More on the Monarchs

I haven't seen any monarchs for the last few days, because it's been pouring rain. But up until then, they've been all over the flowers across from the visitor center. I was talking to a visitor who lives in the area, and she said she's been watching the caterpillars all over the milkweed plants in her yard, and that this most recent generation is the one that will actually make it to Mexico. I had thought the ones I was seeing had flown in from Canada - and so they might have, but apparently a lot of them are just the latest generation.

I looked it up online, and it turns out that Monarchs have three or four generations each summer, but the last one is triggered by weather changes to develop differently, both in physiology and behavior - which is why they are able to make that long journey to overwinter down in Mexico. Amazing!

Foraging in the kitchen

Last night I looked up serviceberry recipes. Serviceberries are apparently also called Juneberries or Saskatoons. I really wanted to actually make something with all that fruit, not just eat it plain. I ended up making jam using this recipe. It's pretty simple - just fruit, sugar, a little water and lemon juice. Apparently the berries have enough natural pectin that it's not necessary to add more - it makes sense, since they're similar to apples, and that's what storebought pectin is made from.

I had an empty jam jar from the grocery store, and I sterilized it in boiling water. Then I washed the berries, put about half of them in the food processor and pulsed it a few times, and put everything together in a pot with a little water. The original recipe was for four cups of fruit; I had about two and a half. I actually reduced the sugar by half again, as comments from several jam recipes had said it turned out very sweet - and the fruit is already quite sweet. I didn't have a lemon to add zest with, but I did have lemon juice, so I added a squirt of that, then got it simmering and let it cook until it thickened. I carefully spooned it into the sterilized jar, and screwed the lid on tight. Later, when it had cooled some, I checked and the lid had sealed! I'm still keeping it in the refrigerator, but it was interesting to see that the lid resealed under the correct conditions.

I did keep some of the jam out, scraping it from the pot into a small container to try later! I've just been eating the blueberries and huckleberries, but if I get a lot the next time I pick behind the house, I may have to do some more recipe searches!

Foraging in the woods

Today my hike took a lot longer than it probably should have, but it was for a good reason!

I decided to walk the White Birch Trail, a two-mile loop trail at the Twelvemile Beach campground. It's got a trail guide and numbered posts, but it's hard to spot where it starts - I drove past it twice! The trail starts out at the level of the campground, which is a little above the lake level, but almost immediately it begins climbing up a steep bluff. This is actually the original shoreline of the enormous lake that formed after the glaciers melted/receded. (Keep in mind when I say "glaciers", I'm talking ice sheets thousands of miles wide and at least a MILE thick. That's a lot of water left over afterward!) The trail flattens out again on top, going through open pine forest with not a lot of undergrowth, except ferns - and berry bushes.

Bear update!

Today when I was eating breakfast, I vaguely noticed a truck go by and stop outside the house. When I went outside later, I found that we now have a bear-proof trash can! I was going to take the trash out anyway, but this thing almost had me stuck - the top is incredibly heavy, and you have to lift it straight up, then twist. I think next time it's my turn I will ask one of the others to come out and we'll each take one handle - I'm afraid I'll injure myself otherwise. Seriously.

Then when I got back from my trip, I had to pull over and get a photo of the bear scat by the road! I'm not sure if this is today's or not, but the pile that was in the middle of the road yesterday wasn't there anymore - I would guess it was removed so people wouldn't be freaking out about bears.

It seems this bear has been eating a lot of berries with big pits. Chokecherries, maybe? This is not my field...

Here's one with my phone for scale.

Well, even if I don't get to see the bear, at least I got a picture to prove it was here!

Kitch-iti-kipi - Michigan's Big Spring

I've decided I need to get serious about sightseeing on my days off, because the number of weekends I have left are becoming limited! I've been looking through a guidebook we have at the visitor center to see what points of interest besides Pictured Rocks are in the area. On my list are Tahquamenon Falls, Seney National Wildlife Refuge, and Van Riper State Park, but today my destination was a site that a number of visitors had recommended:  Big Spring.

