Benzonia and Betsie Valley

The bulk of the day was spent at the Benzonia Holiday Gift Market. They had a lot of vendors stuffed into a smallish room, but it did boost the impression of a busy event. And I did pretty well, so I have no real complaints.

This quilt is being raffled in December. I think by the Grow Benzie group. Yes, it's gorgeous, but it's 100% machine made and so perfect I wonder if it was a kit, so I have mixed feelings.

After the event was over, I went to hike a bit of the multi-use Betsie Valley Trail. Finding one of the parking areas turned out to be a challenge. My map wasn't detailed enough. Google couldn't seem to tell me. The local gas station folks... well, the guy couldn't even read a map. The lady directed me to a parking area that wasn't the closest one (there should have been one in town), but anyway. I did find the trail and a parking area.

It's a wide graveled trail. My goal was really just to get in some fast walking exercise, so that was fine.

I chose to hike back toward town. I knew this section crossed a developed area where the trail has an easement, so there were quite a few houses. But it is also the section that goes along Crystal Lake, which was what I wanted to be able to see.

Found a few things of interest. I always love the tamarack (larch). They turn bright yellow in the fall and lose their needles every winter.

Do you recognize this one? It's a closeup shot of the seed pods for wild clematis (aka old man's beard, aka virgin's bower).

Since it took extra time to find a trailhead, I wasn't sure how long the light would last. I walked 30 minutes along the lake, then turned around. That gave me 3.6 miles when I got back to the car. There was still plenty of light, I went the other direction to M-115 and back which got me to 4 miles. In 1 hr 15 minutes. Nice brisk pace to match the nice brisk air.

There is a Nature Area named Railroad Point right there as well. That trail is less than a mile long, but it's supposed to have a good view of the lake. Maybe another time.

Got home a bit after dark, ate dinner. Not sure how much else I'll accomplish today.

Miles hiked in 2025: 437

Betsie Valley Trail, M-115 to Country Farm Road and back (parking at Molineax Rd). 4 miles

See Lake County Museum Quilts

An Excellent Day with the Original Adventure Buddy

Over the years... and it has been quite a few years... I've done a lot of adventuring with friend Ellen. I don't think we coined the term, but we called ourselves Adventure Buddies. We managed to get outside and do something together (hike, bicycle, ski, kayak) about once a month for a number of years. Then she got a granddaughter. Well. That threw in a major monkeywrench since the girl lives several hours away.

Anyway, she doesn't let me take her picture very often, so I'll just share this one that is one of my favorites from 15 (yes fifteen!) years ago. And you can see that Maggie was still alive. This was taken at Gales Pond. The last hike we did together was a year ago in the spring. We really need to get back into some kind of rhythm.



Today we explored the Pentwater Wagon Road. Ellen introduced me to this pathway, again, 15 years ago. It is the (very) old road into Pentwater. In fact, it's not really a road any more. But it's still supposed to be a public right-of-way.

But Ellen had discovered that someone has placed a fence across it. She called the township, and they said "public." So we thought we'd see what the status is.

It starts out looking just fine. Would this condition remain?

The morning was sunny and cool. I can never decide, but this might be my favorite picture from this fall. Wagon Road still fine.

Lots of blueberries along the pathway. They turn a nice red in the fall.

Oops. Yup, about a mile in, there is not only fence, but a serious barrier. We took pictures and the location. Ellen will contact the township once again. It's kind of annoying, because you used to be able to walk all the way into town on this.

On the way back, we found one little blob of yellow Witches' Butter fungus.

Since that hike was shorter than we had hoped, she took me to two small, newish nature preserves that I had not yet been to. I'll share those in the days ahead. All together, we managed to hike 3.6 miles. Then we headed back to her house.

Ellen has a long history of treating me with wonderful meals. Today was no exception. She made us sandwiches of some yummy brown bread (toasted), turkey, apple, goat cheese, strawberry jam, and greens. Wowzer!

Needless to say, not a lot of serious work happened today. But that's OK. I'm gloriously happy at the wonderful adventures.

Miles hiked in 2025 (I've added all 3.6 on here) 433

Pentwater Wagon Road, out and back 2.2. Pine Forest Loop 0.4. Dumaw Woodland 1.0 miles

See my first hike on the Wagon Road

A Few More Fall Color Shots

These have been taken at various times over the past week, but there wasn't room to add them to that day's blog post.

I'll lead off with a row of trees along the Methodist Church parking lot.

I've been hunting for red this year. Here's one splash.

This was a few days ago, right on US 31 at Wolf Lake!

I had sort of forgotten how beautiful rural Oceana County is. There are a lot of rolling hills, and I loved my drive coming home yesterday. These fields were just stunning! Vinyard on the left.

But maybe this one is even nicer with asparagus in front, then an orchard, and the woods.

And you know that quote- not sure who said it- "Of all the roads you take, make sure a few of them are dirt." Totally agree. 96th Avenue in Oceana County was up for the challenge. I took pictures at two different places, but decided this was the best. Can you feel the peace?

I had a chance to go for a hike this morning, but I decided I really nneded to stay home and get some things done. Worked pretty steadily at all my projects. More time on the autumn olive and a little more putting the gardens to bed in the afternoon.

