Gale's Pond

I need to visit some places with short hikes for my next newspaper column. For Oceana County, I decided to go to Gale's Pond. It's a lovely place, but I haven't been there for several years. There was Covid, and then there was the big NCT hike, and just like that, my last visit was in 2019. Cathy and I went there today. We've both been busy and haven't had an adventure in a while.

It was a highly worthwhile trip. For one thing, there used to be just one picnic table, and no latrine. Now there are multiple tables and a porta-potty. There is also now a new brochure to go with the interpretive trail. It's well-done- talking about ecosystems and getting the user to observe things, not just identifying trees or whatever.

This is one of the stops on the interpretive trail with a nice bench.

The area is an Oceana County Park. The trail was originally developed with Michigan's Recreation Trust Fund money. This paid for a long boardwalk through the marshy area. This part of the trail from the parking lot is all accessible. The entire loop is only a half-mile long. We walked it twice. We also took a sack lunch to eat at the picnic tables.

There are some lovely views. The trees are just barely starting to turn, but soon it will be very colorful.

This cutie (don't touch ones with tufts of spines like this) is an IO Moth caterpillar. Nice find!

You know I'm always looking for water patterns. This is reflections in the creek.

And on the way home, we did one mile of another of my favorite things- Seasonal Road! It got quite a bit more dicey than this. But it was short and we had fun.

The best thing was that it was a great botany day! There is quite a bit of quality plant material at Gale's Pond. You'll see that another day- there is definitely enough for a whole post. I saw some familiar things, and a couple of plants in new seasons for me.

Before we left this morning, the time was filled with communicating with several people about various things. After the hike, I ate a little more, and cleaned up the kitchen. This took up all the time until the first bell choir practice of this season. So... not much happened on my ongoing projects, but I'll get back to them tomorrow.

See Oceana County Adventure

Oceana County Adventure

 
Loretta and I went out to just find an adventure today, with a little less walking. First I took her to the high point of Oceana County. The view from there was great, not hazy. This is looking east



Then we went to walk the short loop around Gale's Pond.




The marsh full of heavy-headed cattails was visually interesting.





Now, for the big find of the day for me. Drum roll... I've been trying to catch this orchid in bloom for years! I keep finding just the leaves, or the seed pods later in the summer. Today I found it in bloom. Downy Rattlesnake Plantain, Goodyeara pubescens. Here's the whole plant. Notice the interesting leaves.


And the flower head. This makes it a preeeemo botany day!


Caught an interesting angle on a common whitetail dragonfly.



Then, I quick checked another short trail (Loretta had enough walking, but she didn't mind waiting while I did the other loop), and we got a yummy dinner at the Big Hart Brewing Company in Hart.

The car needed to understand more about dirt roads so we wandered toward home on one of my favorites, 88th Avenue. Sadly, they've closed the bridge over the Pentwater River on it. You used to be able to drive through.



A wonderful afternoon!

In other news: I wrote in the morning, and did a few other odds and ends.

	See Gale's Pond, A Wonderful Day See Gale's Pond
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U is for Umpity-Four

 
Yup, it's that B-day thing, and I'm that old. Wow.

My celebration was Saturday afternoon. Ellen, Loren, Dave and I went to Gale's Pond.



We had a little cookout.



What did we cook? We had genuine "Chicago Style" Hot Dogs.



Today, my goal was to just enjoy a leisurely pace. I mowed part of the lawn, and made Morning Glory muffins to take to my writers' group tonight. I read a bit, and did some of my normal computer stuff. Many, many people sent me greetings on Facebook. I'm pretty amazed at that.

Here, have a muffin!

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Critters of the Day

 
Today was very springlike! And yet, we are supposed to get several inches of snow tonight. If we do, I can ski a bit, but I couldn't let the nice afternoon pass me by.

So, I went to Gale's Pond, where Ellen took me for my birthday two years ago. By the time I got there, it wasn't sunny anymore, but it was still mild.

There were a lot of geese and ducks on the lake. The geese were totally serene. They swam a little to move farther away from me, but never flapped a wing.



On the other hand, the ducks- all mallards, very common- were nervous as could be. Every time I moved down the trail they would quack and quack and fly off to some other part of the pond.



But, for me, the very best sighting of the day was someone a bit unexpected for February. The chipmunk does hibernate, but will occasionally wake up on mild days, so that must be what happened today.

This is a cousin to the 13-Lined Ground Squirrel, but not the same animal.



The Eastern chipmunk, Tamias striatus, likes to burrow under rock piles or jumbled logs, etc, while the 13-lined ground squirrel digs burrows out in the open like a prairie dog. I love the chipmunks! (But they always seem to look worried).

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Gale's Pond- a Wonderful Day

 



This has to be one of the best birthdays! Ellen took me to a small county park called Gale's Pond. We were both very surprised that I hadn't previously known about it, but this was my first visit ever. It was a former mill pond, and the property was donated to the county in 1939 for a park.

More recently, Michigan Recreation Trust Fund money was obtained to build the boardwalk you see on the right side of the picture. The trail encircles the entire pond. There are numbered signs which must have an interpretive brochure but there weren't any in the box. Ellen and I made a game out of trying to decide what each post was supposed to mark.



Rain was predicted all day, but except for a few showers before we headed out, the day was only gray, and very comfortable. The little park had a grill, and we had no trouble building a little fire to cook some hamburgers. I took a bean salad, and Ellen brought pickled asparagus and brownies. That was a feast good enough for anyone!

The trail was short, so we walked it three times, and also a very short nature trail that was around the corner, and built by Boy Scouts. We saw SO many things! I think I'll share some birds today, and save the plants for tomorrow. It's supposed to really rain tomorrow, so I may not get outside.

Redwing blackbirds love places like Gale's Pond! And it's spring, so these two fine fellows were trying really hard to attract the attentions of the various girls in the neighborhood.

When I was a kid, we learned to identify their song as "Ok-a-lee, ok-a-lee, joy to you in the spring!" However you remember what they sound like, they were sure singing it today. And their efforts were not going unnoticed.



Here is one of the potential Mrs. Redwings. Ratty had a much better picture of one at Female Redwing Blackbird, but this one isn't bad.



This is the first suitor stating his case.



And here is number two, waiting for his chance to impress. They were a lot of fun to watch. They are so ordinary here, that it's easy to overlook them. I do have to admit to being a little more excited about catching the last picture though. It's not great... you can't see the bird's head. But it's the first time I've ever gotten a picture of a great blue heron in flight!