Kitch-iti-kipi, as it was named by the Ojibwa people, is Michigan's largest spring, with a flow of about 10,000 gallons a minute. It's part of Palms Book State Park near Manistique, south of Munising. (Interestingly, that is only about 5% of the flow that comes from Big Spring at Ozark National Scenic Riverway in Missouri...)

I planned out my route using the maps and guidebooks at the visitor center, during slow periods at the desk. If I was going to drive out there, I wanted to see what else was along the way! I drove south on H-13, which goes right through Hiawatha National Forest for most of the way. It was a beautiful drive - in fact, I'd say it was the highlight of the whole day. The light was golden and gorgeous - even without the occasional red-leaved tree, the light just looked like fall. The woods were still very green - some because they were pine trees! - but that golden light really made the green leaves glow.

My first stop was to be the Nahma Marsh Trail, just south of Highway 2. I had directions from the guidebook but had not been able to confirm online that there was anything there! Even the road names hadn't quite matched - but I followed what appeared to be the right way, and sure enough there was a sign for it! I had to turn around and go back to a tiny gravel road that almost looked like a trail by itself.

The actual trail was quite nice - hard-packed gravel and boardwalk leading through open forest, then along the edge of the marsh, and ending after about a third of a mile at a platform with a panoramic view. There were a few red trees off in the distance, and goldenrod lined the boardwalk - one of summer's final flowers. The platform was surrounded by low willow bushes growing in water, with patches of open water further out. Twice, ducks flew up, spooked out of hiding and making panicked cries as they flew. That was the only wildlife I saw, except for the grasshoppers that were everywhere - I heard them rustling and clicking around me, and I could see them flying up off the boardwalk ahead of me as I walked.

And then there were the mosquitoes.

I guess there's a variation of Murphy's Law that says you will forget to bring something with you on a trip. Well, I made detailed plans to go walking in a marsh, and completely forgot to bring bug spray! I was wearing jeans and had a long-sleeved shirt, though - and luckily my bug hat was in the car. When I first got there I had stopped to take pictures of some flowers at the edge of the parking area, and almost immediately there were a few mosquitoes around me, so I went back to the car and got the hat. A good thing, too, because as I went further along the trail there were more and more of them - so many that it was all one loud collective hum. That sound really pushes on your instinct to run - get away! But all they could reach was my hands.

The Nahma Marsh trail was short but very scenic - and just three miles from the highway!

WILDLIFE ALERT!!!

This morning as I was leaving the house, my boss was just driving away from HQ next door. She waved and called hi, then headed out. A minute later when I drove out, I saw that she had pulled over to the side of the road, near the beach. I thought maybe she had remembered something she wanted to tell me, so I stopped - and she pointed out the large pile of bear scat in the middle of the road!

There is a healthy population of black bears in this area, but although I've heard people tell about a few sightings this summer I haven't seen any. They're not habituated to getting food from people, and black bears are 'fraidy-cats in general - if they hear you coming they're more likely to run away than anything else. So you're just as likely not to see them. But this! This was close! This was only a few hundred yards from my house! With all the blueberries growing around it! Which bears love to eat! My harvest may be curtailed...

This evening, two of my housemates said they had seen the bear, at two different times, in about the same area - along a stretch of Sand Point Road that is lined with thimbleberry bushes. (Thimbleberries are similar to raspberries.) I hadn't realized those berries had started to ripen, but apparently they're enough to keep this bear in the same area throughout the day!

I will now be looking out the windows first thing in the morning... and before I go outside to go to work!

Guess who!

Today when I walked down to the lower overlook, I spotted a chipmunk. A common occurrence. He saw me, too, and was wary - but then he started scrambling up into a bush! I thought maybe he was trying to get a higher vantage point to watch me from. I managed to get a photo of him but I got too close, and he fled. That's when I noticed what was at the end of that branch - gooseberries!

