After a few days in the Pittsburg, NH area (see the previous blog post for Pittsburg area photos: Part 1) we moved onto Bethel, ME. Since arriving on Friday evening, we’ve done a ton of hiking, including trails in Grafton Notch State Park and Evans Notch in the White Mountain National Forest. Some brief photo highlights from the last few days are below.
It was fitting that during my visit to the Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve at Laudholm in Maine, on the weekend just before Halloween, that one of my new discoveries was a phenomenon called witches’ brooms. With many of the leaves blown down by the storm we had the day before, these clustered growths were easy to see, and were apparent on several highbush blueberry and honeysuckle shrubs. The “witches’ brooms” are abnormal growths on the branches of the shrubs,…