Lady slipper orchid (Cypripedium)

Localized flooding brought on by the recent rainfall resulted in several pathway and bridge washouts at Griffith Woods last weekend. This may have contributed to my difficulty retracing my steps after I took a side path to follow a shaft of sunlight in a copse of shimmering spruce trees and was led into a meadow filled with hundreds of lady slipper orchids. Magic, perhaps. Magical, absolutely.