On Our Way Up To The Jug End Ridge

It was the first morning after Tropical Storm Irene had devastated much of the northeast and I was hiking up to Jug End Ridge in Massachusetts' Mount Everett. The trails were wet but I was managing to keep my feet out of the water - at least so far. The little mountain streams were lovely and all the little cascades were burbling merrily:

We passed through a section where there obviously had been a great blow-down in the past, but the trail had long ago been cleared for easy passage:

And up through a small ravine:

I spotted these frilly, curly, butterscotch mushrooms along the way:

And little baby butterscotch button mushrooms. Were these the same species as the curly ones? I suspected they were because they were so close by:

The terrain became rockier and tended more toward an uphill climb. The dogs scrambled up onto a mossy rock outcropping and I followed them:

Where I spotted this pure ivory colored mushroom:

And tiny brown parasol mushrooms:

I could tell that we were reaching the high ridge because I could see blue sky off through the trees. I could also smell pine needles heating in the sun, a smell I wouldn't experience deep in the damp forest:

And another apple-red mushroom, this one looking as if it'd had a bite taken out of it:

And a luminescent, peachy colored mushroom:

This was becoming a wonderful hike and I set the camera on a rock in self-timer mode to get a photo of myself with the Papillons. As you can see, Seamus just made it into the picture: