My daughter and I decided on a short walk through the Grand Forest East on Sunday to look for signs of spring. Along the way we found what my daughter is calling a “yellow pine cone” growing under some ferns. I have no idea what this is and haven’t been able to find something similar in either my wildflower or mushroom guides.

After returning from my trip my daughter and I decided a day of geocaching was in order. We went to the Grand Forest to look for a couple of new caches.

My daughter and I enjoyed a great hike in the woods this morning and happened upon a new wildflower for us: Monotropa uniflora, also known as Ghost Plant or Indian Pipe. Through the otherwise dark and green forest these flowers really popped out against the ground. At first I thought they were some sort of candystick or pinesap like I saw on my hike to Heather Park but closer inspection showed otherwise. The photo above used no flash – it took your eyes some adjusting to see them clearly…