Finally.

Monday night was particularly stressful with my duties as a Caregiver. My 'patient' woke up at 1AM and I was able to get him back to bed around 3:30. I never got back to sleep. Around 4 I gave up trying to sleep and made a decision.

For my mental attitude [which would be rotten and evil without a good night's sleep], I ditched the plan of running errands. When Respite turned up, I left with my backpack and bug spray. I was going to take some serious quiet time.

Last year I hike 1,000 + miles at the Kickapoo Valley Reserve and other County Parks nearby. Imagine the change I've adjusted to. I haven't gone on a real hike since May 15th. Imagine my withdrawals from Hiking. It was as bad as I would imagine a withdrawal from a drug!

Our area has received a lot of rain. Monday, some areas received over 2 inches or more and the Kickapoo River was rising. Not much of a flood, but the river had seeped into quite a few hay fields and pastures.

I decided to take my feet to the Wintergreen Trail. It is interesting enough and short enough so I can casually hike and look around.

I always make a stop at the 'lookout' and peer down at the river below. It is easy access and only a few minutes from the Visitor Center. 

On nice weekends, this is a busy trail. I choose not to go during those times for obvious reasons.

The trails were reported as muddy and buggy, so I didn't think I'd find anyone else along the way. I was right. I had the place to myself.
And one mosquito found me in a very wet area where the trail goes through weeds and flowers that where waist high.

The shot below is near the end of the trail which stops on the top of a bluff. There is no magical view of the river, but you can watch it and listen to it between the Pines and Hemlocks.

This may be one of my favorite places to stop and just sit for a while. 

I hiked the whole trail to the dead end quickly so I could see if I could find cool and interesting fungi. Then, I took my time returning to the car, walking slowly to peer at every mushroom, interesting tree, and view of the river.

This is another shot I take every single time I hike this trail. I look for this tree that seems to point the way. 

Of course, I did take the Minime and Charlie along as well as a couple other characters. 

Here we found tiny seedlings of pines growing on an obscure part of the bluff. This is off trail so hopefully no careless hiker will trample them.

[Don't look too closely at the minifigs face...how in the heck did a real Charlie hair get stuck on the minifig's face?]

The spot we found the seedlings is right next to the rocks that are evident in the photo.

I'm going to save the cool fungi and other photos not from my cellphone on another post. This morning I am running out of time between chores and our 'date' with Steve for an adventure. 

With all the rain we've had and areas of muddy water, the fishing won't be great so we may just do a drive and a lunch day. 

Rich looks forward to these weekly outings more than anything else right now. 

The rest of that day ... and Sunday

It was a dreary cold windy morning... I traveled along the Kickapoo River and its backwater ponds. People would say it wasn't a beautiful warm spring day and maybe they would have avoided hiking. But I don't mind most weather. 

I will say I won't hike in storms. But drizzle, overcast, cold, breezy? That all works for me. I can even find interesting things to explore in poor weather.

The photo below is one of the ponds I haven't been able to get to before. I had some considerable brush busting to get down to the edge of the pond. Unfortunately, with the harsh wind, no waterfowl or even turtles were out.

The sky started breaking up when I got to the Kickapoo River. This river often turns back on itself and has been dubbed The Crooked River. Kickapoo means 'wander here and there', it fits this river perfectly. It is mostly a quiet unassuming river.

However it can become a raging river when there is heavy rain. The river often expands and floods extremely quickly because it resides in a steep valley.

Canoeing and kayaking along this river is a great past time. I would love to kayak it again.

By the time I wandered down to this spot where Camp G used to be, the sun was starting to show itself. 

This is not far from where I found a tiny skull in the grasses. Most likely a young 'possum skull. It reminds us about the hardships of life.

Back at the ponds with the sunshine out, I spotted some more ducks. I moved to a wet trail with a lot of cover on the eastern pond and got a shot of this duck. May...be a Blue Wing Teal? I'm not up on my waterfowl, but that is what I found when I looked it up.

More of these at another pond???

I stopped once more at a well hidden little pond to see if the turtles had come out to enjoy the sunshine.

They did! I was so tickled!

By now it was early afternoon and bicyclists, dog walkers, and a few teenage type humans were wandering down the blacktop path. I was standing there watching the turtles and listening to the waterfowl in the next pond over when the kids walked by and gave me a funny look.

