Loda Lake- Spirit of the Woods Hike- June

It was a multi-purpose hike day for National Trails Day- the first Saturday in June!

The Spirit of the Woods Chapter of the NCTA started with a 3.2-mile hike, some of which was on the NCT, and some was on a spur.

The spur took us to Loda Lake.

Some of you will know that Loda Lake is a wildflower sanctuary- the only one in the entire National Forest system in the country.

We were treated to a tour by the Forest Service Botanist, Carolyn Henne. This isn't a great picture, but it does show us looking at plants beside the trail while she talks about them.

I always learn things when I'm there because the plants are always in slightly different stages of their life cycles.

One of the best pictures of the day is poison sumac. You can see the bundles of leaves and the unripe berries forming on separate stems.

The Prairie Smoke is looking great. They have planted a variety of native plants in a sort of showcase garden.

Also blooming in that garden was a lot of Hairy Beardtongue, Penstemon hirsutus. I believe the butterfly is a Pipestone Swallowtail.

Best personal find of the day was some round-leaved sundew, a carniverous plant. There were also pitcher plants on site.

After that tour, we all went to Pete and Julie's cottage where they fixed burgers and brats, and we all chipped in with a potluck. This was followed by our annual meeting.

I saw lots more plants, but these are the best pictures. Long day, but all great.

Miles walked in 2026: 180.3
NCT Hike 100 Challenge 2026: 59.8

NCT in Newaygo County 1.8 miles. Birch Grove Trail 1.4 miles, Loda Lake 1.7 miles

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Loren, Loda, Hardcore Legend

Loren and I went to Loda Lake Wildflower Sanctuary this afternoon to scout out some plans for the Spriit of the Woods National Trails Day event.

It was raining most of the time, so we didn't do much walking. Probably under a mile, so I guess it doesn't count. Here's Loda Lake. It's flooded so far up the boat launch, I couldn't even get close enough to show more of the open water.

Loda is the name of the Indian Princess who was daughter of Chief Pokagon. The lake was previously just another Bass lake, but was renamed in the early 1900s.

We did walk as far as the poison sumac, Toxicodendron vernix. I wanted to get a picture of the bark and buds. Here's the bark. You can be 100% sure I didn't touch it. I've never yet tangled with that one, and my hope is to avoid doing so for the rest of my life.

We also scouted out some other roads with trail crossings, trying to plan some NCT miles in addition to the event at Loda Lake. This is the trail crossing of 7 Mile Road in Newaygo County. In the rain, even the browns look rich, and the green moss helps.

We had a blast, but that was not the end of the adventure! Coming home (still raining) there was a hiker in Baldwin. He looked like a long-distance hiker with a pack and poles, head down walking in the rain. When we passed, I said, "I think that was Chris!"

I knew he was somewhere on the trail in West Michigan, but didn't really know where. There are no towns for resupply near the trail in our entire 80 miles, but Baldwin is the closest. Also, I'd never met him in person, so I wasn't really sure. It took us a few minutes to decide to turn around and check and offer to take him back to the trail.

It was Chris! That is Chris Hillier, hiking legend. 3X for the AT, has also done the PCT, and assorted other hikes. He's hardcore! He would not let me take him to my house for the night. He had already booked an overnight room. he would not even let us take him to the motel!

But I got to meet him.

I did manage to get a fair amount done on various things before Loren and I left to go scouting.

All in all, a very fun day!

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Color in My Kingdom

I still have some really nice autumn photos from the past few days, but I think today I'll just show you what's going on in my corner of the universe.

Here's the female mulberry tree. The male one didn't look too healthy this year. I'm hoping it's not going to die. These two trees have given me several fantastic photos- see link at end for two of them

This is the paper birch I planted about 30 years ago. It's probably too close to the house, but oh, well. It almost died, and then came back, so part of the trunk is ugly. I have to keep trimming it away from the roof. It sheds leaves all over my front flower bed. That creates a big mess to clean up in the spring, but I think it has also improved the soil there tremendously. It's always golden in the fall.

The Sedum elecombeanum that I like so much in the rock garden with its yellow-green leaves all summer and bright yellow flowers in June- turns red-orange in the fall!

There is a big patch of Winged Sumac just out into the field a little ways. I missed the peak of its color, but here is proof that maybe a week ago it was bright.

Here is a picture from last year that shows how beautiful that clump can be.



And my parting shot is one of those "huh?" moments. I posted last year that the maple tree I planted as a sapling about 6 inches tall in 1991 got autumn color for the first time ever. It's the darker orange tree behind the yellow mulberry. That was taken October 31, so almost exactly a year ago.



Here's what it looks like this year. It has very little interest in changing color for me. You can see a few hints of orange/salmon on the edges of some leaves. But it's a nice tree, and I planted it, and it lived. So I like it.

I slept in this morning because I did not sleep well last night. Still got a fair amount done and took my 3-mile road walk.

