Uneven but Sunny

  Loren and I took a hike on the North Country Trail. It wasn't as difficult as the icy trail at the state park on Tuesday, but the packed trail was really uneven. It was a joint-jarring walk. But... the sun was shining and the temperature climbed above freezing. All good!

The sky became that brilliant shade of blue that just amazes me every time I see it. The gnarly oak branches are a nice contrast.

This strange linear burl seems to have all kinds of protuberances. Looks like some sort of spiny animal crawling up the tree.

I know it's not much color, but the lichen and moss mingling on this tree are at least not brown and gray.

Who made these little tracks?

Dear little Koa, of course! She's always an enthusiastic hiker.

We managed to walk outbound 2.6 miles before the trail became just postholes through an icy crust. Then it was no fun any more, and we turned around. But it was enough.

NCT Hike 100 Challenge for 2021 is at 78 miles.

North Country Trail, Lake County, MI, Freesoil Trailhead south 2.6 miles and back. Total 5.2 miles.

In other news: I continued to work on editing.

See Icy and Windy

Hodenpyl Dam Pond in Winter

  Loren and I hiked today along Hodenpyl Dam Pond, which is a really lovely stretch of the North Country Trail. I hadn't ever hiked it in winter. Of course, Koa was there too. She loves the snow!

Warning: This is a picture-heavy post. Just to prove we were happy, here's another goofie selfie. The temperature stayed right around 20 degrees, but both of us had overdressed and had to shed a layer before we'd been out very long.

This bridge crosses an arm of the lake that isn't really a creek, it's more of a bayou.

Here's the view out toward the lake from the bridge

There was light snow falling almost all the time we were out. However, on our way back it started coming down a little heavier. This picture makes it look like a real white-out! That's kind of funny because the flakes never got really heavy, and it wasn't windy, but it sure softened the view.

Now for the tree "damage" section of this post.

An energetic beaver has been hard at work here. I've seen them try to take down even bigger trees, but this one is certainly a long-term project.

We found this hemlock tree striped with yellow-bellied sapsucker holes. And here's where I learned something new. After I got home I looked up hemlocks and sapsuckers because I haven't noticed them drilling their lines of holes in hemlock before. Guess I just wasn't paying attention! They love hemlock. Sapsuckers, as beautiful as they are, do a lot of damage to trees. I found a table with the mortality rates for live trees drilled by sapsuckers. It's as high as 67% for gray birch and 51% for white birch (more common here). They also like red maple, red spruce and hemlock. But the mortality for hemlock is only 1%. The hemlock seem to tolerate it better. This tree was completely riddled with their holes, but seemed healthy.

And we saw another interesting burl. With the swirling snowflakes, it almost looks like it has white Christmas lights strung on it!

Now for the extended hike section of this hike!

So, we got back to the car after doing 6 miles. I wanted to do a little more. I wondered if I could make it to 10. I looked at the map, and I'd have to go beyond Eddington Bridge and back. Think DOWN to the creek, UP the other side, then ditto on the return. Decided I'd see how I felt. It was neat to look down and see Eddington Creek winding along the bottom of the valley (the wavy dark line in the middle). You can't really see the creek that well in the summer.

Then up the other side, with a look back at the bridge. (But this is only the very start of the climb.)

I had to go all the way to the top of the hill to get to the turnaround point! But I did it. I walked 10 miles in snow and don't even feel too beat. Yeah!

Hike 100 Challenge 2021 is at 46.5 miles.

North Country Trail, Wexford and Manistee Counties, MI, South of Eddington Creek to middle of Northern Exposure Campground and back. 10 miles

Believe me, there is no other news. I'm not whipped, but it was enough. Made a grilled cheese sandwich when I got home. Yum!

See Teeny's First Overnight

Timber Creek- Sunlight Edition

  Back to that same nearby trailhead at Timber Creek today. There was a group hike, so Loren and I just joined them. Not sure why the group picture has such a funky color.

The big, wonderful news of today was that we actually saw the sun in the morning. I'm telling you that sunlight and shadows make any day better.

The round burl is still where it always is. No surprise there! Haha.

Most everyone turned around after about 2 miles. Loren and I (with Koa and Corky) continued on to 8th Street before turning around, which made our total hike 6 miles.

We finished before the sky clouded over for the afternoon, and the wind picked up again. But it was a glorious morning for a walk!

Hike 100 Challenge 2021 is at 31.5 miles.

North Country Trail, Lake County, MI. Timber Creek (US 10) north to 8th St and back, 6 miles

In other news: I made myself get back to writing on Dead Mule Swamp Singer today. I don't know that there's much quality in what I wrote, but I did one chapter and moved the plot forward. I can always improve it later.

See Not Quite Endurance Edition

Day Three- Even Slower

 
Day three of my Knobstone Trail hike (Friday, June 19) I got a late start. I'd been managing to get up pretty early for me, and was hiking by 7:30 to get a couple of miles in before the air heated up. However, it had rained in the night this morning. I didn't wake up, and it just takes longer to pack up wet, and so I didn't get on the trail until 9 am. Then, I had to stop almost immediately to fill my water bottles. It was already 74 degrees at 9, and it only went up from there.

