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

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

Mostly Mossy

 The weather was wonderful again. I couldn't stay inside!

Went for a walk on the North Country Trail. South of where it crosses the Pere Marquette River. Look at sun and reflections on December 30!

All the mosses were glowing in the sun. I really just haven't worked at learning the mosses.

This one seemed odd, but very cute. It's growing up around the bases of these two saplings in a helical manner. It makes them look like little Christmas trees.

This patch may have two different kinds.

And is this the same as one of the ones in the picture above, only a bright yellow green instead of darker green?

This is mostly a lichen, but it's growing on top of a patch of moss!

I did some editing and made some phone calls, but then I went for my walk.

Miles hiked in 2024: 547.7. NCT miles hiked in 2024: 168.5

North Country Trail. Lake Co, MI. Upper Branch Bridge to 40th St and back. 3 miles

See Promises of Green

Old Engine Club Grounds

  I was out and about today, so I decided to take a short walk at the West Michigan Old Engine Club grounds in Scottville, thinking the footing would be better on the gravel roads. Ha! It was oozy-slimy. But I went around the loop anyway.

I like how they repurposed an old gas station sign.

The big attraction at the park to me is the Pere Marquette River. I've showed you this same view numerous times over the years, but I never get tired of it.

Sometimes the trees against the sky are attractive, even without leaves.

In other news: I worked a little bit on all my current projects, went to the library and the bank, and did grocery shopping. I'm calling this a highly productive day.

See Summer Morning at the Park

A Little Walk, A Little Work

  Cathy and I did a short walk on the North Country Trail today, but she also again helped me with some trail work. We hiked about 3 miles on the section that includes the Pere Marquette River. I never seem to get tired of this view.

We saw this nice patch of Indian Pipes, Monotropa uniflora. They are a parasitic plant (not a fungus) that has no chlorophyl. I guess I've most recently shown them to you after they have gone to seed. These are the flowers. I've seen quite a few this year, but most patches weren't this pretty.

The Northern Maidenhair Fern, Adiantum pedatum, grows thickly on the banks of the small creek with no name. It's not super rare, but it always seems like such a treat to me to find it.

The creek was flowing, although low. I like the patterns in the mud.

I liked the effect after I digitally played with it even more.

Cathy found a Minion rock! We hid it in a new place.

And we saw some little orange mushrooms. I haven't even tried to ID these.

We spent almost as much time messing around with Carsonite posts as we did hiking. First we dug out one that was overkill since there is also a 4x4 marker post at that corner. Then we installed one brand new one at another road crossing. Finally, we dug out a damaged and badly marked one and then dug up the good one which was at that same road crossing, but in a hidden location, and moved it to where the other post had been. All stickers on these posts are now correct. Good accomplishment. If you care, this is where the NCT leaves South Branch Road, and you can now see this post.

In other news: I edited all morning. Since I got home, I've been working on getting the record-keeping up to date on all this work I've been doing with the posts. That has filled the whole day.

My NCT miles for 2021 is at 346, Cathy is at 49.5 for her Hike 100.

North Country Trail, Lake County, MI, S. Branch Road to 40th St and back. 3 miles total

See Berry Nice Hike

Summer Morning at the Park

  Another boiling hot day here. The best thing I accomplished was meeting the Scottville City Manager at Scottville Riverside Park to talk about trail restoration and to look at one section together.

It was already standing-still-sweating hot at 9:30, but the river was very pretty. The new City Manager is a hometown boy who has come back to the area. He's excited about the park, and although he's being pulled in a hundred directions at once, he's planned an initial work day already. We had a good walk and talk.

There is a wide stretch of wetland in back of the beginning part of the trail. Naturally, it's wetter in the early part of the season. Lots of beautiful blue flag, Iris versicolor, there. This is a native wild iris. Good plant to have. It's not unusual, but very pretty. Bad news is there is a ton of poison ivy.

Got a couple of poor pictures of another new dragonfly. I think this is a Gray Petaltail. It's the only large one in my book that is so uniformly dark with no markings on the wings. They are completely clear. That said, I'm a total amateur on the dragonfly ID.

To help confirm that, look at this picture. You can't even see the wings against the asphalt! The shadow of its body looks unobstructed.

Best find of the day? A whole patch of Indian Cucumber Root which I also showed you last week. You may recall this is a high-quality plant. And... got a nice picture of the tiny flower!

I had lots of plans, and most of them didn't happen. But I didn't just blow the day off, despite the heat. I edited. I did a couple of errands, I worked on the data book. I'm posting early in hopes that after my Zoom event this evening, I'll feel cool enough to get outside and do a couple of things. It could happen. It's certainly not happening in the middle of the 90-degree days.

See Lopping, No Loping

Miscellaneous

  If yesterday was congested, today was miscellaneous and as flighty as the phoebes on my deck. I worked on a lot of different projects. I took pictures of a lot of different things.

We'll start with some new flamingoes in the lawn just down the road from me. There is quite a collection now, but you haven't seen these ones yet. I'm pretty sure they are getting ready to open a dance studio for their neighborhood.

While out doing errands, I had to wait for the train at a grade crossing with gates. That was neat- I got to see more of the train at one time than when it passes behind my house. They have one of the engines with the new paint scheme on this line now, but it's not the lead engine.

Then I stopped for some quick shots at the Pere Marquette River Flats. This is where the river begins to open into Pere Marquette Lake (where the Badger car ferry is docked). It's a huge cattail marsh. You can see more of the open water at this time of year.

Finally, the first and last pictures of the day- the new and the old, both textural. The first is a sugar maple tree loaded with flowers. New life.

I'll end with the broken-down cattail stems and leaves from last year in the marsh. Past life.

In other news: It's really all other news- wow. Got my car, did laundry, did accounts, did volunteer stuff, did other stuff, went to UPS, ate too much. Didn't finish hardly anything, but hopefully the progress I did make will build up to completed tasks soon.

See Congested

Mrs. Phoebe Gets Cozy

  This year, Mrs. Phoebe did more than visit the deck.

Why does she keep looking up?

Because she built a nest on top of the light box. No peeps emanating yet.

There was also a trip to Riverside Park for an interview. Spring is coming along nicely now! Compare to the same view in March at the link below.

In other news: Marie left early in the morning, and I went back to bed for a while. The trailer door did not leak. I chained myself to my computer and edited all day.

See Phoebe Rules the Back Yard See Hello River, My Old Friend