Paddling, Playing (Bells), Perfect

 Bruce and Jenny invited me to go paddling with them again today. Well, I had planned to get a lot of work done, but with the weather so gorgeous... you know I went paddling.

There were a lot of water lily pads, and the sun was making the underwater stems glow with an amazing neon red color, but I was not able to capture a single picture of this. You'll have to settle for the pads floating.

We saw a fair amount of wildlife, but I didn't get many pictutes. there were painted turtles sunning themselves (I got pictures, but they are nothing special), little fish (Bruce thought maybe bass), two kingfishers, a hawk, and another heron. I got a couple of pictures of it, but was shooting into the light, so they aren't great.

No frog on a lily pad, but how about a snail?

Love the reflection of this floating log.

The low hills surrounding the lake are in full autumn color. What lake you ask? Shhh. I promised I wouldn't share too loudly. It's a very special place. Gooseneck Lake.

I'll end with my two favorite pictures of the day. The color of this pattern on the water, and the stong horizontal and vertical lines just makes me want to dance.

Maybe this is my favorite: floating leaf.

I have so many good pictures, I can't even share them all.

We paddled some out toward the middle, and not that going along the shore is a bad thing, but I discovered that I really like being out in deeper water. We spent 4 hours, and it just didn't seem that long at all.

And, I at least got one of the handbell videos processed. Sorry, these take a while to do.



What I had hoped to do today was re-read the part of Vacation from Dead Mule Swamp that I have written and see if it's really going to work. I have been doubting that it was worthy. After the long break from writing on it, it's easier for me to assess how readable it is. I'm up to chapter 20, and still feeling good about it.

Got some sad new today that a good friend has had a serious stroke. Of course, no one gets guarantees in life, but at our ages, there are certainly fewer good days left than previously. I am extra thankful for the perfectly wonderful day today.

See What a Perfect Morning

Manistee Riverwalk Reopens

 The Manistee Riverwalk is one of the nicest urban, water-side pathways anywhere. It's almost like a gamescape with varying surfaces, levels, views, etc. A part of it has been closed for repairs, but for once, my luck was fantastic. I had to go to Manistee today, and they just re-opened that section.

A lot of it is in sun, with pavement and flower beds. Lots of flower beds. You may see more of that tomorrow. Even this late, there were still nice things to see

Other parts are like shaded secret entrances to other worlds.

The primary business street, River Street, is a level above the walk. Many of the buildings are old. I love this section near the Cypress St Bridge. With the shadow of a railing from the upper level and the old stone and brick, it looks like a castle.

When you get out at the west end, the Manistee River empties into Lake Michigan. This is the Manistee Lighthouse.

On the walk back, there is this really nice view of the river. This is also a shipping channel as boats come in to Manistee Lake, so it has to be kept open and clear. In fact, it was a dredging operation that caused part of the walk to be closed for most of the summer. But this shows how there is a great variety of landscapes along the route.

Almost back to the beginning. This is the Cypress Street Bridge. It's a drawbridge and has been closed for repairs most of the last two years. I know everyone is happy to see it open again. You can just barely see the railroad swing bridge beyond in its open position. I know I did a post on that, but I can't find it to link. Another time.

Finally for today, another artsy shot. This is nothing but the reflection of a post. But I like it a lot.

Most of the day was spent finishing up the necessary stuff I've been working on and then getting it delivered. This walk was my reward.

Miles hiked in 2024: 473.9 Manistee Riverwalk, both directions. 3.5 miles

See Manistee Riverwalk

What a Perfect Morning!

  Believe it or not, I haven't been paddling since 2017. That's hard to get my head around, but true. Well, I was doing a little hiking, and I have an issue with no rack for my car again. Pretty sure that date is accurate.

Anyway, friends Bruce and Jenny invited me to kayak on Round Lake, and they said they would bring all the equipment on their trailer. Can't turn that down!

The north side of Round Lake is not developed and we all enjoyed the "wild" feel. The quiet was wonderful. There were a couple of small boats on the lake, but it wasn't noisy at all. We loved the eroded roots of trees. This was the best. It looks like it's trying to climb out of the lake.

The colors of the day were blue...

and green.

We did see a couple of kingfishers, but getting pictures of them is nearly impossible. However, this blue heron let us get pretty close.

Got a decent picture when it took off.

But it didn't go far. There are quite a few dead trees along that shore, and the birds love to perch in them.

The trees are just starting to turn colors. This reflection catches the peaceful mood of the morning with hints of red.

