Got My 100 with Randall and Tanya

  Randall gets around, as many of you know. He's working on the NCT in NY and MI now, having finished OH and PA. Today, Tanya and I hiked with him along the Manistee River. Here we are at the one marker on the Cadillac-Traverse City Old Indian Trail that is also on the NCT.

Most of the hike is on the high bluffs above the Manistee River with great views of the river oxbows. I guess the last few times I've hiked this were in spring or fall when there were fewer leaves and you could see more of the river. Very lush today!

However, the trail also dipped down to some places of deeper woods, like the crossing of Anderson Creek.

Nice little bridge for a dry passage.

The big news of the day for me is that I completed my Hike 100 Challenge for the year. I forgot to check what my actual mileage was before leaving home, but was sure that I'd have passed 100 miles after doing 8. That took us to the Indian Trail marker, which seemed like a perfect place. Now that I'm home and have checked, I actually completed it two miles before this, so closer to Anderson Creek, but who cares? I got it. Year 9 for me (and anyone else who's done it since the challenge began).

New plant sighting for this year is Maple-Leaf Viburnum, a shrub. This is a very tiny one.

We hiked 10.1 miles. Not the longest since last year, but only the 3rd time I've done more than 10 miles in a day. I wasn't sure I'd be able to work up to 10-mile days again. It doesn't feel great, but I'm not incapacitated. I'm sure I'll be fine tomorrow.

Miles hiked so far in 2024: 259.3. NCT miles hiked 104.4.

North Country Trail, Wexford County, MI. Highbanks Rollway to Harvey Bridge. 10.1 miles

See Still Along the Manistee

Around the Neighborhood

The neighborhood in the vicinity of my own front flower garden was being enjoyed by robins and sparrows as I was watering it. The birds were having a wonderful time fluttering in and out of the water. You can see a whitish smudge on the left side which is a drop of water falling from the sprinkler.

I'm not ready to show you yet, but this garden is actually starting to look almost nice. I'm still working on cleaning up the difficult place where plants I want have got their roots all intertwined. But I'm getting there.

I walked to the shop to pick up my car this morning. (It's all fixed until something else breaks) The snowball viburnum, Viburnum macrocephalum (literally bigheaded viburnum) is in full bloom in the cemetery. The flowers are sterile. Link below talks about why.

The lawns in the cemetery are also covered with English Daisy, Bellis perennis. "Daisy" is a corruption of "days eye," as daisies close up at night and open to the day. These are only a couple of inches high, so the lawn can be mowed and the flowers are never hurt. I've tried to get some to grow in my lawn and/or rock garden, but with no success. I think they don't like my horrible soil.

Next beautiful bush of the season is Bridal Wreath spiraea (or spirea), Spiraea 'Arguta.' As a child, on Memorial day we would take huge bouquets of spirea, peonies, iris and lilacs, depending which ones were blooming then in any given year. It's a very old-fashioned shrub, but still popular for its beauty.

This afternoon, I went to Betty's briefly to deliver some plants I'm splitting. She has this ornamental Geum in bloom. I think maybe the variety 'Borisii.' I'll have to ask her to look in her records some time. It was in bud when I helped weed, but now it's covered with hot blossoms.

Also, Betty has iris in bloom. I checked mine. I have a ton of plants that are alive, but that garden bed has become so shaded with autumn olive they don't bloom. I can dream of recovering the garden, but probably not if I want to do other things too.

It's interesting that of all these fairly common garden flowers, the only ones that may have native origins are the Geum and the Iris. North America has many wild Geums (often called Avens), and we've all seen wild blue flags. Sadly the wild yellow flags are not native. Of course, all except the daisies have been tinkered with over the centuries to make the plants more appealing in gardens.

In other news: I did a lot of editing. I have two jobs I should finish before I leave for the next (last) leg of the hike, but I may only get one completed. You may have noticed in pictures that my hair is longer. I thought I wanted my assymetrical braid back. Then I thought maybe I wanted long hair and braids. I'm not sure I can stand dealing with it, and I hate the way it tickles and flies all over. It may all come off.

See Bridal Wreath Spirea See Snowball Bush

Homeostasis

  Homeostasis is the "attempt" of a living organism to maintain balance throughout its systems. If you are getting cold, your body shivers to generate heat. If your body detects too much sugar, insulin is released-- too little, your liver makes glucose from glycogen. Get the picture?

Well, I think the universe must be seeking to maintain some level of domestic order overall. Cathy has been cleaning out her storage spaces and painting shelves, and sorting grandchildren's toys, and generally making her house look quite nice and orderly. I suspect that this is in direct reaction to the speed at which I have trashed my house. There is only one-way traffic through the dining/storage room (and Om and I are both small). The living room is filled with tables on and under which I am piling all the hike and trailer-life related objects. The kitchen, as you have seen, has sprouted an extra island in the middle. Although tonight that has been replaced with a large collection of boards and plywood pieces being polyurethaned. Even the bathroom is now filled with stacked tubs of completed food. Tomorrow, I'm going to trash another room, but I do have to clean it up before bed so Omer can sleep!

