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!