More harbingers of fall

Today while I was out at the Miners Castle Overlook talking to people about the bald eagle that was once again perched in the tallest pine tree just opposite us, I noticed a monarch butterfly fly past. A few minutes later, I saw another one. And then another! I didn't see any more until I went to go have lunch. Across from the visitor center, along the path that cuts across to the far end of the parking lot, there are a bunch of purple flowers blooming. And they were covered with dozens of monarch butterflies.

I looked up the flowers - they're sweet joe pye weed. And apparently they're very tasty. They were being totally mobbed by butterflies - mostly monarchs, but a few other types as well - and lots of bees and flies. But of course the monarchs were the main show! Apparently their migration has begun - something flipped the little switch that sends them south. From Canada. Across the entire width of Lake Superior. At its widest point. And this was the first spot they had gotten to! It was a very popular filling station and rest stop for these amazing travelers - and a perfect spot for all the human visitors to get a close look. Throughout the day, looking over, I could see a lot of people stopped there to take pictures - and I kept mentioning it to people when they came in, so they wouldn't miss it. It's truly amazing to watch - the individuals drinking nectar right at eye level, and the broader field of view alive with fluttering. This is definitely one of the wildlife highlights of my summer here at Pictured Rocks.

Signs of fall

When I came out to Pictured Rocks, I originally thought I would only be here in Michigan until the beginning of September, just after Labor Day. I probably misheard something during the interview - and my seasonal job at Yellowstone last year ended after Labor Day, so that was my default expectation. So I was a little surprised to learn that I was actually scheduled to work all the way through September! I didn't mind, except that it meant I would have to miss an event back in Missouri in late September. Still, I'm happy to earn a few more paychecks and be around to see the fall colors!

Now I've been asked to stay on a big longer than that. My last day will be October 18! I've worked several summers at various parks now (only one as an NPS employee, though) but this will be the longest I've stayed on at the end of the summer. It's going to be well into fall when I leave.

It's strange to be thinking about fall when it's only August, but I've been starting to see the signs already! We've been having some very cool weather - I actually had to turn on the little heater in the visitor center a few times last week.

I've been starting to see some colors in the trees, even! At first it was just a branch here and there - which can happen if the branch has broken and is dying. But I've been seeing more and more of them - mostly sugar maples, which have almost a neon orange-red color. It was still just here and there, though, and I was having a hard time believing it. It's not even September yet!

 

When I drove to Marquette today, I noticed a lot more colors. The tree-covered hillsides have had a subtle change - not to reds, yet, but just a lightening of the greens. The chlorophyll in the leaves is starting to fade, and there is more yellow showing through.

The final proof came when I drove past a marshy area with a grove of trees that were a full, deep, dark red. There was nowhere to stop, but I'm pretty sure they were red maples, which is another one of the main trees out here. It's strange seeing them out in the woods, because in Missouri I've only ever seen them used in landscaping - not wild.

So there is no doubt in my mind - autumn is almost here! The main fall colors are supposed to be in mid-September, but there are an awful lot of trees that are sneaking in early - and not sneaking very well!

I cannot wait to see this all unfold. A whole forest of sugar maples! The only thing that even comes close is when I drove home from Idaho in September 2012, through Rocky Mountain National Park, right at the peak of the aspens' color. Oh, wait, there are aspens here, too... I have a feeling this place is going to win!

Beyond my backyard

I was going to go on a hike today, but with all the rain we've been having I decided to wait a few days. I did, however, go for a walk before supper, just in the wild area behind the house. I walked toward the beach, checking for blueberry patches as I went - I just picked nearly a quart on Monday, so I didn't pick more than a handful or two as I went, but I was looking to see where might be a good place to pick next time. I saw a lot of blue berries, but a lot of them seemed very tart, so I think they've still got to ripen a bit.

And then there were the bushes that are nowhere near ripe! I thought from a distance that they were another type of berry entirely, because of the bright red and green, but they have the right general shape - they're just on a different schedule than the ones I've been picking so far.

