More Exciting than It Looks

 These three pictures and what they represent took up a good portion of my day today. I probably can't say much yet about where they were taken, but what they mean is very good news. Here's the first.

I will just bring it to your attention that there are NOT any familiar blue blazes visible. Nor on this one.

And here, you can see there is a mowed path beside a road.

What these show is a potential route the North Country Trail may be able to use to get a bit of trail off a fairly dangerous road. We (the Spirit of the Woods Chapter) are working on it. Today, I met with the landowner.

Other than that, it was not a hugely productive day. I managed some editing, but then I read a book. Got soaked again when I was out this morning. Not that I'm not used to it, but it makes me want to hunker down with a warm drink and a book. And I mostly did just that.

Miles hiked in 2024: 523.5

See It Evens Out

It Evens Out

 I made a Facebook post this morning that I don't discuss politics. However, I would like to note that if you average Om and me together, it's probably about right. He considers politics the greatest form of entertainment.

Note that he is sitting there with four screens all with different content. Happy as a pig in mud. Just sayin'...

And yes, I, we, voted.

The weather is currently totally nasty. I got soaked going from the store to the car. But I walked in the morning- to the polls, actually. 2.2 miles. Editing, bell choir, shopping.

Miles hiked in 2024: 522.5 miles

See More Plant Weirdness

More Plant Weirdness

 I think most of us remember from some earlier piece of education that things like mules and ligers which are hybrids between two SPECIES of related animals are sterile, or are not even viable. I was surprised to learn, today, that there are some examples of animal hybrids between two different genera. Fish seem to hold the lead. But they are rare.

I suspect the takeaway from this is the reminder that the categories are imposed by humans who attempt to organize the world. And to remind us all, taxonomy is an ever-shifting discipline. Especially now that DNA testing is being used to recategorize things. Previously, the groupings were done almost exclusively on morphology, that is comparing the structures of one living thing to another. For example, in plants, are the flowers or seeds of this plant basically the same as that one? But the DNA is providing lots of surprises, showing that two plants not thought to be related are sometimes very close siblings!

But plants like to be weird.

For example, most of the wonderful Sunsparkler sedums I've been raving about are a cross-GENERA hybrid. They are mostly crosses between Sedum and Orostachys-a different kind of succulent. Techincally, this "new" genus is called xSedoro. All cross-genera plant hybrid names start with an x like that.

As a reminder, here's one of my fav SunSparklers. This is 'Dream Dazzler'



Crossing genera in plants is done fairly often. These two are xGraptoveria which are crosses of the genera Echiveria and Graptopetalum. The first one is called 'Ivory.' As you can see, they are blooming, but I don't know if they produce viable seeds.

This is another xGraptoveria, although I do not know which one. I think this one is pretty cool, with the broad purple leaves.

I tried to find out how many genera crosses there are for plants. I found a list from the UK that is 94 pages of small print, and it doesn't even have several that I know of on it. As you might suspect, a LOT of them are dealing with orchids. Orchids have been tinkered with for lots of years..

Well, I slept late big time this morning. Not sure what that was about. Then I spent most of the day editing. I have two big jobs I'm working on. Wrote Chapter 31 in Vacation from DMS, which is 723 words. A little short, but it's where I want the break.

See Sunsparkler Sedums

The Rest of Yesterday

 After yesterday's hike, a lot of people went to a restaurant in Baldwin for food. No pictures there, sorry.

But then Bill and Bob wanted to go to the Lake County Museum. On the hike, I had talked about the defunct MacDougall Lodge which is very near that section of trail on the Pere Marquette River. Mac Road, which can be found intermittently throughout Lake County is named for the family. Grant MacDougall designed a boat in the mid-1900s specifically for taking groups on river trips from the lodge. Just that morning, Bill and Bob had visited the site of the old lodge.

So we went to look at the MacDougall boat the museum has. You can see more of this story at Explore NCT.

Also in the boat room, there is a very nice Chris Craft, and some funny bathing suits.

The museum has a lot of permanent displays including this one about local logging history, but they also have three rooms where they change out the exhibits a few times a year.

We stayed until they closed. Right across the street is the art installation celebrating the Brown Trout which was first released in the US here in Baldwin. I've been meaning to get a picture of it for a long time. Finally remembered to do it.

Today was just as I said. I edited, and edited, got a load of laundry washed and dry before it rained, wrote my LDN column, and wrote chapter 30 of Vacation from DMS (882 words). I'm about worded out for one day.

See November SPW hike

Spirit of the Woods Hike- November

  Totally awesome day today! Here's the requisite group photo with 31 people (Monica took the picture). The morning was chilly, barely 30 degrees when we gathered.

Dan Dreisinga and I led a brief (everyone was freezeing) training on using Avenza and FarOut mapping apps.

Then we headed out. Basically, there were two groups- the six-mile hikers and the three-mile hikers. We did this at the Bowman Semi-Primitive Area which is one of my favorite local hikes. It's hilly, and it has glacial features including the lake!

Most of the leaves are down, but beech trees hang on longer, sometimes all winter. And the sun came out, making us shed out outer layers and cheering up the forest.

One of the most fun things for me is that Bob and Bill showed up! It was SO much fun to see them and spend time with them.

And the hike isn't all. I think I'll show you what we did after that tomorrow. Tomorrow will need to be a good solid work day since I played all day today.

Miles hiked in 2024: 520.3. NCT miles hiked in 2024: 157.5.

NCT and Bowman Lake Trail loop. Total 6 miles

See SPW Hike October