Summer Nature Study in the Sequoias

We went camping last week in the beautiful Sequoia mountains. I love it up there! I spent a wonderful hour or so with Missy and Troubles, doing an impromptu nature study. We walked down a hill from our campsite and began looking...really looking at our surroundings.  We turned over rocks to see what may be living under them, we examined tree bark, we spied all that we could.  Here are some of our finds:

This is an ant nursery that was under a rock.  The white things are the larvae.

There was a lot of this around.  I thought it would be easy to identify, but alas, I can not find a picture that looks like it.  Any guesses?

Here's a centipede we found under a rock.  We also saw (and captured in a cup for a time) a large millipede.  Always be careful with both, since they can bite and are venomous. 

We think these might be some kind of mushrooms.

This is a net-shaped web that Missy found.  Later, we found ones closer to the ground and observed the spiders living within.  They are large, about as big as your thumbnail, and brown and black in coloration. 

I haven't been able to identify this flower.  It was coming up out of the leaf litter and bees were pollinating it and drinking nectar. It had no apparent smell to us and no green leaves.  It measured only about 5-6 inches across all of the clumps. Anyone know what it is? Please leave a comment!

Nearby, we found this.  At first we thought it was scat, despite its bright coloring.  After researching, I think it may be Vomit Slime Mold.  What a crazy thing!  

These caterpillars dive-bomb right out of the trees.  The children liked their 'horns' and tail.  

We found this weathered stump with clear rings.  Counting carefully, we got to 40 before we reached the middle and they became too small to discern. 

I took this one to show how small the stump actually was.  Think how long it takes a tree like this to reach maturity!  

The Columbines were blooming and beautiful!

The next day, our family took the beautiful, two mile hike to the Adam and Eve Trees near Shake Camp Campground. 

Here are lots of Columbine near the trailhead.

Manzanita was plentiful along the trail. 

A majestic Sequoia

You really should put visiting here high on your list of things to do before the Lord calls you home. It's simply magnificent!