From the Woods

I got myself out to my section of trail today to do some general cleanup. What I did was very easy- flicked sticks off the trail and clipped some encroaching branches. No problems to report. I have a few pix of interesting things from today, and a couple from the other day.

This is the bottomland hardwood swamp along one section of my trail. I know I've showed it to you when there is lots of water, and also when it is dry. But here it is in between all full of mud. The plants love it.

This small paper wasp nest must have come down in the wind we've had the last couple of days. Oddly, when I flipped it over, it's completely hollow- no hexagonal cells. I don't know if they somehow broke out, or the wasps never finished the nest.

This is wintergreen, Gaulthera procumbens, in bloom. Usually you see the red berries which last for months, so finding the flowers is nifty.

I found yet another blue/purple mushroom. I'm NOT a mushroom expert, but I think with the white gills and smooth stalk in the second picture that is has to be Purple Brittlegill, Russula atropurpurea.

Finally, this is just fun. Every once in a while a plant will produce variegated leaves. This is an oak sapling. I love it! Once, before digital photos, I found a variegated poison ivy. I wonder if I have a picture of it somewhere.

The trail work took all afternoon. I got some editing done in the morning, but didn't get out of bed fast again, so other things slipped through the cracks.

My dad would have been 122 today, and he died 50 years ago yesterday. I can hardly believe that.

Miles walked in 2026: 238.2
Hike 100 Challenge: 86 miles
Onekama Challenge: 50 miles.

North Country Trail, Lake and Mason Counties, Freesoil TH to Koenig Rd and back. 6 miles.

See Beauty in the Details

Caught Some Critters

Ludington School Forest has lots of squirrels. In fact, I'll bet if I checked back, most of the squirrel pictures I have taken are from there. Gray squirrels, anyway. And gray squirrels include black and white squirrels which are color morphs. They are all pretty jumpy, and hard to catch a picture of while you are walking fast through crunchy leaves. No chance to sneak up on one.

Today I caught a gray one...

...and a black one.

Oddly enough, the trees are not turning colors very much in the School Forest. This is the same tree (from a different angle) I showed you weeks ago, the one that turns red early every year. There is some yellow and a lot of the leaves have come down, but not much color.

I stole this idea from someone else. I didn't work very hard at it... like to find more leaves of the same kind. Long after I took the first picture, I found an orange maple leaf that was even bigger. If I had held on to the leaves until the end of the walk, I could have had 5 in that stack. But what I wanted to do was hike 3 miles in the hour before bell choir, so I needed to keep moving.

Did I succeed? Not quite. I ended up with 56 minutes to hike and made it 2.8 miles. So, I probably could have done those other two tenths in the four minutes. (A 20-minute mile is one-tenth in two minutes, so I am not fudging the pace.)

Got a lot done today on projects and editing in the morning. Finished the mowing in the afternoon, then bought screws, walked, and went to bell choir. That filled the day!

Fall just keeps being glorious! I will have more pictures for another day.

Miles hiked in 2025: 413.2

Ludington School Forest, miscellaneous trails, 2.8 miles

See Pepper and Salt

Not Quite, but Quite All Right!

 I didn't quite do a "whole thing" of several things I like. But I did enough, and it was all great.

I started writing my Mason County Press column for this month and realized I did not know enough about access places to the Little Manistee River, and I could not find the info on line. Road trip!

The leaves are coming down; the peak color is past. But the sky was blue, and there is still plenty of lovliness. This is the Little Manistee from Old Grade Campground off of M-37. This is as far upstream as you can paddle from. At that, it's going to be iffy for the first few miles. The water is mostly 5-8" deep.

This was taken from the road bridge at M-37. Love the eelgrass.

I'm not as good at fish ID as with most other wildlife, but I think this is a trout of some kind.

I found the piece of road that I had wanted to take Omer on last week. This is Little Manistee River Road. It's mostly a 2-track, but I love it.