But, tomorrow, the discipline ends. I have a little adventure with a friend planned!

See More Fall Finery

A Mini-Adventure at Branstrom Park

Today was my day to have the stitches out of my mouth, requiring a trip to Muskegon. I couldn't waste the drive!

Well, I wanted to get another short Newaygo County trail to write about, so I went to Branstrom Park in Fremont. They are supposed to have a wooded two-mile hiking loop.

Yes, yes they do. The sign says it's well-marked. Hmm. Some of it is well marked. I had to stop someone right out of the parking lot and ask where the loop started. OK, got it. Then it was quite well marked. Until it wasn't. Or maybe it was. But the problem is that the park also has a disc golf course so there are trails all over the place. I managed to walk 2.5 miles, and I think I missed a section of the actual trail.

When I lost the trail and then came back to an intersection where I'd been before, I knew I'd gotten messed up.

I was using Avenza to track my route, which would allow me to find my way back even it I got really off. An awful lot of trails show up on Open Streets Map which is free with the Avenza download. But this one was not there. And I hadn't been able to find a map online (well, for free. AllTrails has it, but I'm not a member).

Anyway, after I lost the marked trail again, and came to another fork that was marked to the right, I chose left because I needed to get back to the car and on to the dentist. Found this cute little covered table.

Near the beginning are a couple of small bridges. The waterway is Daisy Brook Creek. I liked this rustic one, although the other was nice too. The pictures are a little dull. At this point in the day, it was completely cloudy. There were even rain showers on my way there.

Along the traills, I saw a few interesting things. This banded metamorphic rock is really nice. Not sure of the minerals.

This is Oriental Bittersweet. I didn't see a lot of it, thankfully, because it strangles trees and kills them. It's an invasive.

These awesome trees were hugging. The red is an oak (maybe scarlet or pin), and the yellow is a quaking aspen.

So, I got myself back to the car, but with having trouble finding the right parking lot and losing the trail twice, I had to call the dentist and tell them I'd be late. They were gracious.

The stitches are out, and they said it's healing really well. I have to wait until at least January before they can do an implant, so I have that long to decide if I really want it. I think I'm going to miss that tooth a lot, but I'll need to sell a lot of books and do some serious editing to pay for it.

Then... OH! One of my favorite things. I drove home on whatever back road I wanted. The sky cleared and it was a totally stunning day to be out for a rural drive in the fall. I have some pictures I definitly want to share, but they'll need to wait for another day. For today, I'll just share the Beaver Moon, coming up as I was writing this.

Now I have to do some kitchen stuff. And before I left this morning, I managed to fix a problem with my database. Great day!

I have to decide if I can use this hike and Old Grade in my news column. That was my plan, but neither trail is easy to follow. This one is nice in that it's only two miles, but has quite a bit of topography, so you can get some real exercise without a long hike.

Miles hiked in 2025: 429.4

Branstrom Park, Fremont, MI. various trails 2.5 miles

See Exploring Old Grade

Pere Marquette Conservation Park- New Parts

I'll be doing a news article soon about the newest part of the Pere Marquette Conservation Park near Ludington. You may recall that I went to an official opening and event that showcased the township's proposals for the use of this land that used to be owned by Dow Chemical. (link at end)

Today, I visited the Community Access section which opened a year ago, but I've been slow to get there. This is a view I've never seen before although the setting is familiar. This is all part of the former Dow property that will eventually be developed with an impressive list of recreational opportunities.

This section is all on the north side of the river. Where Cathy and I have walked there a couple of times is on the south side. The only connection will be (probably) vehicular. There is no pedestrian walkway on Old 31, and there is no other bridge. (Although there are some pipes spanning the river that are still in place- seems like an opportunity to create a pedestrian bridge.) The whole purchase was 300 acres, and it covers a lot of riverfront on both banks. Ecosystem restoration is also on the agenda.

This Community Access site is on the north side of the river. One of the things they built was an accessible walkway with benches for accessible fishing, or just watching the river.

This is a view that is just interesting to me. It's looking east at one of the bridges over the river on Oceana Drive (Old 31).

So what does the new area have? There is a picnic pavilion, a fish-cleaning station, a nice bathroom (closed seasonally, but there is a porta-potty too), interpretive signs, lots of parking adequate for trailered boats, and the short walkway over the river edge. The plan calls for a connection to a Ludington area trail. That is not in place yet, but they just approved another round of funding, so perhaps that will happen next.

Anyway, I managed to walk around this area for about a half mile although there aren't established trails.

Then I went over to the School Forest and walked some more until bell choir. Managed to do about 3.2 miles all together. Put in a good solid morning of computer work and editing, even though it was one of those days when my morning headache did not give up. I finally took a pill around noon.

Miles hiked in 2025: 426.9

Pere Marquette Conservation Park, 0.5 miles. Ludington School Forest, 2.7 miles

See A Walk at the Conservation Park See Opening of PM Conservation Park

Skyday #2

I can tell that these aren't going to happen every six days. There are more interesting things to talk about most of the time. It's been 2 weeks since I did the first Skyday. So... should I pick the last six days? Should I pick the most interesting six days since I last did one?

