To celebrate New Year’s Day my friend Susan invited her friend Sarah and me to take a nice long walk on Pumpkin Loop in the Carolina North Forest. It was my first time on this trail in the dense pine forest. I remembered to wear my thermal leggings and enjoyed the brisk winter air, while the bright sunlight created sharp, dark winter shadows. We heard many birds and caught glimpses of a few of them.
I have read that squirrels eat pine cones. They use their teeth to peel away the scales on the cone in order to extract the seeds inside. I’ve never seen one doing it, but on this walk I spotted some evidence of the process left behind on a stone.
(thanks to Teri for the identification)
covered in moss and lichens,
resting on a bed of pine needles,
with some tiny mushrooms nearby
Leaving the loop trail, we then stopped to visit a labyrinth nestled into the woods.
Carolina North Forest has 750 acres of woodlands and countless trails. It would probably take a lifetime to explore all of them, but that means I will never run out of possibilities here!
A brisk walk in the wood is a great day to start the new year. 🙂
It was nice to see so many others doing the same thing that morning, and to exchange new year’s greetings with everyone. 🙂
I enjoyed walking with you today! That red cedar is lovely, and so is the cairn. I didn’t know that about squirrels eating the seeds from pine cones, but it makes sense (I’ve seen the leavings before but never knew what they were). How cool!
So glad you enjoyed walking with us, Debbie! Sometimes the woods down here seem like they are only made up of endless rows of pines standing on a carpet of pine needles, but on closer examination there are lots of other things to notice!
Beautiful forest and wonderful place to explore. I love your railroad tracks photo, I am ready to go for a walk down it! 🙂
I would have loved to walk down those tracks, Donna, but the “no trespassing” signs were warning enough to put an end to that idea! 🙂
Yep, I get that! Never know who’s out there protecting their land. 🙂
I’m guessing it belongs to the University of North Carolina, a 10 mile spur was used to deliver coal to its power plant, maybe State University Railroad. (If I’m reading maps correctly…)
Nice day to walk… there is so much to see in the woods!
At first glance the woods seem like nothing put tall pines but I’m getting used to spotting other things here and there!
A delightful way to start the new year with a walk in the woods and girlfriend chatter!
I haven’t had pine nuts in years! I learned of them when I lived in Colorado. Pine Nuts have all sorts of health benefits. I never thought about squirrels eating them.
Those leaves are definitely post oak. You found so much color on this walk Barbara. Beautiful photos!
I’ve never seen a labyrinth like that before. How wild to find one.
I hope that you found good healing and a bit of fun!
Oh my goodness, Teri, I didn’t make the connection between pine nuts and pine seeds until I read your comment. I remember we used to use pine nuts, which are actually seeds, to make pesto, back in our vegetarian days. Thanks for identifying the post oak for me. This labyrinth was the meander kind, an undivided path with no choices, just a spiral path leading to the center. I’ve never seen the maze kind before but would love the experience. It was a fun morning!