Quote Originally Posted by Dan Roper View Post
Congratulations to you all! I've been section hiking since 2007, and I'm 1500 miles behind you!

The blue flower is gentian.

I think the "oak leaf lichen" is actually a bunch of oak leaves. The tree probably suffered some kind of wound or disease that triggered the odd display of leaves, a type of epicormic branching. (That's my guess as an old forestry major, but I can't tell for sure without walking up to it, touching it, smelling it, sensing it.)
Thank you Dan. I wish I knew more about the various flora and fauna we encounter on the trail. I sometimes tell people who are afraid to go out in the "scary" woods that if they knew the names of the things out there, it would help. So now I know the name of the flower gentian.

As to the lichen, I googled it and wikipedia says it's called Lobaria pulmonaria, or tree lungwort, oak lungwort, lung moss, and a few other names. So it really is a lichen after all. Cool stuff!