Spencerville Sweets - Day 426

The rain was tapering off as I started hiking, so I took a chance on not needing the poncho. For once, I made a good choice. The woods was damp and the skies mostly gray, but I didn't walk in the rain.

The pink lady's slipper or moccasin flower, Cypripedium acaule, is just starting to bloom. This is a true orchid.

I've already posted Gaywings this year, but it was the most frequently seen flower today, and this was a particularly nice display with raindrops all over them. These are not an orchid.

Another flower that's just starting to bloom is starflower, Trientalis borealis. They are delicate and pretty, but the white is always so bright it's hard to get nice pictures.

Now we come to the dreaded roadwalk on 5-Mile Road. Everyone hates this, but there is a new reason to like it. At the corner of Big John Road, for several years now, there has been a sign that makes it look like there is a village, but it's just someone's house. The sign says, "Spencerville." This always got my attention because of my ancestors coming from Spencer, NY. Anyway, now there are also signs like this.

So I looked up the road. Just a few feet away is a cute little hut with a bench outside. This just opened over the winter months. Korrina Spencer does all the baking herself. You won't find all her items on any given day. Today there were cookies and cinnamon rolls. She also makes pies and cakes. This is self serve so you need to have the correct change. A pack of six decent-sized cookies was $4. I chose macadamia white chocolate chip. They were delicious. She loves NCT hikers, and the bench is big enough for 2 or 3 people. I took a rest stop there. If you must have a roadwalk, let's add cookies! Spencerville Sweet Shop

The other amenity on 5-Mile Road is that a homeowner has put a nice bench in their yard. The cooler has free water, juice, and snacks. Several people have already posted pictures of this on Facebook this year.

This section included the Big Sable River and the Vince Smith Bridge, but I've showed you so many pictures from there, I'll skip it this time.

The other really nice part of today for me is that the flowering dogwood, Cornus florida, is in full bloom. I passed by multiple trees full of flowers. Hint... you can drive north on Tyndall which jogs to become Hamilton and see quite a few of them from your car. If you like to take a Sunday drive, this would be the week.

In case anyone has forgotten, or maybe just because they are so pretty, here is one flower.

Miles today: 9.9. Total miles so far: 4699.5. Can you believe that? So close to the next 100. Well, I have one more official hike I can do here before we go back to the UP.

Someone came to look at the lawnmower for me today. It's SO easy when you know what you are doing. He stuck the multimeter probes into a few spots and in about 5 minutes determined that it's not the switch, it's a bigger problem. So the mower has to go to mower hospital. I can't fix it. It's good to have answers, but the lawn is going to be out of control before I get it mowed yet another year.

See Make New Friends See So Wrong About the Dogwood