Gary and the Six Dwarves (aka Colette, hike #1)

 Colette has decided she wants to hike all 80 of the Spirit of the Woods Chapter miles of NCT this year. She has invited people to hike with her. I won't be able to make all of them, but I did today's hike. This was our southernmost 10.7 miles. Colette is middle back, right in front of Gary.

It cracks me up when a bunch of us shorties hike with Gary. I'm taking the picture, but I'm shorter than most everyone else. Actually, Michael joined us part way in, so that evened things out a little bit.

I love having things green up. It was an awesome wildflower day. This one is American ginseng (not the famous Appalachian root, but Panax quinquefolius

More familiar are the cousins, Allegheny Foamflower, Tiarella cordifolia and Mitrewort, Mitella diphylla. They were growing together near Jenks Creek.

Much to my surprise, we saw a LOT of Birdfoot Violet. I was surprised only because I hadn't seen it on that part of the trail before. It was actually pale blue (it's often darker blue), but this one looks white. Viola pedata. The leaves are what to look at. This likes full sun and sand. Hmmm. Maybe I should capture one that is going to get stepped on and try it in the rock garden.

Another less obvious one is Wood Anemone, Anemonoides quinquefolia

Everyone noticed the showy stuff. The wild lupine Lupinus perennis. This is not the same as the garden Lupine which gets much larger. The Karner Blue butterflies need the wild one.

And this stunning flowering Dogwood, Cornus Florida. I marked the location of this one, it's so beautiful.

This is the farthest I've walked in a day since I ended the big hike. I'm tired, but not totally wiped out.

And I managed 43 miles of campsites. I've made it to the "blue line," the edge of the Adirondack Park.

Total miles hiked in 2024: 232.3, of which 89.3 is North Country Trail.

North Country Trail, Lake County, MI. 96th St to Bowman Lake TH, 10.7 miles

See Perfect Hiking Weather

Allegheny Foamflower

 
We're having a genuine blizzard here. The stuff you don't want to hear about includes being on day 3 with no water, and now I got Om's car stuck sideways in the driveway so we are waiting for the tow truck, so I'm not going to work unless they show up, but the county has pulled in the plows and there are reports of tow trucks being stuck, so...

I'm pretty sure you don't want to see more pictures of snow. Can't say as I'm even interested today. How about a nice flower from last spring? I'm sorting hike pictures from New York and getting psyched out about the coming Finger Lakes Trail hike.

This is Allegheny foamflower. It's in the Saxifrage family, oddly enough. Saxifrages usually have a basal rosette of leaves and the flowers are clustered loosely on a slender stem. It can fill entire valleys making them look... no surprise... foamy. It likes damp, rich soil, so you may see it in muddy areas along streams



The leaves look very much like maple leaves.



It's also called false miterwort, because it is similar to true miterwort, but the flowers don't look anything alike if you look at them. these have five petals and very long stamens. Somewhere I have pictures of the miterwort, and if I come across them I'll show you.

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