2 20 Bog-Trotting for OrcKids 



Greylock for travellers to occupy, with stables for 

 horses and keepers in attendance. The Catskills can 

 be seen to the southwestward from this height. 



Thoreau set his compass for a lake in the valley to 

 the southwest, and descended the mountain by his own 

 route, on the opposite side to that of his ascent. 



My companions and I had climbed the slipper>' glen 

 to where Thoreau commenced his ascent, and a tiny 

 rivulet slipped over the rocks, which had formerly been 

 dimpled with miniature pot-holes. Along the moss- 

 grown banks, above the brook-bed, grew the familiar 

 leaves of the Wild Ginger, while at the very entrance 

 I discovered the Wild Black Currants {Ribes Jioriduni) , 

 similar in taste and appearance to the cultivated species. 

 The fruit was covered with bristles, and produced a 

 disagreeable odor like that of the Wild Red Currants 

 on the Dome — reminding one of a skunk. 



At the entrance of ^olian Glen, a long log-like slab 

 of rock lay upon the ground, strangely suggesting a 

 petrified tree. Slowly we descended the western side 

 of the vale, counting no less than twenty-two flowing 

 brooklets, and four sun-dried brook-beds between 

 ^olian Brook, at the head of the Bellows, and Walden 

 Farm below. As we approached the meadows where 

 the Wilbur Farm buildings formerly stood, we found 

 a half-dozen spikes of the Ragged Orchis {Habenaria 

 lacera) amid the damp grasses. This species I col- 

 lected also later in the pastures of Rattlesnake Swamp, 

 and found the pure White-Fringed Orchis along the 

 roadside of Ladd Brook Valley in Pownal. 



