Benzonia and Betsie Valley

The bulk of the day was spent at the Benzonia Holiday Gift Market. They had a lot of vendors stuffed into a smallish room, but it did boost the impression of a busy event. And I did pretty well, so I have no real complaints.

This quilt is being raffled in December. I think by the Grow Benzie group. Yes, it's gorgeous, but it's 100% machine made and so perfect I wonder if it was a kit, so I have mixed feelings.

After the event was over, I went to hike a bit of the multi-use Betsie Valley Trail. Finding one of the parking areas turned out to be a challenge. My map wasn't detailed enough. Google couldn't seem to tell me. The local gas station folks... well, the guy couldn't even read a map. The lady directed me to a parking area that wasn't the closest one (there should have been one in town), but anyway. I did find the trail and a parking area.

It's a wide graveled trail. My goal was really just to get in some fast walking exercise, so that was fine.

I chose to hike back toward town. I knew this section crossed a developed area where the trail has an easement, so there were quite a few houses. But it is also the section that goes along Crystal Lake, which was what I wanted to be able to see.

Found a few things of interest. I always love the tamarack (larch). They turn bright yellow in the fall and lose their needles every winter.

Do you recognize this one? It's a closeup shot of the seed pods for wild clematis (aka old man's beard, aka virgin's bower).

Since it took extra time to find a trailhead, I wasn't sure how long the light would last. I walked 30 minutes along the lake, then turned around. That gave me 3.6 miles when I got back to the car. There was still plenty of light, I went the other direction to M-115 and back which got me to 4 miles. In 1 hr 15 minutes. Nice brisk pace to match the nice brisk air.

There is a Nature Area named Railroad Point right there as well. That trail is less than a mile long, but it's supposed to have a good view of the lake. Maybe another time.

Got home a bit after dark, ate dinner. Not sure how much else I'll accomplish today.

Miles hiked in 2025: 437

Betsie Valley Trail, M-115 to Country Farm Road and back (parking at Molineax Rd). 4 miles

See Lake County Museum Quilts

Land Protection Talking Points

 Today, the Land Protection Specialist for the NCTA came and met with people from our chapter. The Michigan Regional Trail Coordinator was there, and two people from the National Park Service.

Our chapter doesn't have a lot of places where we need to try to get off road through private property, but we have a few. This meeting included a field trip for most of us to the Vince Smith Bridge (Big Sable River). I'm starting with that picture because it's more interesting.

However, before we got to play in the woods, we met for several hours. Not only did we learn some basics of the process, we discussed a specific place where a landowner has already approached us about options to get the trail off a road for part of that roadwalk.

The great news is that this piece could be moved very soon. That will get 0.25 mile off road. Not huge, but it's a start. There are options to keep going, but they won't happen quickly. This first piece is easy. The next pieces, not so much.

The tamaracks are just getting their needles.

And I just liked this. Nothing special- a dandelion and a cabbage butterfly. But they are cheerful.

I didn't get one thing done that I wanted to. It was raining when I got home, so that will have to wait. However, I did get 108 miles of campsites logged.

Total miles hiked in 2024: 214.6, of which 71.6 is North Country Trail.

North Country Trail, near Vince Smith Bridge, 1 mile

See Planning A Re-Route

Back to Midland to Mackinac - Day 3

  It was a pretty amazing day, but I'm beat. I hiked 14 miles, but only 5 of them were actually on the Midland to Mackinac Trail. Those miles were so difficult that I chose to take a longer road walk back to my car in both the morning and afternoon. In both cases, I walked the longer road miles faster than the trail miles.

The temperature was perfect- in the 70s, and the only wildlife I didn't like was the deer flies. But I kept my hair covered with a bandana and foiled their dive bombling.

I didn't get pictures of a lot of things, but I got a nice variety. Here's a Red-spotted Purple Admiral. I also saw Fritillaries, and I another orange one that I couldn't ID on the fly (literally).

I guess the next spotting was a Ruffed Grouse. It did not fly up, but did the pretend broken wing thing, so I suspected a nest nearby. The baby had fledged! I use the singular because I only saw one, but it flew right up beside mom. Mom landed and made a strange mewing sound. I've never heard that from a grouse before.

After that, a Woodcock flushed up right in front of me!

I loved the tamarack with the purple cones just forming.

This section of trail was a piece that was totally flooded two years ago, so I hadn't seen any of it. This was from Estey Road north to Guernsey Creek Road. I made it through, but it took me 2.5 hours to hike 2.8 miles. But it was wild and quiet and adventurous. I added quite a bit of blue flagging tape to help other hikers find their way with a little less trouble. Someone had been through recently enough to leave broken ferns. That helped me a few times.

Don't think that the road walks to return were so bad. Most were quite pleasant. This is Eastman Road.

After that, I decided to go back to the southern end of the piece I did on Monday. It seriously needed some additional flagging tape. I only found the trail on Monday because I'd spent a ton of time two years ago exploring all the places the trail was not. Perhaps foolishly, I decided to hike in from the next road south to see that section again. Hoo boy. It skirts a big wetland with treacherous footing, and then I had to hunt for blazes a few times. One benefit of that was finding this huge Black Oak. There are quite a few big ones in this section. The big oak also served as a landmark as I hunted for a blaze.

I went in as far as that infamous clearing and hung long streamers of blue tape that can be seen from each exit of the trail. Then I contemplated if I wanted to hike the two trail miles back- They had taken me over an hour to hike, and I'd gotten pretty wet getting around the wetland. I decided to do the 3 mile road walk back, which was also a bit of an adventure. The first mile was on a really old woods road. I briefly thought it was going to disappear into a huge marsh, but it did curve around that. Then it came out to the "real" road on private property. So, it's probably no longer a public road. Fortunately, I didn't get yelled at. After that it was a piece of cake to get to the car.

