"Old" Trail Section, New Season

  Loren and I met up this morning to look at a section of trail where the Eco-Seeds volunteer crew had done some work a couple of weeks ago. One of the things they did was to replace the supports on this small bridge. You can see the new lumber.

They also installed some steps on a couple of steeper slopes. It's always good to have some enthusiastic younger muscles to work on some of the construction projects.

The white birch are just beginning to get leaves.

This piece of trail follows the south shore of the Manistee River for a short distance. It's certainly wonderful to see the trees greening up!

But the big surprise was the wildflowers. I've mentioned before that most of our chapter's trail is in dry sandy hills. There aren't a lot of wildflowers in those areas. But here, down along the river, and climbing to the top of the bluff, there were lots! I'll have to remember this. It was quite interesting that there was still some bloodroot in bloom. It's mostly done by now.

Lots of toothwort, but the sun hadn't really hit the flowers yet for the day, so they were closed up and a little droopy. The flowers don't open flat, but a little more than this.

Miterwort was a welcome sight. It really likes damp places. It was growing at the base of a tree. The roots probably create a little cup of moisture.

And there were quite a few trilliums, too. Also saw trout lily, and woodland horsetail.

I liked this one- it's just a Solomon's seal opening its leaves, but the curls are so perfect!

I had to take a new picture of the pups. They've had haircuts, and you'd hardly know they were the same dogs. I don't think I've ever seen Corky (the white one) shaved.

Anyway, it was only 4 miles, but it was a great hike- learning new things about a familiar section. We put out some new stickers on posts too.

North Country Trail miles in 2021 is at 280.

In other news: Did shopping and errands, and I'm getting ready to leave in the morning for more errands in Grand Rapids and then a vendor event on Saturday. I hope to squeeze in a little hike tomorrow. We'll see.

North Country Trail, Manistee County, MI, Highbridge to Chicago Avenue and back. 4 miles

See More NCT Hike Fun

Pentwater Pathway Hike

  Pentwater Pathway is a series of loops, primarily for cross-country skiing, but they also make great hikes. The day started out frosty but warmed to a wondrous 48 degrees, with beautiful skies. I thought the way the clouds were in little puffs was quite interesting.

Since it's a ski area, as you might expect, there are some hills, but not too many. I'm actually willing to ski all of this with the exception of one particular hill. And I'm a big chicken on skis.

Found a heart in a hollow log!

The sun lit up an area of rather ordinary grasses and made it interesting.

The cast of characters was Loren and myself.

And Corky and Koa. Corky still hikes right along at age 13 (the white dog), and Koa is energy on steroids. She must have run at least three times as far as we hiked, and wasn't tired a bit.

So, how far did we go? Loren and I did a loop of 5.3 miles. Then we ate our lunches. I stayed longer and hiked more, to be sure I covered every leg of every trail. My total came in at 11 miles.

There is no other news: I just let today be a hiking day. Interestingly enough, when I went looking for a link to add about another Pentwater Pathway hike, I discovered that I hiked this 5 years and 1 day ago, when it was also unseasonably mild!

See Petwater Pathway Promenade

Hikes with Loren

  Loren and I are going to try to hike once a week for the forseeable future. Last week we were at Ludington State Park. Today we went to the North Country Trail. This is my adopted section so we did some maintenance too. I had done a really good job in the spring, so most of what we did was just clip or flip some small brush.

This is the section that begins on an old rail bed. I always like how this looks. Dogs Corky (white) and Koa (black) hiked along too.

The rail berm was built up through a bottomland hardwood swamp. The water level is fairly low now, It looks inviting to me, but I'm a swamp stomper.

The temperature was just above freezing when we started, and long ice crystals were forming. The ice looked very thin, but Koa walked on it without falling through.

Because the water was so high this spring, this area which floods slightly most years stayed wet much longer. A great patch of sphagnum moss took over. It's still spongy, but I think you could walk on it. I tested the edges, but didn't go to the middle.

Witch Hazel is a tree that blooms in the fall. I love the clusters of subtle yellow flowers.

This was pretty interesting. I should have tried to figure out what kind of tree this was, but I didn't. The beetle galleries are crazy! They look like some ancient decoration. You can sometimes ID the beetle/tree by the patterns of the galleries. But I don't know this one.

This was the one thing we had to report that we couldn't deal with. Someone who is a certified sawyer will come and take care of this fallen tree. Corky and Koa just like to climb. We hiked 6 miles.

I know that's enough pictures, but the sunset was violet! That doesn't happen too often, so I had to grab it in pixels.

North Country Trail miles for 2020 is at 243

In other news: I mailed some books, and worked on the editing jobs.

North Country Trail, Lake County, Michigan. Freesoil TH to Koenig Rd and back. 6 miles

See Another Loop at Ludington State Park