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

See Practically Perfect in Every Way

Day Nine- to South Lake

Getting ready for another two days of backpacking. Diane fed us french toast and sausages for breakfast (early). We are living pretty high on the hog. Worst part of the morning was that it rained quite a bit during the night, but things looked like they were going to improve for the day.

It took three hours to spot the cars. Only 17 trail miles, but not many roads to connect them. Along the way, we had to do more tree clearing. Some sawing of limbs again (do we get paid by the road commission?), but one place there were chunks of a broken limb in the middle of the road. I hopped out to sling them off the side and discovered a small semi-casualty of the fallen limb.

It seemed to be only dazed, but barely able to fly, if at all yet. I think it's a chickadee. We moved it to the side and hope mama comes to find it.

This kind of landscape looks so much like northern Minnesota. Not a lot of places like this, but interesting.

This wetland seems to be on the way to becoming a bog with mats of sphagnum moss collecting on the surface.

A beautiful pitcher plant in full bloom.

Our main goal was to get past South Lake. This is a favorite spot of mine just because the bridge is so weird. It spans the lake, and it was damaged somehow in the past (ice?) so it's all at crazy angles. But it's sturdy, just slopey.

It was the weekend, and we saw some other hikers. Two were notable in that they seemed to not have a brain between them. They knew where they had started hiking (where we were headed), so I knew what trail they must have followed. (But they didn't know where they were hiking to.)

I asked them if they had crossed South Lake bridge. (It was less than a mile behind them). They had no clue. I ask you, "Is not that bridge memorable if you had just crossed it?" Anyway... we had hoped to stop for the night at West Canada Creek shelter. But the other hikers thought it was occupied.

So we were walking along trying to decide where we wanted to stay when this campsite appeared beside us. We had no problem making the instant decision to make it ours.

We only hiked 8 miles, but they were difficult. Lots of mud and rocks and a big climb. We were happy to eat dinner and crawl in the tents away from the bugs. However the weather was great. We are being smiled upon.

Miles hiked in 2025: 282.3
Miles hiked on NCT 2025: 166.1

New York, Adirondacks, North Country Trail, Indian River TH to just past South Lake, 8 miles

See Being Flexible

Day Three- Mud and More

Here we are with our spotting crew for these first three days. Sarah is middle back and Lisa is on the right. We are blogging from their cabin, and showering so we appreciate that.

We were checking out an alternate NCT route that doesn't deal with the broken bridge. NY DEC doesn't get around to fixing things too fast.

This is Woodhull Creek (not Little Woodhull). It's truly beautiful, but this trail follows a snowmobile trail. That's not a problem when things are frozen, but it was sphagnum squishy and full of wetland plants which are lovely but scratchy for walking through. We stumbled along for a half mile in that before the trail went into higher ground. The deer flies were fun too.

If I'd had time to botanize, there were tons of neat plants. A nice clump of pitcher plant.

We ate lunch at the Sand Lake Lean-to, a nice clean one. Sand Lake Falls is right in front of it.

After that it was continual mud pits for a 3.8 miles. But we saw a lovely frog.

It was very difficult walking. That said, we finished at 4 pm. We logged 20 inventory items. I explain more about that another day.

North Country Trail, NY Adirondacks, Little Woodhull Trailhead to Gull Lake Parking. 11.5 miles

We start backpacking tomorrow for three days. Definitely will not blog until the 17th.

Miles hiked in 2025: 242.8

Miles hiked on NCT in 2025: 124.6

See Day Two- Across THE Bridge

Philadephia Flower Show- For Peat's Sake

 This was another of the Standard Flower Show contests at the Philadelphia Flower Show 2025. The assignment was to create a "pocket garden that encorporates a bog garden area."

We need to start with defining a bog. A bog is a wetland that is acidic, and it will support particular kinds of plants.

Oddly enough, the blue ribbon entry is titled "The Mysterious Fen." Now, let me explain that a fen is also a wetland, but it is the opposite of acidic; it is basic. Completely different kinds of plants grow in a fen.

I have to confess that I was rushing so much to take pictures of entries that I did not stop to examine the plant material carefully; however, what I can see and ID is not necessarily suited even to a fen. The corkscrew rush is pH normal to acidic. Most of the other plants I may be figuring out are from all over the world, and would never be found together. The intent even says that: "an enchanting convergence of native and foreign growth- a mystical vortex."

The judges said, "Wonderful composition."

Second place went with something more realistic titled "Guardians of Tomorrow." This depicts the cedar bogs of New Jersey, and states "the reddish-brown watery bogs of New Jersey's Pinelands are our protectors." Well... this warms my heart because that is exactly the kind of thing I was studying for many years.

The judges said, "Wonderful use of bog plants."

Everything you can see even in this corner is really is a bog plant. Two kinds of pitcher plant, a flytrap, haircap moss, wild cranberries, and a clubmoss.

Third place is "Through the Pitcher Window." This is a play on words, with a lot of kinds of pitcher plants- reminder: these eat insects. The intent says, "Pete reflects on his carnivorous plants in his peat rain garden."

The judges remarked on the varieties and quality of the various pitcher plants, but thought the window was out of proportion to the exhibit.

Note, there is a pitcher of purple pitcher plants that you can see through the picture window.

There were three more entries which all got honorable mention.

This one is called "Whimsical Wetlands," and the judges thought it could be more "robust." It is pretty realistic, but not much artistry.

This one is called "The Mystical Side of Nature," where "magical plants sway eerily in the evening."

The judges said is was "enchanting," but the azalea was not suitable. Well, there are native azaleas that do grow in bogs, but this is just a commercial one, although they all prefer acid soil. This would certainly have done better if they had used a different azalea because the ferns were carefully chosen and the garden is colorful.

The last bog garden was called "The Living Canvas" which "invites relaxation and reflection."

The judges said it was a lovely collection, but that the houseplants were not suitable." I have to agree. There is nothing about this that says "bog."

OK, at a flower show where I am Queen, the New Jersey Bog would have taken first place for having actual bog plants, the diversity of native plants, adhering to the theme of the entire Flower Show (Gardens of the Future), and having the structural element (the log) at a diagonal instead of straight (the rock stream) in the one that took first place. So there.

I was sort of tired all day. I didn't sleep well. My head and face were itching like crazy and I took an extra pill and got out the ice pack again. This is all very normal for the neuralgia, but there is no way to know how long it will continue.

I puttered at various jobs and took a tiny walk that doesn't even count.

See PFS- Lab to Landscape

Shadbush Shines

  Took another 10.5 mile hike today, continuing north in Newaygo County. The primary feature of the day is that the shadbush (serviceberry, juneberry) is nearly in full bloom. This is one of our early signs of spring. Although it has bright white blossoms,

the trees themselves are usually small and the blooms sparse. What that ends up looking like is little white lights sprinkled throughout the brown woods.

The temperature hovered around 40 degrees, and I kept my gloves on all day. But it was comfortable for hiking. The big surprise of this section was how hilly it was. The rest of Newaygo County has been gently rolling. Today, I got quite a good workout!

Again, there were several kinds of wetlands. This is an acidic bog- full of leatherleaf and sphagnum moss. I looked for pitcher plants, but didn't find any. The MI Plant Atlas shows it growing in Newaygo County, so it's probably there somewhere.

This wetland has filled in to the point where it has become a wet meadow. It's filled with grasses, and probably sedges. I didn't have time nor footwear to go swamp-stomping today. Interestingly enough, there is one big shadbush on the opposite shore. In the understory they usually have multiple stems and remain small. But if they have sun and little competition, they can become nicely shaped trees. And, I might add, they produce luscious fruits. However, it's pretty hard to beat the birds to them.

Note the top of a tree to the left of the shadbush is getting red. Probably a red maple. And a smaller tree to the right is turning orange. I am guessing another shadbush.

The third wetland is, I suspect, also acidic. However, it does have permanent open water in the middle. It even shows on maps although it has no name. The geese have made this one their home. It was nice to see something moving around. The sudden cooldown made all the other critters hunker down.

This section also has a small but nice stream, Mena Creek. Appropriately sized trail bridge over it.

Got some other pix, but I'll save those- maybe tomorrow. I did see a red-shouldered hawk. Got a really good look at it, but had no chance to get the camera turned on in time to get a picture.

North Country Trail, Newaygo County, MI, 6 Mile Rd to 3 Mile Rd and back, 10.5 miles

North Country Trail Miles to date in 2021 is 200.

In other news: I have a meeting tonight. That is all.

See 10 More Newaygo County Miles

Meijer Gardens - Carnivorous Plants

 
I'm not going to be able to identify all these perfectly. Not all had labels. But there was a great variety of carnivorous plants.

We have native pitcher plants, Sarracenia purpurea, that look very much like this one, but it wasn't labeled, so I'm not positive. Pitcher plants lure insects into the pitcher where they drown and are then digested.

However, most of the pitcher plants were native to the tropics. Many of these are trees. This is Nepenthes bicalcarata, native to Borneo. Common name Fanged Pitcher Plant. Look under that little hat and you'll see why.





The variety of tropical ones was interesting, although I don't know enough to know if there were many species or just variations of a couple.

This was identified as Red Leopard, a cultured ornamental of Nepenthes sp.

Here are two more- one with that red lip, and another with toothed combs.



Everyone can recognize a Venus Fly-trap. Of course there are lots of species. This one is the common one you can see in the wild, Dionaea muscipula, although a very healthy one. The ones I've seen in swamps are much smaller. They, snap closed when the hairs are mechanically triggered, and they then digest the insect captured.



Of greater interest to me was the Sundew growing in front of it. I've seen two kinds in the wild, this one is different. There are almost 200 species, but only a few grow in North America. I believe I've figured out that this is Drosera adelae, Lance-leaved Sundew, native to Australia. Notice the strap-like leaves. And... it was blooming, with these beautiful tiny red flowers. Sundews have sticky pads on the edges of the leaves to trap insects.

And, I learned something really new. I was not aware there is a carnivorous bromeliad. It also lures insects with a sweet odor and ultraviolet colors to a watery death in a slippery leafy cup. Brocchinia reducta, no common name, and native to South America. It was also blooming.

Hope you enjoyed the tour of this dangerous room (if you are an insect!).

In other news: I wrote in the morning, and spent the afternoon getting organized to leave for the two-day show in Cedar Springs. The trailer is hitched up, and I just need to put some things in it that I need for sleeping and food. It's going to be cold, but, oh well.

	See Outside Details
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