Chris and I attended a week long adventure in the UP of Michigan with Guy Denny and Allison Cusick July 6-9. We spent a lot of time at bogs and fens, plus the woods. I have not had time to really organize my photos, so here is a simple dump of some of the better photos, in no organization at all.
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On day 3, we packed up and moved from Daisy Farm Campground to 3-Mile Campground, a fairly short 4 mile trip. On the way we took extra or first photos of plant we had already seen. And took a look range photo of a lighthouse on one of the outer islands. One plant that we had seen and not stopped to look at is shown below. It took a bit of looking to make sure the pale cream colored top was in fact the flower and not just new foliage. We are fairly certain that it is the Northern Paintbrush (also called Pale Painted Cup ) or Astilleja serpentrionalis. It is only found in the very Northern counties in Michigan After getting to 3-Mile Campground, we found it mostly empty, so we picked our site and set up our equipment. With the day being early, we decide to a hike to Mount Franklin. We went ultra light, and just hiked with some water and snacks and cameras. The elevation gain was not bad, and we saw some nice ponds and streams along the way. We did see one orchid we are still working on identifying, maybe Early Coralroot but not certain. Up top, there were some good views.
That night turned a bit colder and much more humid than any night so far. We were cold when we awoke early on day 4. We ate out breakfast of hot oatmeal, dried off the tent (wet from condensation) the best we could, and packed up and were off to civilization. For along while we had the trail to our selves, but as we got closer to Rock Harbor we eventually ran into some day hikers. After arriving at Rock Harbor, Chris decided to make herself presentable and washed up in a bathroom with running water and changed into some clean clothes she had save for the return trip. I washed up a bit. We reported in to the rangers. We had lunch at the Grill. Chris asked what kind of soup they had and was told "Tomato and Pork". Sounded weird, but the pork was pulled pork with barbecue sauce and it turned out to be excellent (I stole a few spoonfuls). We did a short walk and some shopping and were generally lazy waiting for the boat. On the boat, we sat with the same couple we had with on the way over. They had stayed at the lodge, but had done quite a bit of hiking. They also saw a moose cow with calf who had walked into the Rock Harbor Lodge area. After the 3 hour boat cruise, we were back in Copper Harbor, texted our children that we were safe (they worry so much about their elderly parents), and drove 5-1/2 hours to Manistique, for the next phase of our adventure, 5 days hiking with Ohio Natural Areas and Preserves Association (ONAPA), looking at plants and habitat. We spent our first night on Isle Royale at Daisy Farms. I have a map of the eastern end of the island shown below. There were some pretty heavy duty thunderstorms during the night, and we were glad to be in a shelter. During the evening and the night, the loons were calling. When the thunder crashed, the loons answered. Some people have reported that the loons kept them up all night with their load calling, when I heard them at night, I smiled and went back to sleep. I found it very cool to hear them. The loons were always away out from shore, and we never took a good photo. but there is a fuzzy one below, and here is a link to the Common Loon page of the Cornell Ornithology site. The sounds there are very good. We had been planning to move to the Moskey Basin campground on day 2, but with the threat of more rain, we decide to leave our camp at Daisy Farm and hike to Moskey Basin and back on day 2. It turned out that the trail was a rough one, and very wet from the rain overnight. We did manage to get to Moskey basin, but it took a bit longer than I had thought. Once there we had our lunch on the dock and took in the scenery. One plant the we had seen on day one not in full bloom, we finally saw in bloom, allowing us to figure it out as Cow Parsnip or Heracleum maximum. The top photo is showing the the flowers just emerging from a modified leaf the was wrapping them up. On the left hand side of the photo you can see how the flowers are wrapped up tight. In the second photo the flowers have fully emerged. The plant is fairly large (5 feet tall), with some leaves the size of dinner plates. We saw a flower that immediately reminded us of a bindweed flower, but when we looked closer, it was not on a vine, but rather a short, upright plant. Hmmm, and in some cases the flower was almost as big as the plant. I looked in Newcomb's in the bindweed section to get an idea of how the flower was described, and there I found the Low Bindweed, or Calystegia spithamaea. Another new flower for us! One of the plants that we saw on all of days on Isle Royale was Fringed Polygala or Polygala paucifolia. These colorful flowers were along many of the trails.
