Beard Lichen

Walking in the woods and looking at trees generally involves a lot of looking up but not seeing much detail from my ground-bound viewpoint.  Sometimes, though, the detail is not "up there" but down where it comes into clear view.  The lichen on this oak trunk was right at eye level, so I was able to study and capture it on camera.  It does appear that the bark is dotted with "little gray beards".