Between Cathy and me, we are keeping the domestic universe in balance. Even I am beginning to long for tiny bit of order here.

Meanwhile, Cathy and I went for a fast, five-mile road walk today. After all, the goal of this madness is so I can go on a long walk. I need to be somewhat ready to do that. We did not get rained or snowed on, but the sky was definitely looking wintry.

We saw a lot of winterberry, but I liked it here, intermingled with the tones of the oak leaves.

Buttonbush seed pod balls. See Buttonbush flower. I had to go take a closer look because I did not realize they hang down in clusters like that.

And one lone maple leaf, blown from somewhere into my yard. The closest maples are in the cemetery. This leaf came visiting from quite a long way.

In other news: I worked on the volunteer project in the morning. Almost done with that. I'm waiting for the next piece and then I just have to mail some things. I did a little bit with food. I am literally only about two hours away from having the entire food project done, but I had to switch priorities today. I needed to finish cutting quite a few pieces of wood for the trailer, get them sanded, and get the first coat of polyurethane on them. They have to have 3 coats each side, so that is 6 cycles of about 4 hours each. I want them to be ready to go in as soon as the weather improves. They are now all spread out in the kitchen. First coat on side one is done. I should be able to flip them and do the first coat on the other side before I go to bed. Monica is coming tomorrow to help, and we are going to start sewing cushion covers.

I did test out the gaiters and a new pair of wool socks on the walk. The gaiters are now fine. Not sure about the socks. They are very warm. Remember, my feet don't like to be super hot. They were definitely too warm today at 38 degrees with gaiters over the top of everything.

Nothing has changed on the list. Worked or walked pretty much without a break from 8 am, and I still can't cross anything off. I'm SO close on several items, but have to wait for some little piece that depends on someone else. There is good hope for a big one tomorrow though! Still 25 BIG ITEMS to complete- (37 done). 38 small ones to do (32 done). 17 days to go.

See Swingin' in the Rain

Road Day Loot

  Today, I drove to the other side of the state. Surprisingly, at one of the rest areas on I-75 there are gorgeous gardens, and they were still looking good in the second week of October!

The last time I saw this shrub was in Alabama. That one was native. This one may not be. There are ornamental varieties as well. Anyway, it's a Beautyberry, and now I know it when I see it.

The primary reason for the trip was to pick up the new foam for the trailer. Got it! Darn good thing it was a warm day. It smelled so strong I had to drive home with the windows open all the way. It will be temporarily living on the deck until it finishes off-gassing! Took the picture when I got home, just after dark.

Next bit of loot was a really, really good salad at Moni's family restaurant. Mixed greens, apple, cranberries, cucumber, tomato, feta cheese and grilled chicken. The pita bread was warm. All for $10. Total winner! I was feeling overwhelmed by so many chain restaurants, so I asked Google to find a family restaurant. Success.

In Grand Rapids on the way back I went to two other stores- I'll show you those purchases another day. I'm shopped out (doesn't take much to accomplish that). But the last bit of loot was a lovely evening sky. I had to snap it on the fly, though.

This is all the news- 8 hours of driving is enough. Big List is still at 73 items with 28 crossed off, leaving 45 to go in 50 days.

See Beautyberry

It Doesn't Get Much Better

  It doesn't get much better than today, folks! I hiked 14 miles and finished collecting data for Newaygo County on the North Country Trail. The weather was beautiful. It was sunny and the high was 83, but there was a slight breeze that kept it from feeling too hot. And the humidity was low.

There are too many pictures in this post, but what should I leave out?

First of all, lets talk about a little geology. Most of the hills in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan are remnants of a huge glacial moraine that has eroded away in interesting patterns. There is a surviving ridge that runs somewhat N-S throughout Newaygo County. Just east of this ridge, and sometimes cutting through it are holes and channels that have become a series of lakes and wetlands. The NCT threads it's way along that ridge. Today, the southernmost lake in the series that I passed was Nichols Lake. It's also one of the largest.

Next one north that you can see from the trail is Leaf Lake. I think it gets its name from the odd shape.

That lake transitions into a long, long strip of wetlands that follow one of the eroded valleys. If this was Ohio or Pennsylvania, I'd suspect they were old mining pits. But I think these are just natural.

Condon Lake is a long, thin teardrop. You climb a hump in the ridge after a mile-long strip of wetlands, and it suddenly appears.