We also saw Wild Columbine (Aquilegia canadensis) in bloom on the island. In the photo below is is also shown with Yellow Hawkweed, which was common on the island Along with the Yellow Hawkweed, there was a red hawkweed present, probably Devil;s Painbrush. The trail wore us out pretty well, here we are in front of our shelter, looking barely awake. ![]() After dinner, we decide to go for a walk, and ran into a group looking in one direction with cameras whirling, it was a moose cow and her two calves! It was pretty dark for photos, but we took a bunch an managed a few to come out. The mother was completely oblivious to us, we were no threat to her or her calves. The calves on the other hand were a bit skittish. Mom just walk through the campground, munching on thimbleberry leaves, with barely a look in our direction That was the end of Day 2 on Isle Royale - more to follow.
Chris and I just got back from a vacation in Michigan. In the first part of the vacation we traveled to Isle Royale and backpacked for 4 days and 3 nights. After that we were with a group from ONAPA doing a tour of the UP natural area around Manistique. Isle Royale
After a short talk from the rangers (making sure we all knew about leave not trace, and what needed to be done to the water), we started down the trail to Daisy Farm, a 7 mile hike. Almost immediately we started seeing large numbers of wildflowers. Chris quickly recognized a huge number of Bunchberry flowers, and we saw a lily like flower. The Bunchberry, Cornus candadensis was a very common on the island. For this blog, I am going to link to the Herbarium of Michigan's website, which has excellent descriptions and photos, so click on the name and it will take you to the link. Once there if you click on All Images, you will see many photos of the plant. We had never seen the yellow lily before, so that evening we looked through Newcomb's Wildflower Guide (our luxury item), and discovered it was Yellow Clintonia or Clintonia borealis. If you click on the photos in this blog you should get a larger image. The tail was often very close to the lake, making the hike much more bearable with our heavy packs. Chris had a 27 lb pack and mine was 37 lbs. The next flower we saw was the Star-flower or Trientalis borealis. It took a few moment to remember this one, but we had recently seen it at Daughmer Prairie Savannah on an ONAPA teasel removal work day. Besides the buchberry, the other plant we say along most trails and in the camp sites was Thimbleberry or Rubus parviflorus. I had read about hikers later in the year consuming large quantities of the berries while walk, we mostly saw flower and a few early fruits high up. We actually had trouble with the identification of this one, but confirmation on posting in the outhouse. Unfortunately the Latin name was incorrect on that poster. We did spot some slipper type orchids. The Pink Lady-Slipper (Cypripedium acaule) was past a bit, but the Yellow Lady-Slippers (Crypripedium parviflorum) was in full bloom. The two things people will ask about when you go to Isle Royale are the Wolves and the Moose. Since it is mostly a closed population, the predator prey relationship has been studied very intensely there since 1959. Unfortunately, the wolf population is down to 3 wolves on the island. The study results can be found HERE. We did not see a wolf, but we did find some scat that first day. Easy to identify since there are no dogs or coyotes on the island, with the next largest carnivore being a fox. That first day we also saw Harebells (Campanula Rotundifolia) , there were fairly common growing on rocky outcrops. Wood lilies (Lilium philadelphicum) were found routinely on the island, but were often found with a single flower. Native honeysuckle was present along the trail. We think it was probably Glaucous Honeysuckle (Lonicera dioica), but it could have been Hairy Honeysuckle (Lonicera hirsuta). Both are native species At the Daisy Farm campsite, were were able to find a shelter, these have 3 wooden walls, and roof and floor, and one screened wall. With the wold coming off the lake and forecast for rail we were happy to have a shelter outside of our tent. At the campsite, Chris spotted this Nodding Trillium, not in bad shape, but not a great photo as it was getting dark and I was very tired. The hiking was done and we after setting up camp and filtering some water, we had a nice dinner of freeze dried lasagna. That ends day one, day two to follow. On Sunday (June 7), Nature's Nursery (LINK) held their annual fundraising / informational Wildlife Festival at Toledo Botanical Garden. Lee Richter organized a table on coyote information, I supplied a poster and a coyote puppet. Jill, Jean, and Roberta rounded out the group. Many people stopped by and became a little more informed. Plus we were able to supply a few people with Rue Poo, Poo from Rue the coyote at Nature's Nursery to keep rabbits out of gardens. Special big thanks to the Puppet Master for engaging all the children!
