Pine Barrens Savanna - Day 329

  I have been looking forward to this section of trail. One piece of it was done when I was here before (I was the first hiker to walk it other than the crew that built it), but a lot more is now complete. This is the Douglas County Wildlife Area, parts of which are called the Bird Sanctuary.

It is a unique ecosystem along the North Country Trail (although I think the NCT still goes through a smaller one in the UP). This is a pine barrens savanna, and the geology is a glacial outwash plain that is sand and gravel. The plants tend to be more shrubs than trees and it is maintained by fire. I believe all the little ponds are remnants of kettle holes. They have no inlets or outlets. These form when a block of ice falls off as the glacier retreats, gets buried in the outwash and then melts. It leaves a depression full of water. They either dry up or are fed from rain and/or springs.

This pond is slightly bigger and has an island, which for some reason has larger trees. Not typical of the savanna, but pretty.

North of the village of Solon Springs, we walked the Brule Bog boardwalk, also new since I was there last.

One more attempt to get a nice picture with aspen trunks. This one is very Christmas-y with no snow involved.

BONUS SECTION: More horsey stuff!

First Julie fed us truly delicious potato soup and apple pie squares, then she hitched up Joe.

Anna says she's ready!

Bunny (the horse) says she had her turn this morning. Now she'd rather stay home and munch hay. (Julie trains horses, so there is much hitching and unhitching almost every day.)

Julie said, "Walk on, Joe." Joe is a really calm and reliable horse. He can be ridden, hitched singly, in a team or even in a team of four. Julie says he's a good lead horse, but will also accept other positions in the team. He reponds to voice commands.

Good thing Joe is calm, because Julie asked me if I wanted to drive. Well, sure! I think this is the first time I've ever done this, although I may have briefly held the reins of a team at an event in Baldwin once. For sure it was the first time I've had any instruction in how to do it. I got to drive around an open field at first, and then on some winding paths, including one nice tight turn (for me). It's a lot like driving the bus (ancient history now) where you have to make sure you have enough turning room so the back wheels of the bus, or the carriage wheels in this case, don't cut the inside of the turn.

We all had fun, and I didn't dump anyone out of the carriage. However, I did decline to let Joe trot with me holding the reins. Maybe I'm not THAT fast of a learner. Julie had him trot a bit, and we even cantered up a couple of hills. That's actually easier for the horse, because he has more momentum. What fun!

Joe knew it wasn't Julie driving him, and he tried to look around and see who the rookie was!

Miles today: 14.8. Total miles so far: 3823.3 (and the remaining miles may now be below 1000- as near as I can figure with the one re-route I know about.)

See Bill's Back