Familiar Places

I decided I better get off my butt and take a walk today. Ever since the big NCT hike, I have been unable to get enthused about my road loops. I used to just do them without thinking about it a lot. However, I've now shown you just about every shred of variety, particularly on the 3-mile one, unless some stray wildlife happens along.

Anyway- here are the water features I usually show you. And I did actually learn something new.

This is the pond along the bypass. I've seen several interesting ducks here. But not today.

What I learned today, by looking at several different maps, is that this "pond" - not much more than a wetland, is one possible source for the Cemetery Creek (my name- it's totally unidentified on any maps).

At the link below, you can see my journey to try to follow that creek to its source, but both in summer and winter (I would link to that, but the pix have disappeared and I'm too lazy to try to find and reload them today) I ended my search at another large wetland area.

Today, I did a 4-mile loop which takes me past another wetland area I share fairly often on Johnson Rd.

There is a small drainage creek that flows out of it. It's been channelized. But look. I found a map with it showing.

Since this arm is longer, I guess technically, this is the source of the Cemetery Creek. Here's the drainage channel. You can see that it joins the other branch of the creek south of the highway (and south of the railroad tracks, and the cemetery) and heads for the Pere Marquette River.

And now, as I am completing my road loop, I pass the Cemetery Pond, which is on what I guess I'll need to call the East Branch of Cemetery Creek. This pond usually isn't very pretty. But here it is, a small body of water on my ho-hum loop, so I do share occasional pictures.

Edited, paid bills, played my game. Took this walk. Which raises a big question.

Miles hiked in 2025: 479.5. Am I going to shoot for 500? I'd need to do a 5-miler each of the four remaining days. I think I could. I have no pressing engagements. And here's another question. Om bought a cheap treadmill a month ago. I've done 6 miles on that which I haven't counted toward miles for the year. They seem like fake walking, but I suppose they could be counted.

Road loop near home: 4 miles

Stay tuned for the answers.

See A Creeklet Excursion- Revisited

Rain, Not Quite Singing in the

 Heavy rain last night, and more rain today. But it got briefly sunny mid-day, and I took a short walk.

This is my big garden bed that I am going to slowly work on reclaiming. This is what it looked like in 2003. Hasn't been decent since.



This is the same angle today. I see that I got more autumn olive cleared last fall than I had realized! That's great news, although it needs so much additional work, it's not funny. At least some sunlight can get in there now.

But I'm always more interested in processes than finished results. I see that I did throw a lot of daffodil bulbs in the beds on the far side of the path. In a few more days it will be worth showing you again, even if there won't be much variety. I think I need to give away more daffodils!

I was hoping for wildflowers in the cemetery ravine, but not a glimpse. Not even bloodroot which is often so early I totally miss seeing it. There were only tiny trout lily leaves.

Oh look! There is one flower with buds. Marsh Marigold. Maybe I'm pushing the season. I looked up wildflower dates from several other years, and I guess this is just about average. Maybe I'm impatient because last year was early.

Well, we surely needed the rain.

I edited, worked on a couple of projects including plant records. I'd like to have them in better shape before I start playing in gardens this year. It's a huge job because I decided I needed to update all my "rock maps" when I relaimed the garden in 2023. Not only were a bunch of the old pages filled with notes, so many plants were gone that they really needed to be redone. I don't have those done yet, but I keep working on it. At least the records of what I bought and where I put it are up to date.

Miles hiked in 2025: 133.8

See I Want My Garden Back

My Trail Out Back- Update

"My" trail has been seriously affected in the past few years. This is not a quality topic, but there are still some good parts, and one thing may be better again. Here's a general view of the property next door. This is twenty acres, and I'll get the unpleasant part out of the way first. This property has changed hands a few times in the 52 years we've lived here. However, none of the owners has ever done a thing with it, and I've always been able to walk there. Until about about eight years ago. The owner at that time threw me off the property. I was really miffed because, what the heck, right? I won't give you the entire saga, but anyway... it really curtailed my walking opportunities out my back door. It's not like I was hurting the property... sheesh.