I spent the rest of the day on my current pet project. I thought I might be sore becuase it's been so long since I've paddled, but not a bit. It was a lovely, lovely time.

See Kayaking the South Branch

Seven Hot Blue Ones

 Cathy and I went out to do some North Country miles today. She's hoping to get her 100-mile patch this year. I'm telling you that mid 60s in February is hot! I was sweating in shirtsleeves. I also hoped for blue sky and thus blue water. Got my wish on our return walk. McCarthy Lake.

On the outward walk, the skies were still rather gray, but even so, the lake had a treat for me.

Can you spot it? Nice reflection and texture pic in there!

I liked how soft and green the young white pines looked. (McCarthy Creek is down the hill ahead of us)

Today, you could see the large beaver pond that is south of McCarthy Lake. However, it just doesn't show up in pictures through the trees. See the little bit of blue and light brown (old cattails) out in the distance? It's a huge wetland, about 50 acres.

And believe it or not, despite the many times I've walked this, I discovered another little mystery. There is a tiny creek south of the beaver pond, but it's big enough that the Chapter built a small bridge over it. It's not on the topo map. However, the NCT interactive map has just added some additional basemap options. One of them shows this, and labels it as McCarthy Creek. It make it looks as if the creek arises south of the beaver pond, flows north through the beaver pond, and then is joined by the outflow from McCarthy Lake (a kettle hole with no inflow), and then it continues northward to the Big Sable River. Here is the "unknown" creek today.

And here is the known crossing of McCarthy Creek, north of the lake. I've been thinking for a while that following this would make a fun bushwhacking adventure, and now I'll HAVE to check it out.

I love this section of trail, and we did seven miles.

Total miles hiked in 2024: 127.7 of which 30.7 is North Country Trail. (7 NCT for Cathy)

North Country Trail, Lake County, MI. 3-Mile Rd to Centerline and back, 7 miles

See McCarthy Lake- Day 427

The Mystery of THE Blue Dot- Solved

You may not remember it from the blog post a year and a half ago, but if you've had to listen to my stories from the big hike, you know that a favorite has been of the trail that ended at the blue dot in the woods... followed by a mile of bushwhacking and then more bushwhacking the next morning when I lost the trail again. (see link below)

Both those mysteries were solved today. Voila- the blue dot.

My goal today was to hike in from the north, instead of the south, to see if I could find where the trail was supposed to be, in both places. The adventure was successful, and the trail was not anywhere near where I had expected it to be. As you can see, we found THE blue dot. The trail markers for this trail are blue disks like this, but there was only one that was mounted on a horizontal board, and we found it coming in from the other direction. We also found the car at the end of the day. Always a plus.

We crossed Bear Creek on rocks- a typical Adirondack stream crossing.

Bear Lake itself was looking beautiful, getting ready for fall.

The colors are really starting to pop, and there are lots of reds.

Most of the trail we followed today was very narrow and faint, but this section was looking appealing.

By far, the best find of the day (well, other than the trail itself), is thie huge yellow toad. I don't think I've ever seen one this color before.

The weather was about as perfect as it can get.

North Country Trail, McKeever TH to Gull Lake TH parking on Bear Creek Road. 6.1 miles.

Tonight we are with my friend Paul. It's been so much fun to hear from other trail friends who are making their ways to the Celebration. Rome, Ithaca, Canestota, one hiking in Vermont.

See Bear Lake Trail Adventure

Bye, Bye, Bill - Day 414

Yup, it's sad, but Bill had to leave after today's hike. We celebrated our upcoming and almost joint birthdays with some ice cream (they are two days and a few years apart). Then he left. Sunny looks lonesome without the Lyme Lounge by his side. Bill may be able to be in on some of the western UP miles, but this is probably all for right now.

The biggest challenge on the trail today was a number of large wet areas.

I've been watching the trailing arbutus carefully, and I finally found a few blooming.

On Canada Goose Pond, we found the Canada geese doing a minuet with a pair of common mergansers.

I guess I was feeling a little artsy. I liked this reflection of the dead grass.

And I'm always a sucker for these curled rushes.

Best view of the day? There is one place, other than at the Mackinac Bridge, where the NCT comes out to Lake Michigan. And, even so, you have to walk a couple hundred feet off the trail. But here it is. I took pictures both morning and later, but the day was overcast, and there wasn't a lot of difference. It's a very pastel scene. This was morning.

We thought we were going to at least be drizzled on. Instead, we didn't get wet at all. There was a bit of harder rain after we finished, but we were in the cars by then.

Miles today: 10.4. Total miles so far: 4589.5.

See French Farm Lake