Gun Lake Winterfest

The entire day was devoted to travel and the Gun Lake Winterfest vendor event. This is the Gun Lake in Allegan County between Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo.

Here is the tent where there were vendors, exhibitors and the raffle items. Big. There were two propane heaters, and it truly was warmer than outside, but I was about frozen by the end of the day despite snow pants and many layers. Standing still that long in the cold is not great.

I know I showed you my camper doll setup at Christmas, but here's what I do at vendor events where there is enough room. It gets people's attention. Notice the blue blaze on the tree.

I was right next to the table for the Chief Noonday Chapter of the NCTA, which was how I found out about this event in the first place. One of the volunteers was Jo Oostveen. We've known each other a while, but never got a picture together. Jo has hiked all of the NCT in Michigan. That's close to 1200 miles, so a significant accomplishment.

The event was quite well attended. They had a lot of things for kids to do including a set of stalls in a trailer with sheeep, goats and a pony for kids to pet. The sheep is giving me the evil eye, but she was actually very friendly.

The event is a big fundraiser for the township to keep up the park (which is mostly across the road on the lake). This was a kind of fun thing. There was a "sheriff" and "deputies." For a dollar, you could get them to sign out an arrest warrant for someone else who was at that event. Then that person was taken to jail and they had to pay $5 to get out of jail. Then they got a button that said they didn't have to go to jail again.

Jane Norton (on the right) is a past president of the CND Chapter and a great voluteer and hiker. She got sent to jail.

There were a few vendors, but it wasn't really a big sales venue. I didn't think I'd sell much, but I did sell six books. And since it's on the way of my trip, there wasn't much expense.

As soon as I left, you can bet I turned the heat in the car on full blast until I warmed up!

And where am I tonight? Here's your clue. Smirk.

First day successful!

See Leaving the Puzzle Behind

Lazy Self-Indulgence

  Today was an in-between kind of day, and I made full use of it to be decadent and selfish. For one thing, I spent extra time playing my newest game obsession, Klondike. There was a special event that took a time commitment, and I did that. I ate way too many crackers, which were yummy, and chips with 7-layer dip. But (hopefully) I balanced it out for dinner with one of my favorite wild foods, purslane. Irene was thrilled to have me get it out of the garden, and I love eating it. Irene ate some, but she didn't like it as much as I do. It rained off and on in the late afternoon, but we managed to get in a little walk. The sheep in the neighboring lane were just heading home. I was reminded of the nursery rhyme, "Leave them alone, and they will come home wagging their tails behind them." And in the midst of the hardest rain of all, there was this glorious sunset. Nice calm day. Tomorrow, however, I have plans. See you then. 

See Crown Gall

Bristol Hills Branch - East Hill

  Today, we went over East Hill, not surprisingly east of Canandaigua Lake (at the south end). Right out of the box we climbed 1100 feet. However, the trail is well-designed and built, so that except for a few places we were able to keep walking along and did not have to struggle and rest and feel like dying. Well-designed trails are also easier to maintain. Big kudos to the Finger Lakes Trail work crews. Near the top we stopped for a break at this small wildlife pond. The entire area is in the High-Tor Wildlife Management Area. The bench on the far side (where we rested) is in memory of Howard Beye. He was a volunteer for many, many years. He did so much work in so many different categories that it literally took five people to replace him. Across the pond three painted turtles seemed to be having an intense conversation. After that we mostly went downhill for the rest of the day, dropping 500 feet, except for a short gentle climb along a deep gorge. Pictures didn't really show what it was like. This beautiful garter snake was totally unconcerned. I had flipped a stick out of the trail in his direction, and he didn't even move. The final two miles were on roads. Things twist around so much it's hard to be absolutely certain, but I think this hill is the south end of East Hill, the one we had just passed over. The sheep were curious as we passed. And this might be Wood Hill, tomorrow's challenge. We had hoped to do 10 miles, but the road where we wanted to put the car is no longer open to vehicles. That will make a nice walk, but it forced us to shorten the hike to 7.6 miles. No problem! We drove around and got some views of beautiful Canangaigua Lake, which is not really visible from the trail. The hill across the water is called Bare Hill. Got back "home" in time to fix spaghetti for supper and then watch the 2020 North Country Trail Association award ceremony via Zoom, since the conference had to be cancelled. Great day! Perfect weather again.

See Bristol Hills Branch- East Hill

Buckeye Trail Completion, Day 3

 

Day three, Sunday April 23, was sunny but not hot. Our campsite was positioned perfectly along the trail, so we only had to drive a car to our starting location and walk back to camp. And then go retrieve the other car, of course.

We see a lot of the tiger swallowtails on our hikes, but they are always good for a picture. The scourge of the hike was autumn olive, in full bloom, but the butterfly seems to like it.



