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.

A surprise and a hike

For 25 years, Canada Geese have been visiting this little spot of land above the water. This year, I noted what I thought was a big brown rock.

It wasn't!

It was a Sandhill Crane!

So each time I drive to town I take a different way to see what is going on at the pond.

At 7:30, the Cranes and the eggs looked like this:

There were two of them there...

at 9:30 I went by and...

both Cranes just hanging out.

Oh and the turtles I didn't know existed in this tiny pond were sunbathing:

It was a fantastic and gorgeous afternoon so I cut down some weeds. Then...

I decided to take some time and go on a hike at KVR on the Wintergreen Trail. It had been a long time since I'd done a spring hike there. I wanted to see if I could find Trillium before they disappeared.

My hiking partner:

He would rather be moving and he totally ignored me asking him to look at me. I even tried the COOKIE trick and he was more interested in what was happening in the woods below us.

All parts of the trail are my favorite. Though this view seems to be one I can never resist taking a shot of .

The haze from the Canadian Fires gave it an interesting light and atmosphere.

I took my time and searched for the Trillium. I wanted to see it in a slightly shaded area so the sun wouldn't blow out the white petals.

I took photos of plants that I have never identified before so I could figure out what they were.

This is the Canada Mayflower. It has a scientific name, but I like this common name. I have them in our woodland too. In a few days they should shoot up tiny tiny white flowers. I think I called them wild lilies at some point in the past.

They grew all over this bluff through the detritus of the pine needles.

Below is the Rock Cap Fern. Oddly enough, it is considered an evergreen which makes sense because it is green through the winter. These grow in the pine forest and all over the shaded rock bluff.

I'll make this short. I found so many beautiful things to stop and look at. I spent an two hours just slowly walking through the woods. Most folks don't walk to the very end of this trail, but turn around at the bluff that over looks the river.

I like to find what is hidden in the woods.

And after passing up many Trillium, I did find one that was absolutely perfect.

I found many more incredible plants and flowers, but I'll save them for another day.

Surprises on another spring walk

Wednesday was going to be incredibly beautiful for the middle of March. Charlie and I took off for the Reserve again to check out some different ponds of water for wildlife.

Actually, we just wanted to get out and enjoy some sunshine and fresh air. I should have stayed home and raked the yard.

Hmmm. I think we took the better choice.

I figured to get some chill out time alone as the next 3 weekends are booked with visitors. I hope my son and his crew are up for taking the kids hiking at the Reserve with me if it isn't raining. It will wear out the kids and being outdoors is easier than being inside our little house.

I'm still in the bird 'hunting' mode. 

We came up on campsite C which a few years ago had some great views of one of the ponds. Unfortunately, the briars have grown back in and I didn't have the means to cut them down. But the Canada Geese were there in droves.

I shot this through the brush so it gives it an interesting look.

I liked the reflections of the clumps of grass on the pond water, so I took this shot which is not impressive at all. Well, what I didn't see through the brush were the turtles at the bottom of the photo!
I was tickled to see turtles here as I don't recall ever seeing them before on my spring hikes. I'm sure they live there, I just never thought about it.

Those clumps of grass remind me of Cousin It on the Munsters. 👀

I promised myself to come back to that one spot and clear out the 10 briars that kept me from sitting close to the shore to watch the birds.

I was looking for more Sandhill Cranes, I heard them at the pond that was south of where I was. So maybe this pond is too crowded with Canada Geese for them to want to share?

This is a large meandering pond but this one spot was crowded with geese.

On the other side of the Old 131 trail is another pond. This one has a floating dock with a bench for folks to sit on and watch the pond.

Nothing terribly interesting was happening there. However my Lego Friends decided they'd like to use the dock to do some bird watching themselves.

I took a side trip down a trail that used to have a campsite on the river shore and was since moved. Charlie and I walked down to the river.

The other side of the river is where the Little Canada Trail is. The river is quite low now due to the lack of rain. I am standing on an old campsite that got washed away in a few floods. Across the river one of those pines used to have a rope in it. 
Campers and Canoers would beach their canoes and take time to climb the bluff and swing out over the river and drop into the deeper waters for a swim. 

That tree was swept away in the 2018 flood.

 

I decided to take Willow Trail back to where we parked so we didn't have to backtrack.

I was stopped by a familiar bird song. I could hear it but couldn't tell where it was coming from. I just stood still for a while and finally a little brown bird flew into a nearby bush.

I hear this bird every spring and summer and delight in its song. You would think I could recall that it is a song sparrow.

I let her serenade me for a while before we returned to the car and went home.

Charlie was warm and tired and eager to lay in his crate in the car.

I felt relaxed and happy.

Road Trip sort of

I had to go to LaCrosse for an checkup on our Subaru. I generally take a quick little side trip while I am there.

Yesterday I went over to Goose Island. It is a nice county park with little roads going to different parts of the island. I think there are something like 8 or more picnic shelters that can be reserved and several playgrounds. All along the river access are picnic tables and some trees for shade. There is a campground for tents and a grounds for RV's.

It is on a slough to the Mississippi River and between LaCrosse and Stoddard Wisconsin. It is beautifully maintained and the county road GI is well maintained with wide shoulders to pull off on.

I try to get there a couple of times a year just to enjoy driving around the place and seeing if I can find something to photograph. I'm always on a time crunch as the other half is keeping tabs on my time. I called him to let him know I was taking a drive through the park. 

Time to test more with that long lens!

Here is Chippy! A seven striped Chipmunk. I was tickled that he just sat there while I took his photo. I stayed in my car as not to spook him.

I saw this doe along the slough, so I parked the 'Ru and walked slowly back up the side of the road.

I was able to take 3 shots of her before she took off, bounding through the low lands.

Along WigWam Slough, I found these turtles. I've cropped this but if you can look at it full sized it looks like the turtle on the right is 'snarling' at the one on the left. 

So do you suppose turtles fight?

Ninja Turtles!

A view of the bluff on the other side of highway 35. In regular color and then in Infrared. Wink...wink. You know I couldn't help myself!

The shots were taken in different spots on the county road.

It was warm and the sky was amazing. The clouds kept changing and developing beautiful Cumulus clouds. 

I'll be headed back to get new tires next week. I'll grab my gear and walk to downtown LaCrosse and visit the Riverside Park while I wait for the car to be fitted with new rubber.

Perhaps I will be lucky enough to see one of the Steamboats go by while I am there.