Hi from Ashland

We hiked all over the mountain trails of Eugene yesterday. Incredibly fine hiking areas... oaks, maples,doug fits covered with lichens (especially Old Man's Beard, which hangs down, literally, like a beard! the trees in Oregon often have sword ferns growing from their trunks... my guess is that enough lichens die that they provide organic matter where the ferns can thrive.There were nore fungi than I recognize. My favorites were snmall yellow ones that look like little gilled shells growing from the sides of trees.There were many conks, large, woody looking polypores growing from dead trunks. I did recognize witches' butter, a yellow jelly fungus (it does look like jelly!) growing from tree trunks. Jelly fungi parasatize other fungi, fascinating and weird.

Eugene is a friendly enough place, with great trails. The presence of some fine bookstores indicated that it has a very literaqte population. We found it to be a bit sprawling and car gongested. But a nice place to pas through from time to time.

We're now in Ashland, a friendly and pretty town in the Siskiyou Mountains. More to come!