Hundreds of Miles

 
I'm so pathetic. I didn't even mention it when I completed the 2016 Hike 100 Challenge on the North Country Trail. Now I've also got one for 2017, and am working on the Hike 100 for Parkinson's.



This challenge has been a really great idea for the trail. Over 5000 new people have gotten involved hiking sections because of it, but it has seemed like something of an afterthought for me.

Here's the patch set I'm really proud of.



You could have pieces of this too. If you've hiked all the NCT in any state, or more than 1000 different miles, you can get the central patch and the appropriate rockers. NCT Long Distance Hikers.

You get to see this because I still haven't finished the goal I was working toward on Monday! Thought I would have it today, but got rained out. Maybe tomorrow.

	See The Party's Over but It's OK
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Bizarre but Common

 
Found this handsome but bizarre specimen crawling on my trailer yesterday. Oddly enough, someone from New England posted a picture of one too. I suppose it's just the right time for them. I'm thinking White-marked tussock moth. Here's my thinking.



I knew it was some kind of tussock moth caterpillar but had to go hunting to figure out which one. I'm sure it's an Orgyia Say or-GEE-ya. The name itself is interesting. Orgyia means "to stretch out," because of its habit of extending its forelegs, but after that I'm not positive if it's leucostigma, or detrita Leuco=white (think leucocytes= white blood cells), and stigma=marks (think stigmata=the marks in Jesus' hands and feet). See you knew more Greek than you thought.

So... I think it's leucostigma because detrita has bright orange spots along the sides. I see no orange spots. I looked at pictures of the other one, and those gray-white tufts at the centers of the starbursts of hairs on the sides (not the toothbrushy things on its back) would be bright orange.



Here's a really good flat-on top view.



Now I need to find one of the moths hiding in plain sight.

Just in case you were interested, "orgyia" is also the origin of the idea of a fathom, a nautical measure equal to 6 feet. But it came from stretching out the arms, a distance of about 6 feet. That will sure help me remember how long a fathom is.

AND, I suddenly was hit with the notion that moth caterpillars are furry and butterfly caterpillars are smooth. I wondered if this was really true. The answer reads like one of those logic problems from school. All butterfly caterpillars are smooth, but not all moth caterpillars are furry. Got that? (according to Purdue University!)

	See Little Furry Baby Surprise
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Moods of my Backyard - Angry

 
my backyard was a hot and angry place this afternoon.



I was stripping paint on my trailer when a man suddenly appeared in my driveway. He had on a hard hat and a utility vest, carrying a clipboard, but no vehicle! He said, "I think you have a fire."

Well, I was a little dumbfounded, but he was pointing toward the back of the property.

The train had just gone by and must have sparked a blaze. I called 911, and while I was on the phone with them a tree caught fire and a tower of flame shot in the air 40 feet. I did not get a picture of that. I was afraid it was my favorite hybrid cherry tree.

The operator asked my address, and after I told her I tried to explain that they shouldn't come up my driveway because there is no access to the tracks from here, but she was already gone. So... in just a couple of minutes there were two fire trucks trying to turn around at the top of our hill!

I explained to them how to get back there. The small truck made it first.



Pretty soon, the bigger yellow truck had made its way through the field too.



It didn't take long for them to get it knocked down. Things are pretty dry, but at least it wasn't a very windy day.



I did walk back there after the fire department left. Really not very big of an area that burned. It's in the shadows so a little hard to distinguish, but this is pretty much all of it.



I think the big inferno I saw was this jack pine getting torched. Jack pine loves fire, actually. There will probably be a hundred baby ones next spring.



Glad I went back to look around. There was one hot spot smoking. Some of the peat was burning and too hot to touch. I went back to the house, got a gallon of water and a hoe, walked back out there and cooled that down. Don't need any surprises in the middle of the night.



The cherry tree is fine. The jack pine are all fine, except maybe that one. But it's possible it will survive too. The blaze was hot and brief and probably mostly burned the pitch.

The man who appeared from nowhere? His truck was down by the road. He'd been walking the power line inventorying poles.

	See Robert Tackles the Mystery Tree See Sea World in the Jackpine
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Got My Sea Wing

 
I had set a different goal for myself today, but I did not attain it. Gave it a good try. Maybe tomorrow. Stay tuned.

However, I did buy a Sea Wing.

Just looked back and discovered that I haven't gone paddling for one year and eleven months. That's going to change next week, however. Stay tuned for that, too! It's always been in the plan to get a car rack for the kayak, but it didn't seem much of a priority if I didn't need to take the kayak anywhere.



Un-boxed it.



It attached to my cross bars really easily. I had purchased those in 2013 because the car didn't have any. I'd just been tying the kayak(s) on top of them. Very annoying and time consuming. I'm hoping (planning) this will be better.



It came with webbing straps and tie-down cords for front and back. You can see them rolled up in the box. I won't put those on unless I'm actually carrying the kayak.

I also looked at nicer kayaks while I was at the store. Not buying this year. Maybe not ever, but I did see one I liked pretty well.

	See Kicking Back, Awesome Day See Toys and Accessories
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Manistee National Forest Challenge Hike #7

 
There was a bit of a break since the last one of these hikes. I had a lot going on and since I'm the one who scheduled them, they had to fit around my other activities.

Today's hike was only 8.5 miles but pretty much everyone agreed that we were tired when we finished. The weather was good and not overly hot, but we think the humidity was high. That really wears one down. We all agreed we were sweating buckets, and I drank more water than I usually do for that mileage, so maybe the humidity was indeed the culprit.

Here we all are at the start. Most of the usual suspects with one new person this time.



This hike included the crossing of the Pere Marquette River, which is on a road. The bridge did provide a good place to sit and rest. Not so much traffic on that road that it was very dangerous.



Here's the view upstream. We'd love to have a separate bridge for the trail, but the river is designated "Wild and Scenic," and we are being told that means no more bridges. Just my opinion, but it seems like a simple bridge for a National Scenic Trail wouldn't be too intrusive.



Anyway, to get across the river we have to keep 1.5 miles of roadwalk as part of the trail.



Sophie says, "Hurry up and get off this hot road and back into the woods!"



In the final two miles we came upon this teepee frame made of sticks stacked around a tree. Was it kids playing, or someone making a deer blind?



Just before the end, we passed through a small favorite place of mine. It's a tiny cedar swamp in a valley which is always cooler than the surrounding woods.



A great hike, and I'm getting to know some of the regulars pretty well.

North Country Trail, Lake County, Michigan, 56th St. (Bowman Lake) to US 10 (Timber Creek), 8.5 miles

	See MNF Hike #6
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