15°F with winds gusting to 23 mph. Sleet and snow. 
It is cold and windy outside, with dangerous driving conditions, so I’m thinking back to hikes from summer. Hopefully looking at some wildflowers and fungi will warm things up.
These photos were taken in Ruidoso, New Mexico on several trails in August 2013. Ruidoso has lots of great hiking and the elevation is around 7000 feet. These photos are from Spring Canyon Trail, Perk Ridge Trail and Big Bonita Trail. I was lucky to be there after several rainfalls, so it was lush, I’ve never seen it so green there.
Enjoy!
The white foamy thing and the orange thing to the left of it, are those fungi?
Kelly! The white foamy thing is really strange. I believe it’s a slime mold in the mid sporangial phase – Enteridium lycoperdon. They form these masses after things like drought then a sudden rain. It sounds like it can almost think, and forms the masses to try to move to another hopefully more hospitable environment. It will dry out and eventually open and release spores similar to how a puffball mushroom reproduces.
The orange thing is a fungus, a polypore, maybe a Cinnabar Polypore but I’m not sure. It was dried out slightly and a little faded. It was really neat looking. Thanks for asking!
What a day brightener
Thank you!