I was a little surprised to find mushrooms growing out of the sand! I know they pop up fast, but it's only going to be wet here very briefly!

Rainy day

It rained all morning long.

It was a pretty slow day.

I kept looking out at the rain falling, and dripping from the roof across the way, and I decided to get out my notebook and try to describe it.

---------------

Rainy day, looking out the window

I watch the rain against the opposite wall

Big silver drops fall from the edge of the roof

Dripping down the shingles

Gathering in tiny intermittent streams

Constantly dripping in the same places

Big bright drops forming solid vertical lines

In the air, in my vision

Against the dark wet wood.

Meanwhile, rain continues to fall

Wild and blowing – not a storm

But a constant breeze

A swarm of tiny drops, blown about

Pushed relentlessly at an angle by the wind

Swirled around erratically by further gusts

Defying the straight silver lines of the rooftop drips.

The droplets from the roof have already landed

Joined together, flowing along the surface

Along the path of least resistance

Even as they fall again,

They follow a straight path

Too substantial to be blown off course,

They simply drop straight down.

In their final descent, those straight lines

Highlight the wild flurry with which they fell

From untold heights

Blown about and swirled, as are those drops

Still blowing around the lines as they fall.

Having missed the roof,

They are wild for just a moment longer,

Free in the air.

The rain begins to slow, until

There are only the big silver drips

Falling in straight lines from the roof’s edge

All joining, once again, on the ground

Flowing away together

Through the cracks of the boardwalk

Soaking into the grass

Until only a few drops keep falling, here and there

Having taken refuge in the trees

Slipping from leaf to leaf

Until there is nowhere left to fall.

New fruits!

I've been browsing on raspberries near the visitor center - there are at least a couple of ripe ones every day. I've also tried a few gooseberries growing on a bush near the upper overlook - they went from yellow-green to a sort of greenish-purple, and when I ate them they were sweet and a little tart.

Now the chokecherries are starting to turn red.

Communing with nature... delicious nature...

Today was my extra day of work, but it went pretty well. I didn’t waste any time in the evening, either – right after supper I went out and picked more blueberries!

This time I went behind the house again – there was a big patch just beyond the edge of the yard, and then I worked my way back through a band of trees to another sandy area at the edge of the Sand Point Marsh. I worked around the edges – not much grows in the sand out in the open, just under the trees. There were a few good patches, and a few with some berries that weren’t ripe yet – and a few patches of taller bushes that had very green berries on them! I’m not sure if those were blueberries but they looked about the same, so we’ll see. (I checked the Wild Berries and Fruits guide at the visitor center and there are several things I may have been picking out here – a couple of varieties of blueberries, black huckleberries, and even something called bilberries – but they’re all pretty much interchangeable as far as eating them goes!)

It was really neat being alone back there. I could hear the strange hooting call of the sandhill cranes, even though I didn’t see them. (It seriously sounds like something out of the Jurassic Park movies. I even saw the tracks… I have dinosaurs in my backyard!)

And then I saw a deer! I didn’t scare it out, I just looked over and realized there was a deer looking back at me, a little ways off. We were both a bit surprised – and then it left fairly quickly.

At this point I decided to stop picking, because I was having a hard time seeing the blue color of the berries – it was getting to be dusk. I had been out there for over an hour! I started working my way back, trying to spot where I had come through the trees. I didn’t quite take the same path back, but I came out in sight of the house so it worked out all right. It was a lovely evening, out there in between the trees and under the sky… and I got almost three cups of blueberries! About a quart, with what was left over from the other night!

This is about the actual size.

Going to market

This week I will be working an extra day on Wednesday, to help cover for someone who will be out elsewhere in the park. Marc will be working at the Grand Sable visitor center tomorrow, and I will take his place at Miners Castle. I’ll basically be working on my Saturday – for overtime pay, but all the same it means a short weekend! So I decided to do my grocery shopping after work today, instead of on my one day off.

