Hike #45: McLean Game Refuge - Granby, CT

Date Hiked: Wednesday, October 5, 2016
Estimated distance: 3.46 miles
Weather: 55°F, sunny
Resources: McLean Game Refuge Trail Map
Highlights of the trip:  awesome variety of fungi, views
Progress toward 2016 hiking goals:  45/52 hikes; 169.66/250 miles; 31.37/25 miles on Tunxis Trail


I wanted to get out for a hike on this beautiful day, but since I hadn't planned ahead, I stuck with my usual trip to McLean Game Refuge.  I did decide to change my loop just a bit, figuring the highlight of the trip would be the hike to the top of the Eastern Barndoor Hill.  The view was nice, but what really made this hike great was the amazing variety of fungi I found.

Spring Pond.  The leaves are just starting to change.

The variety of mushrooms I saw in just one hike was amazing.  Colors crossed a wide spectrum - white, beige, yellow, pink, orange, and violet.  Be prepared to be bored by my many, many pictures of mushrooms.  In some cases I have guessed as to their names, but they are only guesses.

Some sort of coral fungi.

False turkey-tail fungus?

Some sort of slime mold.

Witches' Butter

Wolf's-milk Slime?

As I turned from the trail that came up from dried-up Kettle Pond, I came to this big, dead tree.  I love this tree.  So stately.  It was here that I had seen puffballs before, so I stopped to take a look.  No luck.

I continued on the trail to the summit.  Aster and goldenrod were growing along the side of the trail.

I stepped out onto the ledge so that I could look north.  It looks like that is Sodom Mountain in Southwick, MA just to the right of center.  The leaves are only just starting to change.

I walked to the second viewpoint to look out over the Western Barndoor Hill.

Spiny puffball.

Another spiny puffball?

I had been keeping my eyes out for puffballs and was rewarded with a log absolutely covered with them.  These seem relatively "fresh" in that the insides were a spongy white.  As they age, a little hole opens in the top and the insides turn to a powder of spores.  If you squeeze the puffball a little "puff of smoke" comes out.  When I was a kid, we used puffballs as mini-grenades in our war-play out in the woods.

Gem-studded puffball?

Near the beginning of my hike, when I was taking a picture of the pink slime molds, another hiker came along the trail.  He mentioned that he had seen these great big orange mushrooms back the way I had come.  I didn't feel like backtracking, and as it turns out, I didn't need to.  I came across these tremendous mushrooms later on.  They seriously looked like the color of pumpkins and I saw them from across the woods road.  Amazing!

Sulphur Shelf or Chicken Mushroom
Laetiporus sulphureus

Instead of taking the usual woods road back to the entrance, I decided to cross the stream and take the horse trail back.  I am so glad I did.  Check out the mushroom below.  It had to be at least as big as a basketball.

Hen of the Woods?

Birch polypore?

And finally, this little guy caught my eye because I noticed a flash of purple by the side of the trail.

Viscid Violet Cort (Cortinarius iodes)

It never ceases to amaze me that I can find something new and interesting on trails that I have hiked many, many times.