Well, this time, it's the last six days. They have a nice mix. Actually, they show you that we've had pretty darn nice weather!

And here are the full images, day by day. October 29, a beautiful October day.

Ditto for the 30th!

For Halloween we got clouds. There was a little rain overnight, and the clouds did not clear out.

On November 1, we had some transitional sky. A dark bank of clouds above and a band of white near the horizon.

Yesterday was mostly blue again, but I forgot to take a picture until after I went to the play. Can you forgive me if these aren't all blue or gray?

Today, we were back to blue. It was a gorgeous day, although a little breezy.

I spent some time outside putting garden things away and cutting more autumn olive. Cleaned part of the bathroom. How exciting, right? Editing, computer stuff, etc.

See Skyday #1

Into the Woods and Into the Woods

You know I love theater, even though I don't seem to attend as many plays as I'd really like to. However, I managed to get to the last performance of Into the Woods at West Shore Community College. Glad I didn't wait too long to get a ticket. They sold out the entire final weekend.

You also may not believe that I've never seen Into the Woods before. My loss. I would like to see multiple productions of it. Meanwhile, this one was great! I've said for years that the best play they ever did at the college was The Wizard of Oz because they had such a standard to live up to since everyone has seen the movie multiple times. However, this one was right up there.

I had a crummy seat and didn't get many good pictures (I always restrain myself if there is a caution that pix are not allowed, but there was no such warning). This is the scene when Cinderella and her step-sisters are off to the ball, Red Riding Hood is on her way to Granny's, and Jack is off to sell the cow.

Speaking of the cow... although I like to act, most of my experience in the theater phase of my life was with the staging aspects. The cow was a puppet, and it was unbelievably good! Its handler was dressed in black and appeared on stage with it all the time, but it wasn't disruptive at all. The cow as so expressive! In the next picture, Jack is talking with Milky White (the cow's name). You can see the puppeteer in the cap.

The stage at WSCC is not large. They really need a new auditorium (in my opinion). However, the staging and choreography of a fairly large cast was phenomenal.

In this scene from Act II, you can see that the large trees rotate to become the Baker's house, Cinderella's throne room, and Jack's cottage.

There were three other trees on rollers (see one to the left of the center "house") that the stage hands moved around to create different locations "in the woods."

The trees are gray, and the colors are changed with the lighting. Both of the pictures I got show it in green, but they changed the mood of the "woods" with many colors and pattern effects.

There were also two scenes with a scrim. I was at a bad angle to get a picture of either. Basically, this is a gauze panel that when light shines on it from the audience side it looks opaque, but when light shines from the stage side, you can see through to the "inside."

The lyrics are snappy, the message is actually good. The performance was professional level.

After the show (which is nearly 3 hours long), even with the return to Standard Time, I was able to hike the short trail aroung the pond at WSCC, so I went Into the Woods! Most of the color is faded, but the low light on this treeline was great.

Did all the usual things, just not as much time on each.

Miles hiked in 2025: 423.7

West Shore Community College trail, 0.7 miles

See WSCC Hike

Spirit of the Woods Hike- November

Although the morning started out chilly, it turned into a perfect crisp day for the NCTA Chapter hike. We had 22 people, but there were 7 dogs who came along this time. (1 person and 2 dogs didn't make the picture.)

We started at Upper Branch Bridge which is where the trail crosses the Pere Marquette River.

Gary leads us off into the autumn woods with rich brown oaks and yellow beech.

Two of the hikers completed their 100 Mile Challenge today. I didn't get a picture of Peg, but here is Sue.

There are still plenty of little gems to see. Northern Maidenhair fern grows along the banks of the unnamed creek there.

We were discussing whether these are quaking aspen leaves or big-tooth aspen. I've decided they are big-tooth, even though the teeth aren't huge, because the trees are tall and straight with ridged bark. Quaking will get ridged bark if it gets old enough, but I just have a feeling these are big-tooth. Anyway, I took the picture because I like how the water beads up on wet leaves. This is because the leaves have natural plant oils. (I'm a dummy- didn't check to see if the stems were flat.)

The oaks are starting to get involved in the fall color. Even though they don't get the really bright colors, I always like how rich they look. These are white oak.

We did hike a little farther than we usually go from this trailhead. To go to the next road and back is only 3 miles. We did the half-mile roadwalk (a pleasant dirt road), and partway into Bowman Semi-Primitive Area, so that the total miles would be more. I did five.

This is the only section of the NCT that is along the Pere Marquette River. There is one place where you get an unobstructed view, and I almost always take a picture of it there. But today I decided to try to find another place for a glimpse of the water. This one through the trees isn't bad.

I managed to do some computer work before the hike. In the afternoon, I mostly worked on trying to get some computer coding to work. I've determined several things that DON'T work. I guess that is progress of a sort.

Miles hiked in 2025: 423

Miles hiked on the NCT in 2025: 241.3

North Country Trail, Lake Co, MI. Upper Branch Bridge into Bowman Semii-Primitive area and back. Total 5 miles.

See SPW Hike- October