Found this cute little Northern Water Snake in the middle of the road. Someone needs to explain to him that he likes water. Anyway, I scooted him to the edge so that he might live long enough to find some water.

This lovely wetland with Bullhead Lilies didn't slow me down. What's a little unusual about this is that the water must have dropped after the lily pads grew. The leaves are standing quite upright instead of floating on the surface.

I did get held up there for a few minutes taking a picture of the Twelve-Spot Skimmer dragonfly.

I think I earned my dinner today! I made a new skillet meal that will last me a couple of days.

Anyway, I did 9 road miles and 5 trail miles. Tomorrow will be a little less ambitious.

Midland to Mackinac Trail- Estey to Guernsey Creek Road, and Mohawk Road to north of Rose Lane, and road returns. 14 miles

See Back to M2M - Day 2

Paying Attention

 
Sometimes the most important thing to learn about little adventures like yesterday is to just pay attention. For example, if you had asked me where was an easy place to find some tamarack trees (larch), I would have said you'd have to drive about 30 miles away.

Not so. There are several just north of Ludington. I've driven past them at least 1000 times since we've lived here and never noticed. But yesterday, I was actually looking at the trees and hills and plants near the river.

I always love how the tamarack turns golden in the fall. It's one of the few conifers that loses its needles.



Across the way was this rich, rusty hill covered with trees. Probably oak.



At another road crossing, I found old man's beard, wild clematis gone to seed. Maybe I'll remember to go get some pictures of the flowers next summer.



What I paid attention to at home was making a pot of stew. Yum. Great for a cold rainy day.



I've neglected to cover the other news for the past few days. Got a few chapters written. Voted.

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Hike 100 Challenge- 78.3 and Walking

 
The weather is supposed to be great for the next couple of days. I thought about making another backpacking trip, but decided that the 14 hours of darkness in the tent is not all that much fun alone. And I didn't really have time to get three days of food prepared.

But day hikes work great- they just require more driving. And hiking both directions unless someone spots you. But for the Hike 100 Challenge the miles on the North Country Trail do not have to be different, so both directions count.

Today I did a section that I may have seen less often than some others. Or maybe not. I've hiked all of our chapter's miles multiple times.

These are just some of the good pictures from today. My favorite thing about this section of trail is the small lake known as McCarthy Lake. It's a beautiful gem tucked into the middle of nowhere. It can be reached by car, and those who know how to do that (unmarked two-track roads) fill the campsites each summer weekend. This afternoon there was only one man there, fishing.



Lots of people have been posting fungus and mushroom photos. With good reason- this has been a great year for them. Most are now past prime or have disappeared completely. But this polypore will march along dead logs all winter. I liked the leaf decoration.



I almost didn't see this little black fungus hiding in the leaves. I don't think it's a Chanterelle. It might be a tooth jelly. I've not seen them in black, but that doesn't mean anything. It could have been a different color when it was new. The shape is right, so I'll stick with my guess. I've seen these in some pretty amazing colors.



This was kind of fun. A Hawthorne (Thornapple) had dropped its load of tiny apples right in the trail. I sampled one. Sure enough they are really sour (as I had been told). One could eat them if very hungry. Historically, they were used for pies and jellies, and even medicine. If combined with some sweeter fruit they are fine.



Witch Hazel's funky fall blossoms were looking good.



And, as I entered the flood plain for the Big Sable River, the fall colors presented nice contrasts. The yellow tamarack against the pines with a maple in the foreground.



And this was my goal- my turnaround point- the NEW Vince Smith Bridge over the Big Sable River. This was a recent huge work project of the Forest Service and the local NCTA chapter. Unfortunately, I was working or sleeping every day they had volunteers helping, so I didn't do a darned thing. But today I got to see it. The Forest Service wanted a clear span bridge, with no footings in the river, so that's why it's so big.



The miles for the day were a couple more than I had desired, but I finished them with no problem. Total for the day, 12.8 miles. Total for the Hike 100 Challenge, 78.3 miles.

Yes, I'm going out again tomorrow.

North Country Trail Centerline Road to Big Sable River and back

	See similar Spirit of the Woods Hike
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A Baby and a Prediction

 
There's a meme going around Facebook with a picture of Einstein. It says something like "Get a job, and within 14 days you will come into some money." Yup. I like that one. I got extra work hours both yesterday and today. At the middle of the month that should produce a nice reward.

Meanwhile, I forgot I had gotten these pictures. Last week I stopped to take a picture of this beautiful tamarack swamp.



Can you spot the difference between the two photos?



I just got lucky. The bird flew right across the scene as I snapped a picture. I saw it go, and then managed to find where it landed.

Of all the photos I snapped while it sat in a tree, only one is in focus. It's a baby red-tail hawk. They don't develop the red tail till later. I think this one is pretty young. Younger than the one at What a Teenager!

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Island Lake- No Sun

 
I drove back past Island Lake, the rather boggy lake I discovered last month, and even with no sun it was beautiful in a November sort of way.



There's something about the way the vegetation and the water weave in and out that appeals to me.



And in a backwater on the south side I found a whole stand of Tamarack, also called Larch. These are one of the few conifers that drop all their needles for the winter. They offer a little late season gold to the landscape.



It's needles are very short and hug the stems in little bunches.



The rain didn't catch me, I voted, and I found all but one of my cases. We just won't mention the flat tire.

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