New Year's Day Hike

50 degrees, almost no wind, it really rained for about 2 minutes last night, otherwise drizzle for 24 hours

The lichen is wet and wonderfully green.

While I was taking this shot, I heard my first coyote howl during a hike.   And had my first uncomfortable realization that when I'm taking pictures of lichen, I'm not making much noise - so I'm not scaring things off.

Right before the lichen, a sighting of a rare white gall on trail 7.

(AKA gallf ball)  These usually grow on trail 3; trail 7 is more remote, so it's more surprising there.  Funny - you think they might prefer trail fore!

Two mornings in a row, now, in the same place high on 3, near the tower, I've heard either a large animal peeing strongly or a human hosing or dumping water for a few seconds.

Galls on an oak tree-   there are about 20 on this one tree. Is there something special about the tree?   Or is it simply laziness?  Or do they prefer company?  (Galls are growths the tree makes - like scars- around a wasp or other creature who burrows into the tree to grow.)

Inside, this one is yellow and spongy.  No sign of an occupant.

On the way home, a shelf shroom on an oak stump.

What makes the rings different colors? Obviously different molecules, right? But which?  And why?  Temperature?  Water availability?  Nutrient differences in the oak?  Or even - the same molecules, but in different positions, the opposite end, or the side absorbing or reflecting light waves differently...

Oh, by the way, the toiletflex had been moved off the path.  Deer?  Human?
(How the hell did it get there?)