Mostly more ups and downs, but there was a short stretch through a nice valley. Except of course, the full sun...



I saw lots and lots of toads on my hike. This one was so red, I had to take his picture.



Love the symmetry of an unfurling fern.



This may be the biggest burl I've ever seen.



But, I was really dragging. By 3 pm it was 87 degrees, and my brain was totally non-functional. I only hiked 6.5 miles in all those hours. I had enough water, so I took over a large campsite, pulled out my camp chair, and just sat still until I was able to even contemplate doing camp chores. I did them slowly, one at a time.



I made myself eat dinner. It was good. I had Dirty rice and beans. But I could only get half of it down, so I saved the rest for breakfast.



The best thing about the site was an absolutely perfect tree to hang the food cache. I got the rope over it on the first try (amazing).



The sky looked clear, so I left the rain fly off the tent. It did not rain, and that way I had a little more air. Very disappointing mileage, but I just could not go in in the heat and humidity.

The blog post from the trail is linked below, but it was very short because I could only get one picture to upload and then I lost connectivity.

In current news: I was really productive today. Got up early to beat the heat here, and worked on my trailer until it got too hot. Will tell more about that in future days. Also, the lawnmower is fixed! I dug up about 20 autumn olive bushes that got too big a start in the lawn. About that many more to go and then I can mow. Woo hoo!

See Dreaming of a Cold Diet Coke

What a Glorious Day!

 
Lots of pictures again, but I can't help it! Today was about as perfect as you can get. First, I finished the blazing on the main portion of my trail. That was the easy railbed through the swamp portion. So after that I took a longer hike. This section is one I don't seem to hike very often, so it was almost like seeing a new piece of trail since I didn't remember every turn by heart.

Reflection of trees in the slightly flooded Muckwa Creek. Everything is wonderful in the sunshine!



Common running clubmoss. Lycopodium clavatum.



Artist's Conch fungus, Ganoderma applamatum. I used to love carving pictures into the undersides of these. Now, I'm happy with taking their snapshots.



This is maybe the best find of the day. I was aided in the identification by that wad of coarse black fur beside the skull parts. I did not arrange those jaws; that's exactly how they were lying. I did bring one home, and thanks to my great "Key to Mammal Skulls and Lower Jaws" was able to verify that it's a striped skunk. Live mammals I saw include a chipmunk, red squirrel, and two black gray squirrels.



This is a weird burl. Not all bumpy like most.



I saw at least three different kinds of butterflies. Several were the Mourning Cloaks- an early hatcher, one small blue one- way too fast to identify, and two of these which I am pretty sure are Eastern Commas even though I can't see the wings really well, Polygonia comma. I wish I could have gotten a picture with the wings all the way open, but this was the best I could do.



It was a wonderful day for patterns and reflections. This is just some submerged grass in an unnamed creek flowing with the current.



Back to Muckwa Creek and last year's fallen leaves on the creek bed, with one floating on the surface, and the reflections of trees.



This final picture is back up in the bottomland hardwood swamp on my section of trail. It doesn't look spooky and gloomy at all in the sunshine!


The Spring Peepers and Chorus Flogs were all warmed up and singing at full force in every little ephemeral wetland. The ticks and mosquitoes aren't awake yet. Cool air and warm sun- my favorite. Days don't get much better than this one.

I hiked a total of 10 miles today. NCT Hike 100 Challenge 2020 is at 81 miles.

North Country Trail, Lake County, MI, 5 Mile Road past Freesoil Trailhead and back.

See Painting Blazes 102

Allegheny River/ North Country Trails

 
I am moteling it tonight. Found a cheap one. Just too tired to bother driving on. I decided I would do that before I stopped for my break, so I got to take a longer hike.

My route crosses the North Country Trail here at Emlenton, Pennsylvania. This is a piece of trail I've never seen before. How can that be, you ask? Because the trail was not routed to be concurrent with the Allegheny River Trail when I hiked this section.



Paved trails are certainly not my favorite, but at least it was off road. The Allegheny River was on the west side of the trail.



I thought I'd hike out 3 miles and then back for a total of 6, but I was so happy to be out of the car, I didn't realize how far I'd walked before noting the first mile post. After I noticed a marker, I did 2.5 more outbound, until the next post after this toe of rock.



The weather was perfecto! I was hiking in short sleeves and even wishing I had lighter pants than jeans with me. But, let's not forget that it's only March. There was ice hiding back in among the rocks.



This burl was one of the biggest I've ever seen.



By then the sun was slipping west and the light made these grass heads glow and dance.



You know I can't resist a new pattern of light on the water.



So, now, Motel 6 and I are having a date. I plan to get up early and beat the traffic around Cleveland. There are many NCT friends near the trail crossing who would probably gladly have put me up, but I really needed to get a little farther down the road.

Oh, and how far did I hike? Ha! I had walked over a mile before I paid any attention to a marker, so my total was 7.25 miles. Hike 100 Challenge for 2020 is at 21 miles

North Country Trail north from Emlenton, Pennsylvania, concurrent with the Allegheny River Trail. 3.5+ miles out and back for a total of 7 miles

See Wissahickon Hike