Hike 100 Challenge 2021 Complete!

  Finished my North Country Trail Hike 100 Challenge for 2021 today. Plus a couple extra miles. The big surprise was that we awoke to about 1.5 inches of snow. It didn't really make the hike more difficult, but it sure changed how things looked. I did most of this same piece 51 weeks ago (link below) and the trailing arbutus was in bud! We aren't that advanced with spring this year. I think maybe we are now past Fool's Spring, and into Second Winter. One of the things I really like about this section is a stretch of tall hemlock trees. They look fantastic trimmed in white. The ephemeral wetland was drab and not too inviting, but there was an interesting star pattern in the ice. I wonder if something fell on it to create a star crack which then refroze. Every tiny creek was outlined in white- there are several in this secion, all unnamed, but pretty in snow. Lots of evidence of little critters. The thin wet snow was great for taking tracks- squirrel Opossum, even with a tail drag! Absolutely best find of the day-- can you find it? Let me help you a little bit. It's a woodcock! It's hiding behind the tree. Of course I tried to get a better picture with no luck. They are very shy. And it turned out there were two more of them. One was very close to me but I never saw it until it flew away. Then they all flew away. This is not my first sighting, although it's not a bird I've seen often. But it's my first picture. Even if it's crappy, I'm happy. (And there's your poem for the day.)

Hike 100 Challenge 2021 is complete with 102 miles!

North Country Trail, Lake County, MI, 56th St to 76th St and back. Total 12 miles

In other news: Yes, there is other news. I did a little paperwork before I hiked, and then had bell choir practice afterwards. Standing for another hour and a half after walking 12 miles, was not exactly my preferred position, but I did it.

See Nine More Miles

Uneven but Sunny

  Loren and I took a hike on the North Country Trail. It wasn't as difficult as the icy trail at the state park on Tuesday, but the packed trail was really uneven. It was a joint-jarring walk. But... the sun was shining and the temperature climbed above freezing. All good!

The sky became that brilliant shade of blue that just amazes me every time I see it. The gnarly oak branches are a nice contrast.

This strange linear burl seems to have all kinds of protuberances. Looks like some sort of spiny animal crawling up the tree.

I know it's not much color, but the lichen and moss mingling on this tree are at least not brown and gray.

Who made these little tracks?

Dear little Koa, of course! She's always an enthusiastic hiker.

We managed to walk outbound 2.6 miles before the trail became just postholes through an icy crust. Then it was no fun any more, and we turned around. But it was enough.

NCT Hike 100 Challenge for 2021 is at 78 miles.

North Country Trail, Lake County, MI, Freesoil Trailhead south 2.6 miles and back. Total 5.2 miles.

In other news: I continued to work on editing.

See Icy and Windy

New Tracks!

  Walking up the driveway today, I found these new little tracks. Who do you think made this line of prints?

There are two of them! Curious?

Haha! The wind scared up a tiny snowball that rolled and bounced and landed here. If you look in the picture above, you'll see the even smaller ball that made the second track right in the top middle of the picture.

In other news: I edited all day, with little breaks on my jigsaw puzzle. And I went across the street to buy a couple of things.

See Not Quite as Gray

Not Quite as Gray

  Today wasn't quite as gray as yesterday. The sun put some effort into burning through, and it bored a flimsy hole in the gray a couple of times.

I walked a route that had a tiny bit different part. I started on the side of the road that gave me a view of the cemetery pond. You haven't seen many pictures of it recently because the shrubs have grown in so thickly you can hardly see it from the road, except in winter. (The rampant poison ivy keeps me away in summer.)

The "new" part of the walk was on Cedar Lane. (I've driven this road plenty of times but not for a while, because it is a dead end.) I expected the usual "joke" about it being named for something that was no longer in existence. However, there is a long line of planted white cedar along the first quarter mile of the road. Lots of Norway spruce and red pine and autumn olive too.

This road takes you down to the level of Hackert Lake. This was the best picture I could get between all the houses. I wish you could walk around the lake, but several stretches are private. This route made a fairly nice walk even though I had to just backtrack to get home, because it has a decent amount of topography for a walk near home.

Saw a lot of sandhill crane tracks. It looked like a herd of them had stomped through this area. It's probably true. This is only about a half mile from where I know they nest.

But I saved the best for last, even though it happened first. This morning's sunrise was picture worthy!

In other news: I wrote a chapter in the morning, and worked on two other projects in addition to the walk. If I could be this disciplined all the time, I'd actually get a lot done.

See Gray But OK

Familiar NCT Section- Not Quite the Endurance Edition

  Got too late a start to hike 10 trail miles yesterday, but thought I might manage 8 or 9. Nope, not that far, either. It was 11 months and 2 weeks ago that I did pretty much the same hike and called it the Endurance Edition (link below). It was pretty tough. So how did yesterday compare?

The snow was about the same- maybe five inches on the ground. I started at Timber Creek (on US 10) and headed north. I took a lot of pictures that look like this, but this one is best. Lots of vertical dark stripes against the white snow. And a blue blaze! Can you find it?

Just so we don't leave out the horizontal component, here you go. Thankfully, this was not across the trail.

As expected, there was a fairly well-packed trail for about 2 miles. At that point the herds of hikers turn around and go back to the trailhead. But I wanted to go farther. So I did! No other hiker tracks after that.