One of the actual Forest Service campgrounds along the river is Bear Track. Here's the view upstream from the landing.

I also discovered today that the parking for 6-Mile Bridge is up and away from the actual bridge. I followed the trail that said "to parking" which seemed mysterious because it was going away from the bridge. There's a nice view at the top of the hill. Yes, the river is down there somewhere.

Enjoy some red maple leaves.

Finally, here is another view from where the river valley gets deeper, near Chicago Boy Rollway.

Oh, the things I didn't quite do? Well, I didn't follow the river all the way from source to mouth. Close. Maybe I'll finish that quest another time. I didn't even get to all the campsites along this portion of the river. I think some of them are not accessible by vehicle, and they also don't have signs as you are paddling (this info comes from two separate sources), so I'm not sure how to locate them accurately, but I tried. I also didn't finish the article. I'll do that in the morning. I wasn't planning for this to take all day, but it's OK. I had a lovely time, learned a lot, and I do need to write an article.

One thing I did do? There was a couple just taking their kayaks out at 6-Mile Bridge. They were going to roadwalk the 4+ miles back to 9-Mile Bridge where their truck was. I gave them a ride. It was already after 4 pm when they started walking.

I only managed to walk 2 miles. Most of what I needed to do was from the car with quick hops out and in. But the FS Campgrounds are already gated, so I had to walk in to those to check things out.

I do love days like this.

Miles hiked in 2024: 511.2

See Leaf Peeping Part 2

In the Rain but On the Trail

 I had a chance to walk a section of trail today. What's a little rain, right?

I like how this piece has a long climb up a valley. It's all graded very gently until you get to the very top where it's a little steeper.

This is Crowned Clavaria, or whatever they're calling it these days. A nice patch.

The leaves weren't turning very much yet. The sassafras is getting yellow, which is what 98% of it does. But every once in a while, one will go to red.

This maple leaf is getting with the September program, but it didn't have many buddies yet.

Today was non-stop. I had to meet someone at the trail at 10 am, and after we hiked I just had time to eat and clean up before bell choir. Then I had to make a stop in town, get gas and a couple of grocery items. Managed to soak two outfits and two pairs of shoes in one day. I didn't sleep much last night. I don't think I'll be upright much longer.

Miles hiked in 2024: 458. NCT miles in 2024: 137.5

North Country Trail from Sawdust Hole to Upper River Road TH, Manistee Co, MI

See To Blacksmith Bayou and Beyond

Mini Tour de Ludington

I did a little walking tour in Ludington today before bell choir practice. This was partly for the exercise and partly to make sure I'm getting things right for the next mystery.

I started out at Copeyon Park on Pere Marquette Lake. The picture is a little blown out, but I had to shoot right at the sun, with it hidden behind the tree. The lake is a natural one, although the current outlet that flows past the lighthouse, is not where the lake originally emptied into Lake Michigan.

On the far shore is the Pere Marquette Memorial. This is supposedly the spot where explorer Jacques Marquette died in 1675.

You know I have to picture the carferries. This is an angle I haven't shown before, I'm pretty sure. From here, the Spartan is in the foreground, with the Badger behind. Good news on the Badger. They have the final permits to rebuild the part of the dock that failed this summer, and it's looking good for a full 2024 season. There have been cross-lake ships from Ludington to Wisconsin since the 1860s.

Do you remember this picture? Well, not this exact one. But I first photographed this scene in 2014. The trees are significantly larger now, and not as white. The first picture is better- better angle, better light. But it's become kind of an old friend.

Couldn't resist showing you the size of this maple leaf. Wowzer!

I edited, I puttered in the trailer but need to buy yet another length of screws (I can hardly believe there is a size of screw I don't yet own), I went to bell practice. And the words in Vacation from DMS are up to 7589. For any author friends, "No, I'm not doing NaNoWriMo. I just happened to get inspired on this book in November."