You know, that look when they see an older person staring off at something that they can't see and they give you the roll of the eyes.

I smiled thinking maybe one day they too can slow down and just look to see what they can see.

I'd found so many cool things while just wandering slowly on my long hike.

I now know where to go back to photograph hundreds of Cinnamon Ferns...

Below is something called 'Old Man's Beard' which is actually a type of wild clematis. A plant I never knew existed. It actually is considered an invasive species and I don't know much about it. It's scientific name is Clematis vitalba.  I'll have to see if I can find these while they are blooming.

On the way back to where I parked, I took a back route around a bluff to  see the magnificent wintergreen tree root that grows horizontal along the bluff.

 

Seen from below, this looks odd and very cool.

Below the tree is a really neat fern that stays green all winter long. It is called a Rock Polypody [common name].

Along the bluff are little nooks and crannies that tell stories of eons of erosion and water.

My Lego Minifigures would fit inside those tiny tooth like features. Jason wasn't with me to tell me the why or how they were formed. But I just think of them as great little hideouts for gnomes, trolls, fairies, and spirits. 

Why not?

And that was that. I made my way back to the parking lot and past kids with their parents getting ready for an afternoon stroll now that the sun was shining.

My feet were tired, I was relaxed and happy. I was ready to go back home. The only thing that was a negative was that I was aware of all of the things I felt I was missing.

However, I also realized how lucky I was to have this time.

And now on to Sunday's fun! Digging and prepping, raking, transplanting, and picking up more gravel.

Wintergreen Trail in November

Sunday morning came and the rains had stopped. I looked at the weather and it appeared that it would be decent for most of the day.

I put some things together in my little backpack which included mini snacks for Charlie and my camera. We took off at 8am. I like to hike the Wintergreen Trail early in the day if I go on a weekend. It is a short trail that is beautiful and has many views of the Kickapoo River. The trail head is right off the parking lot to the Visitor's Center so it gets a lot of midday traffic.

I always take my time while walking this trail. I am very familiar with it. I hike it in the winter and fall because I can view the river more clearly.

I always stop at what is called the 'Look Out'. It is a bluff with a view. 

To get out on the edge takes a bit of maneuvering. It isn't the sort of thing you hop over and down onto the small ledge. Most people don't do it.
I carefully climb down to the spot where I can sit and just gaze south.

I never tire of the view in any season. Below is a shot with my feet in the frame along with the edge of the bluff.

Here is the bluff taken from across the river on a x-country ski trail. I think I took this in 2018. I was on the lower ledge where you can see snow in the photo. The river's edge below the bluff was frozen.

Charlie knows the trail by heart now. He has done it so many times. He knows that he has to sit and wait while I monkey around or pause to look at something. He also knows that I will take advantage of exploring. 

I went below the bluff on the north side. I couldn't get down next to the bluff and the river as it was too muddy and sandy. I had to stand on a little hilly formation to get this side.

I found it interesting with all the different kinds of lichen and ferns growing on it. Obviously there are geological layers showing also. I can't ID them, so I will just admire their beauty.

I can't help but photograph this odd tree formation every time we come through this part of the trail. I am afraid that one year, the tree will fall and I won't get to see it...

This August:

Over the years, I've gotten to know the best spots to look for spring flowers, the best spots to observe the river, and where unexpected rock shelters are. I look forward to seeing them in the winter as the water drips over the rock and forms an 'ice sheet' that can convert the shelter into an ice cave.

Once we hit the Wintergreen rock bluff, the path goes straight along the 'hogback'. The trail is lined on each side with pines and Hemlocks. It never ceases to stun me.

I always stop and the end of the trail and take time to sit on a log and just listen to the river and the sounds of the wind through the trees. It sighs just like I do.

Though, this Sunday we didn't get much quiet. In areas around the Reserve, it sounded like a firing range with all the different farms and at least two shooting ranges I know of that where sighting in their guns for next week's deer season.

Charlie turned himself inside out with anxiety. I had to carry him for a while as he literally shook and vibrated.

We still managed to have a great hike. We traveled only 2 1/2 miles total but took at least 2 hours to do it. There still is so much to see and observe even in November.

Yep. Not sure why there were pencils stuck in a log!

I could have spent most of the day just exploring....

And so now the new week is ongoing...