But there is a new owner now. I guess I need to contact him to ask if I can walk there. I used to mow a path along the edge of the field, but the mower we have now is probably too wimpy for that. Nevertheless, if it's OK, I can at least clear brush and fallen limbs out of the way.

This was my access to get onto city property (the cemetery). I can still get there via the road, so I did that today and then walked the far side of the cemetery creek back to the railroad. The creek is down in the gully. The only places to cross the creek are at the road and back at the railroad tracks (unless the water is REALLY low). There used to be a little foot bridge, but it burned about 40 years ago!

I love this little creek. It's nothing much, but it has topography, and it feels like mine, because it's very rare to find anyone on the cemetery property in this area behind the gravesites.

When I got back onto my own property, I checked on the white pines I planted around 1990. They are big enough they've formed a needle-carpeted clearing. One could even camp in that grove.

There are still lots of apples and wild grapes. I could make juice and applesauce if I'd get my act together. But I probably have too many other things to do.

I have to show you the gazania one more time. One of the blossoms fully opened. It's interesting to me that the inner ring on this one is considerably darker than the previous blooms on this same plant.

I spent most of my time today doing overdue paperwork related to book sales. But I did manage to write over 1000 words. Total for Vacation from DMS is up to 10,612.

See My Kingdom

So This is Sun?

  For one day out of about 18 in the past and upcoming weather forecasts there was/is an icon of sunshine. Today was that day. This is the best the sky could deliver. And people wonder why West Michiganders get depressed in the winter.

I walked out back and enjoyed some of my familiar haunts. This is the white pine woods that doesn't belong to us. (As opposed to the small one I showed you the other day that is on our property.) I like it a lot and often walk through the middle of it.

I also went down to the Cemetery Creek. The problem is that with very little snow and the dead of winter, the landscape just isn't particularly pretty. And I'm not interested yet in taking longer walks to find something to catch the eye. Maybe in a few more days.

In other news: I spent a significant part of the day working on financial records. However, I did also manage to get a couple more square feet of floor cleared, and I did some errands.

See A Tale of Trees

Not Quite as Gray

  Today wasn't quite as gray as yesterday. The sun put some effort into burning through, and it bored a flimsy hole in the gray a couple of times.

I walked a route that had a tiny bit different part. I started on the side of the road that gave me a view of the cemetery pond. You haven't seen many pictures of it recently because the shrubs have grown in so thickly you can hardly see it from the road, except in winter. (The rampant poison ivy keeps me away in summer.)

The "new" part of the walk was on Cedar Lane. (I've driven this road plenty of times but not for a while, because it is a dead end.) I expected the usual "joke" about it being named for something that was no longer in existence. However, there is a long line of planted white cedar along the first quarter mile of the road. Lots of Norway spruce and red pine and autumn olive too.

This road takes you down to the level of Hackert Lake. This was the best picture I could get between all the houses. I wish you could walk around the lake, but several stretches are private. This route made a fairly nice walk even though I had to just backtrack to get home, because it has a decent amount of topography for a walk near home.

Saw a lot of sandhill crane tracks. It looked like a herd of them had stomped through this area. It's probably true. This is only about a half mile from where I know they nest.

But I saved the best for last, even though it happened first. This morning's sunrise was picture worthy!

In other news: I wrote a chapter in the morning, and worked on two other projects in addition to the walk. If I could be this disciplined all the time, I'd actually get a lot done.

See Gray But OK

Walking to Vote

  I live only a mile and a half from the township hall. Perfect length to walk to vote. The day was gorgeous! The last of the cloud cover was breaking up. A Mackeral Sky like this signals change, and that is what is predicted- the whole week is supposed to be nice.

Here's another view with a tree for contrast.

The light and shadows on the cemetery creek made it look really nice.

