#great brook farm state park

May 1st hike (well, walk, really) in Great Brook Farm State Park, in Carlisle MA.

Top three: soft new green shoots on some larch.

Next: one of two garter snakes seen sunning on the path!  This one froze in the left position for a bit and let me take photos; then I gently encouraged it to get off the path, as a dog was coming; but still got the close-up pic.  this was a small one (bit over a foot long?), but the second one was an older adult, and much more alert as we only saw it retreating.  (Also seen but not photographed: a number of sunning painted turtles.)

Next: glorious little fiddlehead fern unfolding!

Club moss (i love how it looks like tiny pine trees), and mayflower just starting to come up (we think).

Different (larger) fiddleheads.  Big rocks. And the Meadow Pond.  (Oddly enough, did not hear or see frogs in the big pond, but a little boggy depression (pond) nearby was full of spring peepers really doing their thing.

Lovely warm day.  Ended with ice cream. (The state park is also a working dairy farm.)  Nice to get out.