Rain rain rain...and flurries tomorrow? 
Looks like a good few days to do laundry, cleaning, dusting, washing, and a bit of crafty stuff!

Meanwhile... a hike with Aurora!

 There it was, our annual date for our fall walk at KVR! Last year we did our fall hike at Wildcat Mtn State Park. 

Last year, our hike was in mid November. 

This year we were back at the Reserve. I was hoping to find brilliant and beautiful fall scenery, but depending on the type of trees, the colors were mostly gone. However that doesn't take away from the beauty of hiking with a friend and just having a nice conversation as we went.

A few shots of the trail on Big Valley. 

A section of Maples....

Poplars and birch, I think. 

Looking down on Big Valley from a high point
on the trail. The colors are muted but
still there.

Looking back through the trees...
I used an Orton Effect on this shot.
In my head I wanted this to have a warm fuzzy Autumn
feeling...

And...of course, I had to play a bit on the trail...

Mini-me and Charlie spot Big Foot!!!! How exciting!

After we finished off Big Valley, we headed over to the 9-10 trail which runs along the Kickapoo River. I wished that the trail to the little out of the way lookout had an easier access, I wanted to get Aurora up on the bluff by the pine tree I like so much.

But the thorny Prickly Ash barred the way. If you don't know Prickly Ash, it will tear at clothes if you are not wearing tough clothing like Carhartt.

I get to this spot each spring if possible because of all the bluebell flowers along with the hepatica...not to mention the skunk cabbage and rock formations. [ 9-10 trail in the spring ]

Last spring the same view...sort of... the spot I go to is on top of that bluff pictured there. The view down on the river is beyond stunning. Alas...not this day!

I sure had a whirlwind-ish week. 

But our hike was such so fun!

Holiday Weekend

The Kickapoo Valley Reserve closed all trails but old Hwy 131 and Star Valley to bikes and horses. This was because the Kickapoo River likes to come up fast, crest, and come down quickly when it floods.

If we get a half inch of rain right now, the rivers and streams just fill up and overflow their banks.

I thought it would be fun to check out the bridges and the places where the river had crossed the old trail.
Keep in mind that this trail was the original Highway 131 that was closed in the 1960's when the government built a new road that didn't flood. The intention was to put up a dam too and make a manmade lake for tourism.

Anyway I've gone over that history before on one of my older blogs.

The point is, the old road is maintained for bike riding, walking, riding horses, and in the winter one can cross country ski a groomed trail along this same path. Walkers are welcome if they stay off the groomed parts.

I took my Infrared camera because bright sunshine, green grass, 

water, and clouds make for 

more interesting photos in IR.

The water was brown and a bit angry. The river had come up on two of the bridges but by the time I got there, it was already receding.

Looking at the other end of bridge 15.

Angry waters...

Just around this bend was what is called a log jam. The Reserve posted this shot today to show anyone who thought of canoeing, that the river was still a bit unsafe and to use caution. Also a person would have to pull out of the river do a portage to continue.

People are asked to use common sense and caution. This quiet little river has its ways of being sneaky. I kayaked it last year when all was calm and quiet and it still can be a challenge.

I promised hubby that I wouldn't ride through any of the water that was over the trail. This part was only a few inches deep, but further north of this spot it could have been as deep as a foot or so. 

I was just more interested in seeing the water on the trail.

Photo taken with my IR camera.

I just wanted to explore the beauty of the water and the reflections. 

I enjoyed my time on the bike even stopped to visit with this little guy. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to use my Alien Tourist.

I went to bed early and woke up at 2AM. The smart thing would have been to go back to bed. I don't always do the smart thing.

I wanted to see the Milky Way. The photo stinks, but there it is. I went for a walk in the dark. It just seemed right at the time.

I stayed up after I got back home. I asked Charlie if he wanted to go out with me to see a foggy sunrise.

And it was amazing...

By 7AM I was ready for a nap. That is exactly what I did.

The 4th of July was super chilled here. I read a book while sitting on my little rocker on the porch.

Why not?

It was just perfect. Naps, beauty, reading, and rocking...

Except when I went to take a shower and found out that the water heater was ka...put.

Oh well, even that won't wreck our holiday weekend.

Tomorrow morning, I am meeting a friend from the gym and we are climbing a bluff just before dawn to watch the sun rise and welcome in the day.