The Mystery of THE Blue Dot- Solved

You may not remember it from the blog post a year and a half ago, but if you've had to listen to my stories from the big hike, you know that a favorite has been of the trail that ended at the blue dot in the woods... followed by a mile of bushwhacking and then more bushwhacking the next morning when I lost the trail again. (see link below)

Both those mysteries were solved today. Voila- the blue dot.

My goal today was to hike in from the north, instead of the south, to see if I could find where the trail was supposed to be, in both places. The adventure was successful, and the trail was not anywhere near where I had expected it to be. As you can see, we found THE blue dot. The trail markers for this trail are blue disks like this, but there was only one that was mounted on a horizontal board, and we found it coming in from the other direction. We also found the car at the end of the day. Always a plus.

We crossed Bear Creek on rocks- a typical Adirondack stream crossing.

Bear Lake itself was looking beautiful, getting ready for fall.

The colors are really starting to pop, and there are lots of reds.

Most of the trail we followed today was very narrow and faint, but this section was looking appealing.

By far, the best find of the day (well, other than the trail itself), is thie huge yellow toad. I don't think I've ever seen one this color before.

The weather was about as perfect as it can get.

North Country Trail, McKeever TH to Gull Lake TH parking on Bear Creek Road. 6.1 miles.

Tonight we are with my friend Paul. It's been so much fun to hear from other trail friends who are making their ways to the Celebration. Rome, Ithaca, Canestota, one hiking in Vermont.

See Bear Lake Trail Adventure

Albert, Bruno, Cuthbert, Dexter, Ernest, Franklin

  Monica and I hiked together today. You know I love silly trail games and she taught me a new one. We took turns naming the toads we saw alphabetically. We saw 6 of them and arbitrarily decided they were all boys. I did A,C,E. Monica did B,D,F. This is Franklin. Can you see him? I think Albert was the largest.

We went from 96th St to Highbanks Lake and back on the North Country Trail. That's a really pretty stretch, and I wanted to see what the small wetlands looked like at this time of year. The answer is that there is water, but it's not as clear and extensive as in the spring. No surprise there.

And, I learned a new plant- so this makes it a STELLAR day. This is Swamp Thistle, Cirsium muticum. This is a really attractive thistle, and it's not as prickly as many of the common species. The calyx is blue-tinged with an interesting pattern. Can't believe I did not know this one.

We also caught Rattlesnake Weed in bloom, Hieracium venosum. It's just a kind of hawkweed, and its best feature is the maroon veins in the leaves. But I rarely catch one flowering, so now you have it.

Highbanks is always a pretty destination. Today was no exception. I usually prefer my water blue, but the silvery color today made the water really stand out from the trees.

Did we have a good time? We sure did. Ten miles.

North Country Trail miles for 2021 is at 370.

In other news: I worked a bit on the trailer. Monica helped me do one thing! Not much sleep last night- who knows why? Tomorrow- full steam ahead.

North Country Trail, Newaygo County, 96th St to Highbanks Lake and back, 10 miles

See Hiking with Denali

Headshots

  This afternoon was a mixed bag of activities. I went to pick up something from a friend. She's an avid birder, and there was a red-headed woodpecker at her cabin! It was also at her cabin where I got my only local sighting of a yellow-bellied sapsucker a few years ago. I also saw two pileateds today, but they are so shy, it's really hard to get a picture.

The one and only one benefit of humid weather is that my hair curls. Since I needed a new, good picture of me, I wore decent clothes (OK, only on the top half), and had her snap some pictures. What do you think of this one? Best one taken in a while, anyway.

Then I changed and headed to the trail to do just a tiny bit of work. Two Carsonite posts needed to be removed. They were 1.5 miles in. So I carried the shovel in, dug them out (they have a flap that makes it so they can't just be pulled out), and carried them and the shovel back to the car.

It was really miserably humid by then. But here's another red-head, the wild columbine. I used to have tons of it growing here at my house, but it's all disappeared.

I got a little ahead of myself on the story. Part way back to the car the trail crosse a 2-track that is not on any maps. It clearly is being driven a lot, and we need to put two posts in at that location instead of where they were. Today, I temporarily stashed the old posts and shovel in the woods and walked that road in both directions with the "tracker" on in my app so I could see where it goes.

Along the way something jumped in front of me. Can you see it?

My guess is, probably not. I had to hunt for it and I was right there. It's a nice big toad!

We had enough rain this morning that the trees were too wet to paint blazes. But I was hot enough anyway that I didn't feel like walking 2 miles back out with the paint kit, even if things were dry. So I called it a wrap for the day.

However, I did drive home on a back road. It was not a new route to me, but one I haven't taken recently. Mostly just straight, but here is one bit of a nice place along the way. It's hard to explain how happy it makes me to just putter home on dirt roads.

North Country Trail miles for 2021 is at 312.