I know Ohio is the Buckeye State, and we did see plenty of buckeye trees, but sycamore also says Ohio to me. Here's a beauty.



Our early miles took us over a ridge with more of those great farm country views.



And the residents of the farms are always good for some fun. The sheep watched us with interest.



But the goats were more curious, although they didn't think we were interesting enough to stand up for. We thought this trio was especially funny. It would need a video, but the two goats that make bookends hardly moved a muscle. The one behind bars kept poking her head in and out and definitely wanting to escape. Just after I took the picture, another one, a color match for the two lying down peeked around the corner of the shed.



Horses are almost always curious about us.



After these 2.5 road miles, we entered AEP land (the reclaimed mining lands). There are 26 continuous miles of off-road foot trail here, quite a long stretch for the Buckeye Trail. Most off-road sections are multi-use, and often paved. It was nice to have so many miles in the woods.



We reached our campsite at 3 pm, and did some hill driving on the way to get the other car. The view from the top of Cobb Hill Road was impressive, and I put two pictures into a panorama. This gives a better sense of what we were seeing while we walked instead of the standard size pictures.



Miles for the day: 9. Total so far this trip: 26.1. Belle Valley, points 26-30.

(Oh yeah, there was the usual piece of missing trail. This time, quite a big piece. A new gas pipeline is being installed and the trail was bulldozed and filled with brush piles. To go around overland required pushing through autumn olive groves. So we went back to an access road and walked out to a real road to rejoin the trail at the bottom of the hill. At least it wasn't long or hard to figure out what to do.)

	See Day 2
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More of Sylvia's Neighbors

 
Although the lambs were the big hit of the walk Sylvia and I took on Monday, we were surely entertained by other neighbors of hers.

I'll present them in the order we met them. First, the very friendly goats who came right over and demanded grass from the other side of the fence. We complied.



Next were the cows. They weren't all that interested in us, but the calf was a little curious.



Oddly enough, the horse was also uninterested.



The black sheep of this family sure didn't think of himself as an outcast.



And his little white goat buddy decided to walk with us till he ran out of pasture.



The sky was blue and there was almost no snow that day. Chuck says they are now all white again. We sure are here! But who knew that I'd only have to go a few miles south of me to have a mini-spring vacation. It was great!

I got extra work hours tomorrow, so I'm going to bed early after I make a salad. We have a party tomorrow too.

	See Lambs
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Lambs

 
Sylvia and I took a walk around the block (4 miles) today. We got invited in to see some new lambs!

These ones are one day old.



The best pictures are of a set of two-day-old twins.





Here's one with its mother.



Even though the picture isn't as good, these were the very newest. Yes, there are two of them, one behind the other. They are about an hour old. Right after this, the owner carried them to the barn (with the help of Pete the beagle) and gave them some fresh straw to bed down in so mom could clean them up.


Lots of other fun stuff today too. But the lambs win for showing you pictures.

	See L is for Lambs
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Evening Wanderings of the Bag Lady

 
Good thing Chuck says he likes going on my walks with me (virtually speaking- he lives over 100 miles away), because I tend to look rather marginal. I leave the house pretty much ok, but almost always return with a bag full of bottles and cans.


I did walk later than usual today. After work I did errands and came home and ate. The morning's gray and rain gave way to a nice mild evening, so I decided to take a different road loop that would get me the full five miles today. It's not a loop I usually walk, so I saw different things. I think I need to walk it more often because there are several interesting wetland areas.

However, the first novelty was a very wooly sheep who was quite curious about me. I think she needs shearing soon!



Sharing the same space with her were several good-looking chickens.



One of the things I love most about spring is watching the trees begin to color up before the leaves appear. Weeping willows turn yellow. This one looks great behind last year's corn stubble and contrasting with the pines.



And here's another miniature world waiting to be explored. Are the islands inhabitable, or are they the dangerous places with the brown plains between the better spaces?



Best of all, passing one of the wetlands, I saw three ducks. Too far to see what kind, but sometimes if I can get a picture an ID is possible later on the computer. One of the ducks was by itself, and I caught a shot of it, and then they all took off with an amazing cacophony of squealings and squawkings. If I were a good birder, I would have known right then what they were. As it was, I only knew they weren't any of the ducks that quack! (And for language lovers, squeal, squawk and quack is an interesting collection of words, don't you think?)

Sure enough, as soon as I opened the picture, I realized I'd learned this duck before. This is a female wood duck. Sure wish I'd gotten a picture of the other two. But, even so, it's the best picture I've gotten of a female, and it's a good reason to walk that loop again. You can see the blue patch on her side and the rows of spots below that. And now I'll remember what they sound like!



Getting in shape! Thanks for coming along.

	See A Ducky Solution
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