Harriman State Park

(Or, Catskills Day 2, Part II) On the way back we stopped off at Silvermine Lake in Harriman State Park. The mountain laurel, Kalmia latifolia, was in bloom. Barn swallows were swooshing all around, and nesting on one of the park structures.We walked along a trail on the south side of the lake. A snake had the ladies in an uproar. It was a garter snake about 16 inches long. This snail (operculum firmly shut) was found at the end of a mushroom-ridden bushwack we took to get a bead on the common loon we thought we heard. We were too far south, and on too busy a body of water, for the loon’s breeding likes, but stranger things have happened; I heard one moaning just outside Lewis Bay on Cape Cod about a month ago. It turned out to be one of three guys on a boat. Duck hunters, judging from their enormous pick-up truck. The great spirit, Manitou, took vengeance by sending a park’s policeman to ticket their illegally parked pickup. In the woods, we saw a beautifully spotted fawn, born just recently, bolting towards its mother. Out of the woods, three older deer (they lose their spots their first summer) paid little attention to us. Here’s one of them ambling by.