Almost To The Summit Of Elephant Head Mountain

I was hiking up Elephant Head Mountain with my four youngest dogs and so far it had been a lovely and rather easy hike. I spotted Shining Clubmoss in large quantities along the trail:

And its relative, the Princess Pine, also known as Ground Pine or just Club Moss:

Daphne and Clover, the lively young Papillons, were as active as ever and I'd venture to say they covered ten miles for every one mile I hiked:

Small mountain brooks occasionally crossed the trail and all the dogs had the opportunity to take a drink. As for me, I'd brought along a bottle of iced green tea:

The trail was sparsely marked but easy to follow. Large rocks ornamented our ascent to the top and gave the Papillons another reason to play:

I was surprised to find a set of steps in such a wilderness, but it was clear from their condition that they'd been built decades ago. And, of course, the stairs were another place for Daphne and Clover to play:

And I spotted the most amazing pumpkin-colored mushrooms. This was a short, pleasant and beautiful hike, and I was quite sure that the summit had to be just ahead. But I'll post about that tomorrow: