Closing Another Gap - Day 407

Today we finished another trail gap between road walks that we did when the snow was deep. We hiked on bare trail where a week ago Bob was in snow over his knees.

The feature that I was most interested in seeing on this section was possible changes to O'Brian Pond which is a flooded place in Warner Creek, compliments of the beavers.

When Marie and I hiked here in 2010, it was difficult to get across. The beavers were constantly flooding the trail. Puncheon was failing, etc. But for several years now, I've been hearing the story from my friend, Jerry Allen, about a "beaver deceiver" that the chapter has installed here to keep the beavers from building their dam ever higher than the trail.

Here it is! There are pipes below the surface which let water through the dam, but they are placed so that there is no sound of moving water. It has been learned that what prompts beavers to add to their dams is the noise of flowing water. No noise... they are happy, hikers are happy.

As I understand it, the volunteers have had to reinstall it a couple of times to get the desired effect. But the trail is now dry, with some bits of nice boardwalk in a few places.

Our plan was to start early and beat the heat. The first 4 miles were really hilly, but we were fresh and it was still only about 70 degrees. The plan worked well. By the time the temperature soared, we were on flatter trail. There was less shade than we expected, but the terrain was much better for how we felt by then. One thermometer said 90 degrees.

Most of the way was in open woods, but some places had strips of winding bare trail across grassy sections. I just liked the way this looked.

No pictures, but I saw the first dragonflies of the year. We also saw the first of the trout lilies to open.

We spotted antlion holes. Antlions are the larvae of a lacewing insect that digs a pit in sandy soil and then waits just below the surface for a meal to wander by. As you can guess from the name, that meal is often an ant. I MAY have seen one of the larvae crossing the trail. It was about the right shape, but when I looked again, I couldn't find it.

It was a nice Saturday, so we saw quite a few hikers. In particular, the JV45 Chapter which maintains this section was having a group hike. We interacted with a number of them, and several of us went out to eat after we finished hiking.

One of them took a new pic of Bill and me.

Remember my little book of Bible verses? I have to confess that I haven't remembered to read one every day, but I did remember today. It was great! Yesterday felt so awful. The heat was killing me; my knees and hips hurt. It wasn't fun. This morning I read, "When I said, 'My foot is slipping,' your unfailing love, Lord, supported me." Psalm 94:18. And today, despite the higher temperature, I felt better, and my various body parts hurt less.

Miles today: 11.3. Total miles so far: 4536.3

We think we can get a few miles in tomorrow morning before the thunderstorms start.

See 45 Degrees, 83 Degrees

Spring Arrives at Hodenpyl

  Marie and I drove to do the piece of North Country Trail along Hodenpyl Dam Pond today. We waited for a blue-sky day so the water would be beautiful. It was chilly, but the sun was perfect.

And the real surprise? This is north of me, and yet the wildflowers seem to be ahead of what I see right near home. Well, we are not going to complain!

Dutchman's Breeches

Cuckoo Flower

Common Blue Violet (but a very pale one)

Marsh Marigold

Shadbush looking like sparkles against the blue water.

Trout Lily

And the trilliums are just beginning. This one was the most open that we saw.

But soon, there will be a white carpet- lots of buds!

The shadows were starting to fall as we finished. See link below for this same view in winter. We also saw Toothwort in bud and a couple other sedges, but pictures aren't very good.

We went to Porcupine Junction (a trail crossing) and turned around, for a total of 6 miles.

What a great hike! This route never disappoints, but so much nicer with blue sky and water.

North Country Trail miles so far in 2021 is 226.

North Country Trail, Wexford County, MI, Hodenpyl Dam east along the pond and back for a total of 6 miles

In other news: We totally goofed off. We played our game, and did a little sightseeing on the way home from the hike.

See Hodenpyl Dam Pond in Winter

The Usual Spring Lineup

 
Today, I'll just share the wildflowers I saw last weekend. There is not a single unusual suspect in the lineup. But they are always welcome to see.

I was a little surprised to find some Bloodroot still blooming. It's often all done before the others come out. Actually, this is a little unusual because the leaves were open and the blossoms were still fresh. Generally, the flowers fade before the leaves unroll.



There were lots and lots of the Trout Lilies in bloom, also known as dogtooth violet or adder's tongue. I call them trout lily because it's easy to remember the spotted leaves look like a trout.



Dutchman's Breeches. The leaf look-alike is Squirrel Corn, and You really can't tell the difference in the plants until they bloom. I haven't see Squirrel Corn in several years.



Spring beauty in both pink and white. This is Carolina Spring Beauty. The Virginia variety has narrower leaves.



The triliums aren't blooming yet. But I did find some red ones in bud. They are a bit more rare than the white ones.



And now for some leaves for reference- First we have hepatica. You usually don't find leaves with the flowers. The new leaves will grow after the flower fades. But here are some of last year's leaves, revealing that this one is Sharp Lobed Hepatica, Hepatica acutiloba.



And, maybe you remember that I showed you maroon baby leaves of the Lousewort or Wood Betony, but said they also come in green. Here are the green ones.



That's certainly enough pictures for one post.

In other news: I finished my cleaning project. Hooray! One tiny space in the house is clean. I did two loads of laundry. Despite all the gloomy weather forecasts, today was gorgeous. Sun, breezy, 60 degrees. Perfect. And I finished another puzzle. It was quite easy, and I really, really like the picture. I'll show you tomorrow. I'm wasting a lot of time doing puzzles, but I'm beginning to get a tiny bit frustrated at the cancellation of normal life. Puzzles are an easy way to combat that.

See Wildflowers Everywhere

I Couldn't Stay Inside

 
Today was supposed to be nice, and the rest of the week not so much, so I just had to go out again.

Most of what I hiked is North Country Trail in Wexford County, but then I did a few more miles that connect with what Teeny and I just did a couple days ago.

This is an unnamed creek just east of 12 Road where the trail goes into the Pere Marquette State Forest. I'm not sure if I've seen this exact location before or not. Most of this entire section of trail was re-routed when the wonderful right-of-way along Hodenpyl Dam Pond was made possible by Consumers Energy. I think this is different, and I'm too lazy to get out the maps and really look it up right now.



This is another piece along the Manistee River. Actually, from the time the North Country Trail first crosses the Manistee, at Highbridge, it more or less follows it for about 60 trail miles. Here, the trail undulates between river level and the bluff (which isn't as high above the water as where I was a couple of days ago). There are lots of great views.



If this is not exactly where I hiked with Angie (see chapter "Sneaky Valley" in North Country Cache), it looks very similar with lots of White Cedar growing beside the river.



Here is one of many, many oxbows along this old river.



I was looking forward to a 60 degree day, and it actually hit 70! Wow. Sun, warmth, my favorite trail. Here is a clump of marsh marigolds.



And a nice perky Trout Lily.



A Yellow-bellied sapsucker had been busy on this fallen tree.



This walk was 6 miles (out and back), but I really wanted to connect with Eddington Creek from the other direction. I know, I've hiked it a gazillion times, but that is the northernmost piece of trail our chapter maintains, and I've been trying to get condition reports to the president, so I didn't want to leave this piece out. Anyway, this is the old rail bed of the Michigan and Northeastern RR, which we now follow for over a mile.



That added a total of just over 3 more miles, so I ended up walking 9 miles today. North Country Trail total for 2020 is at 177.

In other news: hmmm... I did something else this morning, but I have no idea what at the moment.

North Country Trail, Wexford County, MI, 12 Road to Harvey Bridge and back. Manistee County, MI, Hodenpyl Dam to Eddington Creek and back.

See Teeny's First Overnight- Day 2

Treats from Yesterday and Today

 
Edited: This has been confirmed by someone who knows birds much better than I do as a pine warbler.

I promised to show you some of the little details from yesterday's hike. I'll do the big one first. This isn't a great picture, but I'm sure glad I got it. When I spotted a yellow bird and tried to get a picture, I figured it was just a goldfinch. But when I got the image on the computer... Whoa! It's a warbler. I'm not a great birder to begin with, and warblers are pretty much a mystery. But I think this is a blue-winged warbler. New bird on my life list!



And, finally, finally, we are seeing some spring flowers here. Hepatica is always one of the first. I saw quite a few of them.



One lonely trout lily was open. But more will come soon.



This isn't a sign of spring. I just thought it was an interesting fungus.



Oh yeah, and I saw my first tick of the year- a deer tick. It was just crawling around- not on me.

Today's treat? I made pancakes. I have mine with elderberry syrup- a gift from Ester. Om just likes the regular kind



Surprisingly, astonishingly, I am not sore or stiff from yesterday. Maybe a tiny bit achy in the hips and lower back, but not enough to affect anything.

In other news: I did laundry and blow dried it on the clothesline. Can you say windy? And I started my mystery puzzle. Stay tuned.

See Pancake and Goof Off Day

Instant Summer- What Happened to Spring?

 
Crazy! It hit 80 degrees today. I'd rather have stayed home and hung laundry outside, but had to go do an appointment case and some others while I was going that direction.

Here's the Muskegon River again, looking a little more mysterious in this photo.



It's amazing how quickly the spring wildflowers appear if you give them some sun. Trout lily leaves sticking up all over the place.



And a personal favorite, a member of the Dicentra genus. It's impossible to tell whether it's squirrel corn or Dutchman's breeches from the leaves.



But some early buds give me another clue. Pretty sure it's squirrel corn, although I won't be back at that place to check.



Bedtime for me. Working Friday, Friday night and Saturday is rough on the brain.

	See Dicentra
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Wildflowers Everywhere!

 
Spring is just popping faster than the popcorn I had this evening. Of course that means there are more pictures to share than the blog can handle. I'll stick to my promise about flowers from Saturday, but I already have something super cool for tomorrow!

Let's start with two look-alikes: They are both Dicentra, one is Dutchman's breeches, and the other is squirrel corn. The leaves are nearly indistinguishable. But the flowers aren't the same. Guess which one this is that looks like a pair of little upside down pants.

They are both related to bleeding heart, and the squirrel corn bloom looks like that garden flower. These aren't quite mature. They will get a little wider and whiter.



There were a lot of trout lilies, Erythronium americanum. These seem to produce lots of leaves but fewer blossoms. However, this area must have rich soil, because there were a lot of blossoms. This is a true lily, but not a true trout (however the leaves might remind you of a brookie.)

Finally, the forest floor was just carpeted with spring beauty, Claytonia caroliniana. There were so many the ground just looked pink, and as the day warmed we could smell their sweet scent in the air. The picture is one of typical color, but if you follow the link, you'll see (under "other Claytonia") a picture of some that were unusually deep magenta.



OK, I kept my promise. Here's another. Tomorrow I'll show you something I've never gotten a picture of before!

See A Walk to the River