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!