My hike today only took me a little north from here. But Highbank Lake, that you've seen a few other times, is in this same line. Then the trail veers west and leaves this geologic feature.

One very cool thing I found is one of the very few remaining Manistee Trail markers. That trail pre-dated the North Country Trail. And it looks like the porcupines don't care anything about history.

Best flower finds of the day are Frostweed, Helianthemum canadense,

And a Maple-leaf Viburmun, now with the flower fully open. But this picture wins because the sun helped make it a little artsy. I love the shadow on the leaf.

It was a great dragonfly day, especially along Nichols Lake, where I was "wading" through hundreds of zooming and flitting dragonflies. Getting any pictures at all was really hard. But I think most of them were Chalk-fronted Corporels. You can't see the distinguishing marks in this picture, but I did see a lot of them from better angles. I just couldn't get any pictures. There were other kinds as well. Notably some small blue ones, but no certain ID on those.

I just was trying to get lucky with a picture of this one perched on the grass. Couldn't tell what it was at all until I got home. I'm pretty sure it's the Calico Pennant, which I learned a couple of years ago.

And finally, I just like this picture. This was the edge of a wetland that wasn't terribly attractive, but the twisted shrubs and the lighting transformed it into something mysterious.

I met another long-distance hiker on the trail! Liz Jones is hiking from Croton Dam to Munising. Good luck, Liz! It's amazing that I actually encounter hikers multiple times a year, now. This is a relatively new phenomenon for the NCT!

It was also a good day for bullfrogs and mosquitoes and gypsy moths. The only negative for the whole day is that the gypsy caterpillars are hanging on their threads everywhere. I had "silk" threads touching my face all day long. I really could have done without that. But I prefer to emphasize how perfect the day was!

The only other news is that there was a Reading Regatta Zoom event in the evening.

North Country Trail miles for 2021 is at 335.

North Country Trail, Newaygo County, Michigan, FR 5633 almost to Tank Creek and back for a total of 14 miles

See MNF Challenge Hike #5

Clear Springs Again

  This is becoming my "go-to" hike when I'm driving home from the Muskegon area. I had a vendor event this afternoon, and it was just after 5 pm when I reached Montague, which is where this nature preserve is.

Sometimes Carleton Creek is littered with pollen or catkins because it's very slow-moving. But today, the pond was quite lovely.

I was interested to see what flowers were in bloom. The Canada mayflower, Maianthemum canadense, is opening up everywhere.

And this preserve has a lot of maple-leaf viburnum, Viburnum acerifolium. Very common, but an attractive native shrub. These buds are not quite open all the way yet, but you can sure see why it is called "maple-leaf."

My personal favorite of the day is wild or false sarsaparilla, Aralia nudicaulis. Although this can be a substitute for the flavoring, it's not the primary source, which comes from a different plant.

The flowers are just opening. They are "fireworks" balls of blossoms beneath the leaves.

Artsy polka-dots on a maple leaf. This is probably caused by a fungus.

And finally, one more reflection in Carelton Creek. The late afternoon light was good for reflections. It was cool and calm in the nature preserve. Even though it's pretty close to the freeway, it feels quiet and peaceful. I was really tired when I started to walk, but felt rejeuvenated when I finished. I think I walked about 3 miles.

The vendor event went pretty well. I did about average. Can't complain about that!

Montague County, MI, Clear Springs Nature Preserve. 3 miles

See Clear Springs at the End of the Day

Spicebush 2 - Fooled Again

  You would think I'd learn, right? I like to learn things. I like to retain things I learn. But when presented with this shrub I pretty much know, in a place I didn't think it grew, I just rejected it as a choice. Where is my botany logic, eh?

This was growing in the old rail bed through the bottomland hardwood swamp Loren and I hiked yesterday.

Did I remember the spotted bark? No. At least I looked at the spotted bark.

Did I think about the fact that small yellow blossoms so early in the spring almost HAD to be spicebush? Yes, yes, I did. But then I said, "Huh... there isn't spicebush here." Talk about pre-conceived notions.

Did I break a twig to smell it? That would have given me the answer in a flash- the spicy scent is distinctive. But, no... I didn't do that. Shame on me.

Did I notice whether the leaves were going to be toothed or entire (smooth edges)? Yes, I did. The answer is entire. OK... another thing right.

So, I'm going to try to not be fooled the next time. I'm going to try to remember that my choices for shrubs with spotted bark are pretty much elderberry, speckled alder, and spicebush. Elderberry has opposite branches. I DID rule that out on site. Alder has distinctive "cones" and catkins, so I knew it wasn't that. But why, oh why, didn't I accept that my mind was telling me spicebush?

Perhaps I have now embarrassed myself enough that I won't be fooled again.

In other news: I edited like crazy and finished one job. I did some other volunteer work.

See Spicebush