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Tuesday, July 6, 2010

The Road Beckons - June 22

 
Beckon Road

OK, so it's corny, but I think it's fascinating to find a road with this name. As you can guess from the background we were back in the damp. Although the plan was to hike 15.5 miles, due to incorrect mileages on the map (that were corrected on the signs at trailheads- and had to be accurate based on the time it took to hike), we actually walked 17 miles. Since over 6 of them were on roads, we still made good time, and there was no dearth of interesting sights.

cottontail rabbit

One of the first things we saw after we hit the trail was this little wet bunny. He was watching us carefully, but he seemed to not mind the wet grass. We were still in "convincing mode." That means that we were still trying to convince ourselves that we were going to enjoy another day of being wet. It had rained hard all night and the grass and ferns were sharing their buckets of collected rainwater with us.

Wycamp Lake

One of the prettiest landscapes was Wycamp Lake, which we passed in the afternoon.

pipsissewa

Within one mile of reaching the car I found another wonderful botany surprise, pipsissewa. Chimaphila umbellata is another wintergreen relative, like the pyrolas. I've seen the plants with dried seed pods in Minnesota, but I'd never seen the plant in Michigan, and I'd never seen the blossoms. Well, ok, I still haven't. But I got to see the buds, anyway. It's small, maybe 5 or 6 inches tall. Here are both buds and last year's dried pods.

pipsissewa

muddy feet

So how did the day end? With all those miles done, but feet that feel like they are permanently wet. I had decided to wear shorts for the day. That was a good choice because the bugs weren't too bad, and it's really hard to walk in completely wet long pants all day because they drag on your legs. The shorts helped a lot!



6 comments:

Rick (Ratty) said...

I love walking on those misty days, but I don't like it afterwards. I've never gone so many miles as you, but even on my short hikes I can end up soaked after something like that.

Michelle said...

Wow 17 miles - good job. I used to hike the Appalachian Trail a lot. I so miss it. Great photos :)

Ann said...

I think the road name was perfect and I would have taken the shot of it too. That's a lot of miles to cover but what a great experience

spinninglovelydays said...

I would have considered "Beckon" a sign, lol
Hiking in the mist sounds so romantic, but if I tried it, I'd probably be sneezing for a month :)

Sharkbytes said...

Ratty- "soaked" sure was the major word from this set of hikes.

Hi Michelle- always happy to welcome a fellow hiker!

Ann- We sure are having a great experience!

Ivy- sorry about the sneezing, but it was interesting.

The Oceanside Animals said...

We used to pass a Pumpkin Hollow Road on the way to Long Island. I always thought I would like to live on a road with a name like that.