skunks

22. We did a Biotic Index and found out that our brook is an exact 2.0! The indicates that our Brook is very healthy! Biotic Index Range 0 - 3.75 No Impairment 3.76 - 6.5 Moderate Impairment > 6.5 Severe Impairment

23. MUSHROOMS

24. As you continue walking, take notice of the various fungi located alongside the trail…..

25. Scrambled Eggslime

26. Chroogomphus Tomentosus

27. Striptree Mushroom

28. They fear no Weevils!!!

29. Pete- a fine teacher, biologist, skull collector, and Mike Morwood’s mentor. Pete has over 25 animal skulls. All took over 6 months to process from beginning to end.

30. Bill- don’t ever be on the team against Bill in ultimate frisbee. A wonderful teacher, funny guy, great van-rocker, and scrap materials scrounger.

31. Laura loves geology and loves teaching people about Vermont’s origins. She enjoys snowboarding and loves to laugh with us. She drove us everywhere and always made the trip fun and crazy!

32. Awesome Negative Pictures…..

33. Cont……