The annual OCVN state conference was held at Camp Oty'Okwa (Hocking Hills) April 24-26. As part of the conference, nominations are requested for outstanding OCVN members and those who support OCVN. This year Kim High (Metroparks Toledo) was nominated and won for Outstanding Mentor to OCVN members. Congratulations to Kim for all the work she does in helping everyone.
Here is a link to Lee Richter's Facebook page with a post about the award if you want to leave comments or like it. FACEBOOK LINK Lets start thinking about what outstanding OCVN members and supporters we can nominate next year!! ON Saturday, April 4, we took a trip to Clifton Gorge. This is becoming one of our favorite spots in Ohio. If you have never been there, here is a LINK to the ODNR page. We had learned from the ODNR Bloom Report that Snow Trillium was in bloom there, and since we have been wanting to see it in bloom, we took off. The first wildflower we saw there was the Sharp Lobed Hepatica. The leaves have sharp points on them, but otherwise they are the same as the Round Lobed Hepatica we see in Lucas county. A slight hill with water nearby is where I usually see Hepatica,which describes the lower trail at Clifton Gorge. Hepatica was everywhere and in all colors (white, light blue, dark blue, etc.) We also found some Harbinger of Spring (Pepper and Salt) there, another new observation for us. We were starting to get worried that we might not find any Snow Trillium, but then we about 2/3 of the way through the lower trail we started seeing them. It had rained recently, so the waterfalls which are dry in the summer were putting on a show. We also found Purple Cress and some early Dutchmans Breeches On the way up the hill we saw this blue flower, and had to ask at the Nature Center for some help in identifying it. It is an early Virginia Blue Bell. The flowers have a ways to go to open up, but was still a nice find. ON our drive back, we were going by Cedar Bog (that is really a fen), so we stopped in. We saw lots of skunk cabbage, a few round lobed Hepatic, and some Marsh Marigold just starting to bloom. All in all, a very nice spring excursion.
Today is International Forest Day !!! Who knew.
Here are some links about it. http://gizmodo.com/heres-why-forests-should-matter-to-all-of-us-1692813626 some infographics at this site http://inhabitat.com/infographic-celebrate-international-day-of-forests-with-these-important-forest-facts/ Most people who read this think every day should be a Forest Day. Our friends to the East (Sandusky County), have a new nature center in Lindsey, Creek Bend Farms. Chris and I took a trip there today to check it out. I grew up about 2 miles away from it, so it is familiar territory. They built a nice new nature center on the site of an old farm. The house on the farm was built in the 1860's, about the time that the house I grew up in was built, so another connection. Inside is very bright and cheerful and has a nice wow factor. There are a lot of little cozy areas. Some to look out from and some to look through a book at. And then there was a wonderful surprise waiting for us inside. Former Wood County Naturalist Debbie Nofzinger was there holding down the fort. She is with the Sandusky County Park system now and her office is at the Creek Bend Farm Nature Center. She was trying to work, but we did not let her get much done while we were around.
We also went for a short walk on the property. The area around the new building is pretty muddy right now, but once you get out a bit it is fine. For more information, go to www.lovemyparks.com On my recent birthday, I received a stack of bug books, plus one on grass. I guess I am running out of wildflower books to obtain.
For a list of most of my books, there is a section on this site with them listed HERE.
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AuthorRandy Haar Archives
September 2015
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