this tuft of reindeer lichen was lifted from from a granite boulder near the middle of the gunflint trail, in minnesota moose country. i think about the number of individual forked branches that make up this very small pillow of lichen on one boulder. then i think about the number of lichen covered boulders on the trail we walked that day. then the number of trails we picked from on our map of the superior national forest. then how many superior national forests would fit into the circumpolar boreal wilderness. and something like the enormity of space is suddenly hinted at, in one tiny forked branch, on a pillow of lichen, on a boulder at the end of the trail, after an afternoon of grouse hunting.

green reindeer lichen

superior national forest, cook county, minnesota