North Country Trail, Lake County, MI, north of 5 Mile Road, and an unnamed 2-track. Total 4.5 miles

In other news: I tried to get my head back into writing this morning. I only managed 364 words, and I may end up trashing them anyway. It's just more talking, and I think I need something to HAPPEN. We'll see. Maybe they only need to be moved. Anyway... I'm trying to get back on track.

See Friends and Footsteps

Day Three- Even Slower

 
Day three of my Knobstone Trail hike (Friday, June 19) I got a late start. I'd been managing to get up pretty early for me, and was hiking by 7:30 to get a couple of miles in before the air heated up. However, it had rained in the night this morning. I didn't wake up, and it just takes longer to pack up wet, and so I didn't get on the trail until 9 am. Then, I had to stop almost immediately to fill my water bottles. It was already 74 degrees at 9, and it only went up from there.

Mostly more ups and downs, but there was a short stretch through a nice valley. Except of course, the full sun...



I saw lots and lots of toads on my hike. This one was so red, I had to take his picture.



Love the symmetry of an unfurling fern.



This may be the biggest burl I've ever seen.



But, I was really dragging. By 3 pm it was 87 degrees, and my brain was totally non-functional. I only hiked 6.5 miles in all those hours. I had enough water, so I took over a large campsite, pulled out my camp chair, and just sat still until I was able to even contemplate doing camp chores. I did them slowly, one at a time.



I made myself eat dinner. It was good. I had Dirty rice and beans. But I could only get half of it down, so I saved the rest for breakfast.



The best thing about the site was an absolutely perfect tree to hang the food cache. I got the rope over it on the first try (amazing).



The sky looked clear, so I left the rain fly off the tent. It did not rain, and that way I had a little more air. Very disappointing mileage, but I just could not go in in the heat and humidity.

The blog post from the trail is linked below, but it was very short because I could only get one picture to upload and then I lost connectivity.

In current news: I was really productive today. Got up early to beat the heat here, and worked on my trailer until it got too hot. Will tell more about that in future days. Also, the lawnmower is fixed! I dug up about 20 autumn olive bushes that got too big a start in the lawn. About that many more to go and then I can mow. Woo hoo!

See Dreaming of a Cold Diet Coke

More from Yesterday's Hike

 
All of yesterday's fun was made possible because Sue was willing to spot my car so I could hike with Annie. And I got a puppy fix as well. Sophie and Anabelle are always ready for a trip to the woods.


We saw so many fun things. I may have to use another blog day to show them all. Here are a couple of wildflowers. This is Virginia Spring Beauty. The flowers are just like the Carolina species, but the leaves on this one are much narrower.



The wood anemone is always dainty and lovely.



The first toad I've seen this year was a really big one!



And, did anyone recognize the picture of Annie standing in front of McCarthy Lake? That was our destination, one of the really nice places on the trail when it's not overrun with people.



Too busy of a day. I worked on trails at Shagway for more than four hours, then went to bell choir practice, writers' group, and then one other stop to pick something up after that. Long day. I did not finish the trails, so I'll be going back out to Shagway tomorrow. The really good news is that my body is still a little weary from yesterday, but the trail work took out all the stiffness.

	See A Day on the Trail with Annie
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Spirit of the Woods Hike- July 2015

 
Today was our monthly trail club hike. Only four of us, but we had a great time.



We decided to check out a piece of the North Country Trail that is a little south of the area our chapter maintains. We walked 6 miles from 16 Mile Rd in Newaygo County to Nichols Lake. This section passes many small lakes and ponds. This one has no name. You don't need a name to be pretty.



Farther south, this is a marshy area of Leaf Lake.



No stupendous wildlife sightings, but we enjoyed this chipmunk with a mouthful of some nut.



Another little toad hiding in plain sight. He was doing a great job of it till he hopped and gave away his position



And, here's one of the purple mushrooms, just emerging from the soil. I have no idea which one it is, but it was interesting seeing it just breaking through.



Lots of mosquitoes, but we kept moving and they didn't land much unless we stopped. Nice hike!

	See April Hike
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Looking for Orchids

 
So, I went for a walk this evening in hopes of finding the Rattlesnake Plantain in bloom. I couldn't find it at all! Hunted all the places I see the leaves in spring, and found none, blooming or not. Maybe it's having a bad year.

Here's what I did find:

The Pere Marquette River- always a beautiful place.



Several puddles of Northern Maidenhair fern. One of my favorites.



A dark little toad, trying to hide. And if I'd showed you a longer shot you would have said he was pretty successful.



Light through the trees. I love scenes like this.



And one little pink mushroom. No idea what it is except cute.



I was walking the North Country Trail from Upper Branch Bridge to 40th St and back. About 3.5 miles total. I'm glad I waited till evening because it was pretty hot (for me) here today. Not bad in the evening, although I was still soaking wet when I got back to the car. (and no, I didn't fall in the river, haha!)

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