I always go into town right from work on Tuesdays to go to the Farmers Market. I bring a shirt to change into so I won’t be in uniform – although sometimes, like today, it’s cool enough that I can just put on a jacket over my work shirt. The market goes from 4-7 pm, and I’m usually getting there around 6 pm, maybe a little earlier – so I never know if there will be anything left! There hasn’t actually been much produce, although I lucked out and there was just one or two bags of lettuce left the last couple of times I got there. (The strawberries were a one-time thing.)

But this week, there were several stalls! I got two kinds of lettuce, a cucumber, and a whole lot of raspberries, for a recipe I’m planning on making. Then I went to the grocery store – and managed to make it through the list without too many detours! I did make one important purchase, though: pancake mix. I can’t let all those blueberries go to waste! 

One taste was enough...

Those blueberries were so good I went out and picked a bunch more! I went in the evening, after supper, and went across the street again. I walked a lot further this time, and really got down on the ground to get to the plants, which are only about six inches tall. Luckily it’s all sand in between, so it was dry and not too dirty. I was careful to sit or kneel around the edges, trying not to land on any berries! I brought a quart yogurt container with me and picked it just about half full. I walked a little further, picking here and there where there was a heavier bush, but there were still a lot more that weren’t ripe.

So with a whole pint of fresh blueberries, I felt I needed to make something. To bake something. I thought of a couple of possibilities, but ended up going with my first impulse, which was blueberry muffins – following the original Betty Crocker recipe! They turned out great – I left out four of them for my housemates to share, and kept the rest. Hopefully I can make them last at least a couple of days…

The best part is, I still have almost a cup of fresh berries left! I’ll put some in my cereal tomorrow morning.

Wild animals and plants

Today was pretty hot - for this area, anyway. It was cool in the shade but when I was standing in the sun at the overlook, the water looked really inviting! It was incredibly still - there were no waves at all, until a boat went by, and then it was just that one series of waves from the boat's wake, splashing into the cliffs and then bouncing back and creating interference patterns that showed up as shadows on the floor of the cove. It looked like a giant swimming pool.

At one point, there was no one at the overlook, so I went to stand in the shade for a moment - and see if there were any raspberries on the bushes growing off to the side and below the platform! I've gotten a few here and there, and every couple of days there are another couple of ripe berries. As I was making my way around, I noticed a strange noise - I wouldn't have heard it if anyone was there talking. Sort of a hard scratching sound... I looked over, at the bare ground under the platform, and spotted this!

A chipmunk was under there, gnawing away at a plastic water bottle! I don't know if he thought there was food inside, or was trying to get to the water, or just felt like chewing on something, but it was a very unusual sound! He got kind of jumpy once I started getting closer, but I kept still for a minute and he went back to chewing so I could get a picture.

It was warm all afternoon, but it was already feeling cooler when I walked to the car to go home. I had really hoped it would stay good and hot so I could go for a swim, but it was definitely cool when I got home, so I didn't even try. I did go for a walk after supper, though - just through the sandy area across from my house, then around to the beach. And I found blueberries! There are a lot of little blueberry plants all around Sand Point - including behind the house. I had a handful of them the other day. There are only a few ripe ones, a lot more that are unripe - but most of the plants have a few ripe ones each, and then a bunch that are still just green or pink. They're delicious, but they're kind of hard to pick because they're only a few inches off the ground - so it's a lot of bending over for a very small payload! If it weren't for the fact that there are still some mosquitoes out there, I would have just sat down next to the patch and picked from that level! Maybe once there are a few more ripe ones...

Also, there are different kinds! I can't really tell a lot of difference between them. They all taste good, though! 

I walked over to the beach near Headquarters. Not the place where I've gone swimming, on the point - this was a little more isolated, a little more sheltered. And I spotted some shorebirds! Sandpipers or plovers of some kind - they seemed pretty small to me. They kept pecking around the high water line, and occasionally at the water's edge. It was kind of exciting to see something new right near where I've been living all summer!