Seen and Unseen

Carolina Beach State Park

 

We are planning on leaving Wednesday. In the meantime, we are enjoying where we are. This park is a jewel.

We are only 60 yards from the ICW. We see cruising boats heading south all the time.

I mentioned that this place has the best pine needles anyplace. Perhaps the reason is that the park has regular controlled burns. Thus the small pine trees growing up are young and well fertilized. Below you see Libby hiking on one of the trails. A small tree with luscious needles can be seen at the left.

Also interesting is what we don't see. At least don't see very much. This park is host to numerous carnivorous plants. Pitcher plants, bladderworts, sundews,butterworts, and Venus flytraps. Of course we are curious to see such exotic plants. But hiking the trails, we were unable to spot any. I think the problem is that our eyes aren't trained. We see forest, and swamp, and lots of plants. We tend to see the plants collectively. Unless they have bright flowers or something distinctive, we don't see the individuals. Finally, I found the pitcher plant below, but only because the park built a boardwalk side trail leading to a dead end with the pitcher plant at the end.