This scene is just north of the next road, which is 8th St. This looks like it might be a pond, right? It's so level.

Surprise! It's just a little grassy clearing in the woods. Here's what it looks like in summer. That is butterfly weed (a milkweed) blooming in it.

The only green I saw yesterday was this mossy log. It did look nice, fighting to find some light through the snow cover.

Best finds were some wildlife tracks after I got into the unbroken snow on the trail. I'm pretty sure this is a coyote. Size is right. Very oval- two middle toes are practically in front of the outside toes. Gap between toe pads and heel. And the tracks were very regular in a straight line.

And I am relatively certain this is skunk. The definition isn't great, but it's the right size and general shapes. The track pattern was not the usual four tracks veering to one side and then correcting and veering off again, but they can make more of a straight line when they are just walking. And I THINK I see that little line that separates the heel in the right hand one, but it's really hard to be sure.

Here's another sign that a coyote or fox (those first tracks were too big for a fox, though) was following the trail. There were a lot of places where a nose had been thrust into the snow and wiggled around through the leaves to get a good sniff of potential lunches like mice or voles hiding under there.

And, I learned something new about this very familiar section. I've always just thought about the ridges you cross, and considered it rolling hills. Yesterday, I realized that the whole trail seemed to climb a lot going north, and mostly descended coming back. Yup. Almost 300 feet of rise to where I turned around at the top of a ridge in Ward Hills. I know this isn't a lot of elevation change, but it's a fair amount for a trail here.

Anyway, I needed to be done by dark, so I walked outbound for 90 minutes, got to the top of that ridge and returned. Seven miles total. But it was quite a workout. Not quite as hard as the Endurance Edition a year ago, but tough enough.

Hike 100 Challenge 2021- 25.5 miles.

North Country Trail, Lake County, Michigan, US 10 (Timber Creek) north to past 8th Street and back. 7 miles

In other news: Today I did my online class, did some editing, and took a road walk. I did see a pileated woodpecker, but they are shy, and I couldn't get a picture. Also saw and heard a little downy woodpecker.

See Familiar NCT Section- Endurance Edition

Familiar NCT Section- Endurance Edition

 
Yesterday I stayed home and was good while the weather was gorgeous. Not happening today. I had to go out. Went to the closest section of North Country Trail near me. I've done it so much it's almost boring. However, today had its own challenges.

The sky was BLUE! It was wonderful.



The trail started out being well-walked, but with frozen footprints. Really tough walking. I would slide with every step and then jar my hips or knees as I found footing. However, the previously walked trail ended about two miles in. I had already spent an hour. Usually, I'd be at the next road, my turn-around point, at that time. The snow was about 5 inches deep, soft and unbroken. How badly did I want to go on?

I had passed this broken aspen tree, all torn apart. I'm thinking pileated woodpecker because there was no evidence that any critter with feet on the ground had been at it. The other possible culprit would be a porcupine, but I don't think it would crawl up the log and balance there to tear it apart.



A skunk had been using the trail too. See those patterns of prints- four feet angling off then doing it again?



Nothing special, just some polypore fungus on the ends of logs, but I liked them.



So, I reached the end of any previous human tracks, and I still wasn't at the old logging railroad bed, so I knew I had as much as a mile to go yet to reach 8th St. Wow. But I wanted my six miles. So I went on. Here's a piece of the railbed where it has been bermed. The unbroken snow was easier walking but stressed the calves and the hips. So at least I was making different places hurt! Yes, there are tracks there- mine. I took this picture on the way back.



Made it to the road. It took me 1 hour and 35 minutes, instead of the usual 1 hour.

Talked myself all the way back with milestones:
1. Make it to the rail bed
2. Make it off the rail bed
3. Make it to the skunk tracks
4. Make it to the 2-track crossing (this was the longest stretch with no goals)
5. Make it to the motor trail crossing
6. Make it to the big dog tracks
7. Make it to the turnoff to a small loop you can do (usually very hard to find, but I did find it today)
8. Make it to the spur to the parking
9. Make it to the car.

I also counted all the little ridges. There are 8 of them that you cross in this section. None is really big, but it's nice to have a little topography.

Total time 2 hours, 45 minutes. I think there is a good chance I'll be sore tomorrow. But I got my 6 miles! Homemade tomato soup from the freezer for dinner. Comfort food.

Hike 100 Challenge total for 2020 is at 14 miles.

North Country Trail, Lake County, MI, Timber Creek at US 10 to 8th St and back, 6 miles

In other news: I spent the morning on formatting NCC for ebook. Also chatted with someone about a possible podcast. Stay tuned.

See What a Weather Treat for the last time I hiked this section

Critter Play

 
Just a few pictures of critter evidence from Thursday. Fun. Mostly what I saw was squirrel tracks. Everywhere. But I thought this one was funny, with little red squirrel tracks in a boot print. There were also a lot of big ones, probably fox squirrels, and the gray squirrels in between.



Loved finding nice opossum tracks- see the splayed out thumb?



Found one cast-off deer antler.



When I picked it up, the depression was full of snow fleas!





But the cutest was a member of the sloth hiking team (We will get there when we get there) taking a break, lying down under the snow.



In other news: I wrote my column in the morning, and worked on some filing in the afternoon. Oh, and I made hot biscuits. Just got a hankerin'

See Meet the Snow Flea