Miles hiked in 2025: 416.2

See Pink, Blue, and Red

The Rhythm of Branches

 
Right now, there's not a lot of easy beauty going on outside. We got a dusting of snow today, but still not enough to have fun on. So I went looking for some trees that were making music in their own way.

First up is an autumn olive. This is not the same tree as the one in A Shadow Revisited (link below). That tree has broken. But this one might be in the running for a new place to find a similar shadow if the snow gets deep.



This apple tree looks like one of those dancers from India with six arms. When I was a kid, some ladies from India came to our school and danced with candles and little metal things that clicked. They only had two arms each, but I was impressed anyway.



The silver maples always seem to have a graceful swoop in their music. Too bad they are such messy trees, and don't even color nicely in the fall. Nice tone, but maybe not an instrument that is pleasant enough to listen to full time.



Another apple tree seems to be trying to dance in a mirror with itself.



Finally, today, I smiled at the jazzy symmetry of the staghorn sumac.



I think I have a package lost in transit, but can't check until the post office opens tomorrow.

In other news: I wrote two chapters and took a walk. On the days I write this many words, I really can't accomplish much else. However, I did get more copies of "Devotions For Hikers" printed and stapled. I was completely out of them. I think I've earned my evening cookie and a chance to read a book.

	See Silver Maple See A Shadow Revisited
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Curlique

 
Today's theme is curlique, curly-Q, or however you want to spell it. There are two entries in the competition:

First, dried grass leaves.



Next is the shadows of those twisty sumacs I love to picture.



It was up to 15 degrees today, but with no wind at all it wasn't even chilly on skis. My tracks from yesterday persisted, so I was actually able to do more gliding, instead of just walking on skis. Did all four hills, and three of them could be skied down instead of pushed.



There wasn't the blue sky of yesterday. The best that could be said of the sky is that it was occasionally dramatic.



In other news: I have the contract work just about finished- just a bit more to do tomorrow and Thursday afternoons. I wrote one chapter in The Hitchhiker and did some odds and ends. Hope to write a little more yet tonight.

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Best Photos of 2017

 

Last year, I took you through 2016 pictures month by month. That limited me to 12 favorites, but maybe eliminated something if there were two good ones in a month. This year, I'm just picking some good ones and arbitrarily putting them in categories.

Most unusual sunrise picture, so I'm calling it the best. September 26

Favorite landscape. Waves of pointy hills in springtime Ohio. April.



Favorite snow picture. Sumac trees against red pines. December 30



My favorite picture of a person. December 9

Favorite still life. At Shagway Arts Barn in the rain. October 22



My favorite sky picture.. The Stratocumulus undulatus clouds in November.



Favorite wildlife picture. Praying mantis with German yellowjacket remains. October 23



Favorite country road picture. From the Ohio hike. April



Favorite tree picture. The maple tree overhanging the driveway to the Shagway Arts Barn. September 5.



Favorite plant picture Horsetail. August 14.

Favorite abstract pattern picture. Ice on a wetland. March 12



Funniest picture. I thought it was going to be old/new fungus growth, and instead got a cute little shark coming around a reef. September 17



There you have 12 of my favorites. Comments always welcome!

In other news: I spent 2 hours messing with the snowblower. The plows had put a 2 foot wall across the bottom of the drive, and the bank around the mailbox is up to the top of the box and about 2 feet in front of it. Cleared. widened the bottom. Now the wind is blowing and the roads are drifting shut. School has already been called off for tomorrow. But we should be able to get out. Road trip for me- stay tuned. Also did some promotional stuff for books and finished (I hope) the extra material that will go with the Dubois Files books. Making split pea soup. Might write a little more, or not- kinda pooped.

	See Best Pictures of 2016
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Once in a Lifetime Pie

 
This is a chocolate peppermint pie. Take a good look because you'll never see one like this on my blog again.



It's good, there's no doubt about that.



It has chocolate graham cracker crust, chocolate pudding filling, cream cheese and whip topping with red and green chips (which don't show) above that, and real whip cream above that, and peppermint sprinkles on top.



However, for the amount of work and fussing it was, it would need to be drop-dead-absolutely-astoundingly-spectacular, not-to-be-approached-by-any-shortcutting-of-the-steps good. Says the person who made it, who isn't really a kitchen fan any longer, "it's not THAT good." Omer says, "Oh, wow!"

If you are a kitchen masochist and want to try it, the recipe is at No Bake Candy Cane Pie

I went out on snowshoes again today. I LIKE snowshoes. The sky was interesting.



There was blue above the sumac.



A nice ending to 2018. See you next year!

In other news: I wrote chapter 15- DISCOURAGED AND PURPLE, in The Secret Cellar, cleared the driveway again, and worked on the sock. I may go to bed early with a book. Who knows.

	See Time for Friends for the last cream pie I had, which I did not make
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