“We all have enough reality, right?” My head whipped to the gas pump’s screen, catching the end of an advertisement for a virtual reality headset. Personally, I thought it was an odd thing to say. But I didn’t spend much time ruminating about it–I was on an adventure.
Snow was still on the ground, but the sunny 40 degree day felt like a cure to my cabin fever. Picking a spot on the map, I decided to take myself to Porcupine Lake Wilderness northeast of Cable. I was out the door to go explore in a flash.
My adventure started along the winding forested back roads that led to the trailhead. I have inhabited the Northwoods for a few months now, but I still cannot get over the wealth of trees that grow here. I find immense beauty in the way the forests surround the roads, encapturing me with every twist and turn, leaving almost nothing else in sight except for the wilderness around me, begging to be explored.
At the trailhead, the woods were set alight by the sunshine reflecting off the melting snow. While my boots crunched down the trail, my eyes wandered to the trees where life was starting to awaken. Lichens, mosses, and mushrooms decorated the bark in a burst of bright greens, yellows and oranges–a welcome sight against the backdrop of the forest.
One fallen tree appeared to have tiny orange scales sprouting up along the bark. Upon closer inspection, they were turkey tail mushrooms! Named for their shape and colorful bands of growth, these fungi have a similar appearance to a turkey's fanned out tail. They are a common sight in forested areas, and serve an important role within the ecosystem. Turkey tails are a saprobic fungus, decomposers who break down organic matter and cycle the nutrients back into the soil. This helps create healthy soil, and provides nutrients to microbes, insects, and plants.
A bright yellow-green color spattered the bark of many trees, looking like someone with a paintball gun had run rampant through the forest. But it wasn’t paint that dotted the trees, it was common greenshield lichen. They are categorized as a foliose lichen because of their flat and leafy appearance. Lichens are another great example of how parts of an ecosystem are connected. They are a symbiotic relationship between a fungus and an algae, where both beings benefit from the relationship. The fungus provides them a “house” with its fungal body and the algae provides food for them both by photosynthesis. Common greenshield has other symbiotic relationships within their ecosystem. The tree provides the lichen with a growing substrate, while the lichen neither benefits or harms the tree. Ruby-throated hummingbirds will camouflage the outside of their nest using bits of the lichen, and northern flying squirrels feed on lichens.
Nestled among lichens and mosses was a small, bright-yellow jelly fungus. This tiny wonder of nature had a fruiting body shaped like a brain, with no stem or cap. When jelly fungi dry out, they can become stiff and rigid, but bounce right back to a squishy consistency when hydrated again. Unable to resist my childlike nature, I gave them a poke and delighted in their jello-like consistency. But unlike turkey tail mushrooms who feed on organic matter, this jelly fungus is in the Tremella genus, and is a mycoparasite. Instead of feeding on decomposing plants, this cute little fungus was feeding on another fungus who inhabited the same fallen tree.
Leaving the lichens and mushrooms behind, I wandered farther down the snowy trail. Stopping to inspect the base of a tree, I noticed that the dirt speckling the trail was not dirt. Kneeling in the snow, I watched as the “dirt” sprung atop the melting snow. Snow fleas!
Snow fleas are tiny arthropods who live in the soil and leaf litter where they feed on fungi and decaying organic matter–a similar diet to the turkey tail and jelly fungus. As the temperatures begin to warm, they move up through the melting snow and become noticeable. I happened upon a large gathering of snow fleas as they occupied a depression in the snow, making a dark, moving puddle. Watching them closely, it made me wonder what it might be like to be a tiny snow flea, making my way through giant melting snow crystals and up to the surface.
As my toes began to freeze in my boots, I decided to turn around and begin my slow trek back to my car. I found my thoughts back on the commercial at the gas pump, and hearing “We all have enough reality, right?” I thought about the lichens, fungi, and snow fleas I just spent an afternoon getting to know, and the connection I felt to the world around me while I wandered through the forest. That is my reality, and I never want less of it.
For more than 50 years, the Cable Natural History Museum has served to connect you to the Northwoods. Our Summer Calendar is open for registration! Visit our new exhibit, “Becoming the Northwoods: Akiing (A Special Place). Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and cablemuseum.org to see what we are up to.
Last Update: May 07, 2025 12:33 pm CDT