Walk from Copeyon Park to downtown Ludington and back, about 3 miles

See First Snow and History

Sterling Marsh Shenanigans

This morning, I went out to Sterling Marsh on the North Country Trail. The marsh is up to some serious trickery! There is no water in it at all. That mud strip you can see is usually open water, and often, the water comes to the edge of the snow in this picture! Not that I get there EVERY fall, but I think I've only seen it dry one other time.

They have had a little more snow than at my house, covering the boardwalks. The oak leaves made a lovely mosaic.

Was I there just to take a hike? No. The NCTA is capitalizing on my recent hike of the whole trail to hopefully boost year-end giving. So I was there with Paul Kogelschatz, the Fund Raising Coordinator, to shoot some video.

They have also asked me to do a Zoom meeting on Nov 28, Giving Tuesday. Stay tuned for how to get in on that chat time if you are interested.

The rest of the shenanigans were provided by a flock of turkeys who couldn't decide whether to cross the road.

Actually, they had decided to cross the road, but couldn't decide which side they wanted to be on. Result- the were crossing and re-crossing the road both when I went to Sterling Marsh, and when I came home. But no turkeys were harmed in the snapping of these pictures.

I took myself out to lunch at the Cardinal Restaurant in Custer. It looks like that's a business that might survive at that location. I'm glad. The tiny towns need all the help they can get. The next one east, Walhalla, has a huge new building. I'm not sure what that is going to be, but it has tall garage doors, so perhaps some kind of service place. It will join the Post Office, a Dollar General, a bar, and a shed sales place as the town's businesses. OK, I guess there's a plumber there too.

I edited in the afternoon.

North Country Trail, Jenks Rd to Sterling Marsh and back, 3 miles

See Living the Dream

Hikin' in the Rain

To my knowledge there was no singin' or dancin' involved, but hey, we didn't have Gene Kelly along.

However, nine of us decided that rain didn't matter. Two of the people were brand new to our group. We call them Intrepid!

All the rain gear made us a colorful bunch. Koa, Loren, Glen, Steve, and I walked together quite a bit.

Just a tiny maple tree, turned bright red.

The most interesting thing was the way this bracken fern is losing its color. I like the pattern.

I also hunted down an unmarked railroad berm that I've showed you before. I lost all my waypoints when I updated maps. Note- if you use Avenza, it's safest to export your tracks and waypoints that you want to save before you update. Then if they don't come through, you can import them back into the map.

North Country Trail, Freesoil TH to Tyndall Road and back. 5 miles.

See SPW August Hike See that rail berm in winter See When I found it

Puttin' In Some Miles

  Cathy and I got out early this morning and put in 8.5 miles before noon! We went to 8th St on the North Country Trail (first road north of US 10) and hiked north and back.

The colors may not really get very good this year. Just hints of yellow in the woods, but pretty, nevertheless.

Nothing special, just a cinnamon fern, but it was contrasting nicely with the backdrop.

This view actually looks pretty nice. This is a beaver flooded area that is off the trail north of Centerline Rd.

We cheated and arranged some pretty leaves, but hey... they ARE pretty. Red maples, looking red (and yellow)

Best natural find of color was two Russula mushrooms not yet chewed up by slugs.

My NCT miles for me in 2021 is 405 (wow! pretty cool), NCT miles for Cathy for Hike 100 Challenge is at 69.5

North Country Trail, Lake County, MI, 8th St to Mac Rd and back. 8.5 miles

In other news: Om and I had French toast for supper- yummy on a chilly day! I actually managed to work 3 hours on the trailer this afternoon. Thought I might be too tired, but I did OK- that is good news in terms of being in shape. Worked some on hike food. Still nothing to cross off. Three of the "items" are so interlinked, that I'll mostly get to cross them all off together at the end. Really bad news is that I added another BIG itema and 2 small ones. I still have 35 BIG ITEMS (27 done) and 25 small ones (11 done) to do. Sigh. 39 days to go.

See Back in the Groove