Shroomin' at FRC, Part II

 Here are some more trailside attractions from my Wednesday morning hike on the FRC campus.  What started out as a pursuit of a particular mushroom, the purple one posted in Part I, turned out to be a more varied adventure.  The nature trail was covered with leaves and looked like it hadn't been visited by humans for a while.  There was a lot of moss on the tree trunks and fallen branches which gave the air a quality I love to breathe.

 When Pine Drops die at the end of summer, they sometimes remain standing for several more years if the winter snows don't smash them.  I've been watching this particular one for two years.

 The moss seems greener than green and I can't stop photographing it. 

 Scratches on this trunk of a young fir confirmed my suspicion that I was being watched.  When I spotted these fresh scratches my heart quickened... as did my pace.

 There were several parches of fruticose lichens erupting from beds of moss like gray-green fountains.

 An old dead oak is losing its bark, but meanwhile provides habitat for all sorts of mosses, lichens, and bugs.  In summer, this is a good hiding place for bluebelly lizards.

Near the end of my walk, I had a flashback of the Orange Peel Fungi I photographed a week or so ago.  I thought I had stumbled across another patch of them, but it turned out to be a real orange!

Is it possible for an Orange Peel Fungus to look more like an orange than an orange does?  That's the impression I got.