Caught Mr. White

Completely filled the afternoon with back to back activities. Went to hike in the School Forest and Methodist Church trails. Then I spent about an hour with Betty. Then there was bell practice.

Best picture from the hike? I got a pretty good one of a white squirrel. We have a fairly good size population of them here, but it's still hard to catch a picture. You can clearly tell in this shot that it's not albino (eyes are black, not pink). It's a color morph of the gray squirrel, and it's a recessive gene, so once you get a population, if both parents are white ones, they will only have white babies.

Some websites are calling this a variation of leucistic coloration. Anyway, they are nifty. I would think this coloring would make them more susceptable to predation, but, as I said, we have a good local population.

Did my regular work in the morning.

I hoped to hike 3 miles, but I didn't feel like walking that fast, and it was sort of raining. Anyway, I got in 2.8.

Miles hiked in 2025: 459.9

Ludington School Forest and Methodist Church Trails, various. 2.8 miles

See True Blue Gumby II

Logging Trail

Anyone local knows that Ludington State Park was closed for 10 months getting major upgrades, mostly to the roads. It's now open again. Although we did drive around to see the new blacktop, the trails are the same. We hiked the Logging Trail. It's mostly in white pines, so the color was green.

Who is "we?" Cathy and I went.

There are three of the CCC shelters remaining from the 1930s, and two of them are on this trail. The hexagonal one is where we took the selfie, and this one is the more traditional style.

This loop is has a little topography, so you don't feel as if you are just out for a stroll. Back at the campground there are more deciduous trees, so there was some color to see.

The park was very busy for a fall weekday. That said, there's plenty of room to spread out. We did see a few other hikers on the same trail, but it wasn't crowded.

Had to stop along the road on the way back to town. A photo of Lake Michigan is practically required. The clear blues of October are always great!

In other news, I edited a lot. I made yogurt.

Miles hiked in 2025: 397.5

Ludington State Park, Logging Trail loop from the campground. 3.7 miles

See Logging Trail 2010

Mile and a Half!

 Today I did screen time in the morning, then a couple of errands, and... ta da! I walked 1.6 miles with Cathy.

We went to Cartier Park in Ludington because it's the right length and I knew the paved trail would be plowed.

We actually did 1.6 miles.

The best thing about that trail is going along Lincoln Lake. Well... what can I say? It looks wintery.

Haven't done a selfie of us hiking in a while. Yes, my eyes are still a little sensitive, so sunglasses it is.

When I got home I worked a little more on the project I need to finish, and spent some time on my jigsaw puzzle. You need to know that this is truly an amazing amount of activity today. I was on my feet a whole lot, and I'm not exhausted. Although I do need to go rest my eyes pretty soon. But I lasted an hour longer with the eyes than yesterday.

I'm working hard at rebuilding my stamina.

See A New Pose

4.3 Hot Miles with Cathy

 
Cathy suggested we go for a walk, which was a really good idea. Although I've figured that roofing and digging dirt and gardening were good for my core muscles, they aren't hiking. We went out to Ludington State Park- a beautiful place, and since it's not open for camping yet, it's not overrun with people. We did the Logging Trail, where one can see this lovely view.



Here's an impressive Chicken Mushroom.



There are a few of the CCC stone shelters left in the park. Several were taken down a number of years ago, but they still maintain three of them.



We chose the Logging Trail because it's wide, so we could walk side-by-side and visit. There are other trails in the park with more views, the big lake, Hamlin Lake, etc, but we opted for some socialization after 12 weeks. Even I don't mind a visit with a friend now and again.

The big news is that it was hot. About 90 degrees. I carried a full pack with about 26 pounds of weight. Well... it didn't feel too good, but I wasn't dying at the end. That's a real positive outcome for my first real exertion on such a hot day. It was very good to do this. I am a lot happier than I look. Don't know why I was squinty! Cathy, as always, looks great!



In other news: I did some errands, a little gardening... like cover all my remaining plants with wire tents after the deer devastated the hostas this morning. Not sure what else. That can't have been all I did, but maybe it was.

See Six Miles with Cathy

Day Eleven - Midland to Mackinac

 
Almost! I almost had a day with no bushwhacking. Actually, depending on how you count it, maybe none. I lost the blazes 3 times, but each time found them within 5 minutes again.

Had a wonderful trail angel this morning, Cindy Faust, whom I hadn't ever met, but she agreed to spot my car. I decided to go for more miles, and got in 13! She and Bridgee met me and took me to where I turned around yesterday. Thanks, Cindy!



