4/04/2013
The hike was cancelled today. I got my tent up because there still was threat of rain. Then thought I'd wander around. Started following the Florida Trail and found it kept going to the west. Got excited about the Battery Worth, thinking it looked a lot like Palenque. Fun to climb up several stories and get way high. Went all the way to the top. Shot a pano in 16 shots around.
The best part was finding deer lichen on the second level that looked as if it might be perforated as in Cladonia perforata. I have seen Cladonia leporina, called Jester lichen, which looks similar, so am not sure. It was healthy and dominated an 8x10' area at least. It had no little red tips like most leporina is showing now. So that was very exciting. The detail shows some perforations in the stem. Perforate cladonia is a rare plant that is federally listed as an endangered species of the United States. See some links and in 2014 a page of local Cladonia perforata. I now know that Jester lichen can have small perforations too.
Back to Day 7 or intro and links to Meetup sites: FTA Panhandle Trace Hike 2013.
