Gristmill Trail After Flood

After my husband called to tell me he found a tiny snapping turtle, about the size of a half-dollar, on Gristmill Trail, I decided to take a quick spin down the trail. Wow, the April 15 flood really ripped it up! This trail floods regularly -- it's in a floodplain, after all -- but this was different. The 2nd bridge was dislodged (the first one we gave up on a few years back because we kept losing it), and the trail erosion was pretty deep, exposing lots of roots. In other place, sand was dumped on the trail.

I took photos of several types of our most impressive ferns: Cinnamon, interrupted and royal ferns; also spring wildflowers including wild geranium (my favorite), Jack-in-the-pulpit, and Canada Mayflower. No turtle nest, however! Snapping turtle eggs normally hatch in the fall, but may over-winter and hatch in the spring, and females may lay eggs up to 10 miles away, which sounds a tad ridiculous to me.