They walked with me for 40 minutes before turning around.



I've never spent much time in the upper east part of lower Michigan. It has a very desolate feel to it, very much like the UP.





The trail joins the Shore to Shore horse trail for a couple of miles. The good news is that you won't lose the treadway, but it's not great walking for humans. I wasn't sorry when they parted ways.



Quite a few rolling hills today. I loved the pattern in this fallen log.



And some pileated woodpecker was feeling very linear when it did this.


Love the name of this road, and it also meant I was getting close to the end for the day.



Crossed the AuSable River, another milestone.



Total miles today 13- both miles walked and miles that count. Total miles this trip 88.5.

Gotta scoot. I'm parked at a road corner where I have cell service to post this. Need to get back to campsite before dark.

	See Day Ten
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Spirit of the Woods Hike- January 2017

 
Just a quick post! Ten of us snowshoed in the ten degrees. Fun morning. I may have a group picture later from Patti.





We broke into groups based on speed, and Roxy and I were the leaders. We did five miles towards Hike 100 2017!



I'm on my way out the door to meet friends in Petoskey. Not sure I'll be able to post tonight or tomorrow, but fun times are in store.

	See Trail Work Day
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North Country Color Wheel

 
Had a chance to take a quick 6-mile walk on the North Country Trail today. Everyone is posting pictures of mushrooms because it's been so wet those are this year's flowers. Me too! Here you go.

Red- I'm not going out of my way to ID any of these but these are red Russula sp. Past their prime, but still very red.



For orange you get these cuties.



Yellow fingers- an apt name.



Green- a stump turned into a terrarium with moss and mushrooms.



Blue- sorry, no blue fungus, but a blue blaze to mark "my" trail.



And a nice light purple polypore. (Not violet-toothed because it doesn't have teeth)



It was a great day for a walk in the woods- in the sixties, most of the bugs are gone.

I'm way behind on the NCT 100-Mile Challenge, but this gets me up to 48 miles.

	See Flower Show Color Wheel
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Spirit of the Woods Snowshoe Hike

 
Today was the monthly hike. With a lot of people signing up for the Hike 100 challenge on the NCT we had a good turnout. And we had a nice day and plenty of snow.



Over 20 people showed up! A surprising number of us had wooden snowshoes, mostly due to the fact that the Michigan state parks have been running programs for years whereby people can lace their own with neoprene.



We split into two groups so the people who wanted to get in five miles toward the challenge could do so, and another group did a shorter, possibly slower hike. (My total is now at 9 miles)

Anyway, ten of us made it from Udell Hills Road to the outer loop at Big M, and back. Five miles on snowshoes is a good solid walk.



Great day. I slept all afternoon, since I didn't sleep much after work. Headed back to bed soon. Good day.

	See Feb 2011 Hike
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Short Line Short Hike

 
Took a short North Country Trail hike this afternoon because I needed to check out a particular place for a bit of work we are doing.

For about a quarter mile, the trail here follows an old rail bed. I looked in my railroad atlas just in case, but as I suspected this wasn't a portion of any railroad line of significance. It was likely a short line, narrow gauge road for timber harvesting. It was easy to see where the finally NCT veered away from it. Although the berm wasn't obvious, continuing through the trees, the ditch beside it did go on. So perhaps there is an adventure for another day.



Here's another trail shot. I tried to get artsy and take a low angle with the red leaves on the ground and yellow in the trees, but the dappled sunlight of the forest foiled yet another attempt at a good picture. You'd be amazed (or maybe you wouldn't) at the number of dappled sunlight pictures I have, camouflaging whatever it was I had hoped to capture.



This has been such an amazing fungus year. Everyone who takes pictures in the woods has been sharing various pictures all over the web. This is one band wagon I'll jump on. Here's a pretty one. I think I even have an ID, but will leave that for another day with explanation. Of course I wish I'd taken some super close ups to make that easier.

And moving along to just pretty pictures that I'm not even trying to ID, here's one. I liked the shape of the log. It sort of looks like an ultrasound image, which made me begin to imagine the various fungi and mosses being the embryonic shapes of the rich forest to come.



Another nice day, weather-wise. We'll take all the ones we can get. I also had to go out and do some cases today. Drove past a few of my favorite picture spots, but was late for an appointment, so I didn't stop. Still, these aren't too bad to share.

north from 76th St Trailhead, Lake Co. MI

	See If the Path is Straight
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