A female cardinal was playing hide and seek in the branches.

And a little green caterpillar was taking a tour of this flat discarded can. I don't know what it will turn into.

I was #340 to vote in my precinct. The lines were the longest I've ever seen here. Saw several neighbors. The clouds were completely gone by the time I walked home.

In other news: I have started that other big house project. I'll show you tomorrow. That took the bulk of my afternoon. But I did manage to write 139 words in Dead Mule Swamp Singer. Not much, I know, but better than doing nothing.

See How's the Cemetery Creek?

Fall's Final Fling?

 
It wasn't raining, and it wasn't even bitterly cold, just gloomy. I decided to take a walk and picture some of the places I show fairly regularly. This fall hasn't had spectacular colors, and what's left will start coming down in the rain predicted for later this week.

Nevertheless, my "usual" spots aren't too shabby. Here's part of the line of trees along the edge of the cemetery.



The Cemetery Creek is always an old friend. I haven't been walking out back very much. Long story, not a quality one. Maybe I'll tell you another day.



It rained last night, and that makes the tree trunks dark, so they contrast nicely with the bright maple leaves in the cemetery proper.



A mile away, around the corner, is a small wetland. You've seen a number of pictures taken there at various angles. This is just a long shot of one end. Sometimes nice fall pictures are as much about texture as color.



Another tree line in the distance with an asparagus field in the middle ground.



And now we've reached my photographic destination, the tunnel of trees on Conrad Road. I figured it would still look pretty good, and I think I was right.



About a 4 mile walk.

In other news: I wrote in the morning, baked bread (maybe you'll see that tomorrow), and worked on photo sorting a little.

	See Conrad Road Tunnel of Trees See The Creek in Winter
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New Gear - Water Purification

 
I have recently ordered several new pieces of hiking gear. Let's take a tour, one piece at a time.

Today is a new water purification system. I ordered the Sawyer Mini. It's a pretty nifty system. The filter is fibers, and it can be backwashed. It's supposed to be good for up to 100,000 gallons if you keep it clean.

Here's the stuff that comes with it, plus some coffee filters I keep with the water kit for extra nasty filtering, and a mayo jar that makes a good container, and has another use as well. Stay tuned.

The clear syringe is for the backwashing.



I wanted to give it a field test, so I went down to the Cemetery Creek. It's low. We haven't had rain in quite a while.



Nevertheless, I found a hole that was a little deeper. Even if I hadn't it still would have been fine.



First, I used that mayo jar to scoop up a quart of untreated water.



One weakness of the system is that the water bag that comes with it is too small. It only holds about 12 ounces. There are ways to get around this, but for now, I'll live with it. You have to fill the bag with unfiltered water. Then you screw that bag on the actual filter. Place the outflow nozzle in your clean water bottle and squeeze gently. It's not fast, but it's tolerable. You can see that I've almost filled the clean water bottle. I'm sure I'd hold the bottle when really doing this task, but I needed a hand to take the picture.



With everything packed up in the jar, it makes a package that fits in one of the side pockets of my pack, and it's all contained. If you really were concerned about having enough water, you could fill the mayo jar with dirty water and carry it to filter later (have done this). You can also fill the bag with water to carry. If you were more concerned about space, it would fit in a smaller stuff sack, but this works perfectly for me.

Total weight of this water kit 6.6 ounces.



Just for comparison, the previous system we used was the Steripen. Its complete kit weighed 8.6 ounces, and the funnel was a perpetual annoyance. (Link below for how that worked)



Before that, we used the Sweetwater Guardian carbon filter. We actually liked that one a lot. Here's its complete kit. But it weighed 14.5 ounces, and didn't pack nicely.



Total weight reduction from this purchase 2 ounces. Increased confidence- a lot. I didn't like that the Steripen needed batteries, and they were an odd size.

In other news: I'm working on maps... yes, hiking maps... Will tell all soon.

	See Steripen See Sweetwater Guardian
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