Manistee River Trail, Cabin Adventure

2013 08 15-17 Mike and I took a wonderful three day trip to the cabin in mid August 2013.  Manistee County Michigan. The weather had been unusually cool for August, and now it was toward the end of the cool spell.  We haven't been to the cabin in August before because it is generally too hot in August for me to hike.  But the weather was perfect.

 We have hiked the Manistee River trail, in sections, many times varying our starting point.  This time we started at Red Bridge on Coates Highway, walked to Cedar Creek and back, ~7 mile hike.  This part of the trail takes you up to some very high points for scenic vistas and then right to the river level.

 

This is the Manistee River at Red Bridge. 
We also stopped by the State Forest Campground at Leverentz Lake and Little Leverentz Lake, another beautiful place.

 Little Leverentz Lake

 

 Leverentz Lake

 
We visited Gale's Pond County Park.

 

 

One of the most exciting wildflowers we saw on this three day trip was Downy Rattlesnake Plantain (Goodyera pubescens) Orchid family!  This small perennial orchid produces a low rosette of evergreen basal leaves.  The common name is inspired by the slight resemblance of the leaves patterns to the skin of a rattlesnake.

 

 

 

That was it for this trip.

Sneaking away on a Thursday!

Yes this adventure was on Thursday.  I helped someone paint her shed so she had time to go wildflowering. 

Our first stop was near Rothbury Michigan (Oceana County) to see Northern Blazing Star, tall spires of purple flowers, nice.  

  

Next it was up to a special ditch somewhere in Oceana County to see Closed (or Bottle) Gentian.  Lovely.

         Trail at Gale's Pond

We also made our way to Gale's Pond.  This is a cool nature trail.    



Somewhere along the road in Oceana County

Then we painted a shed.

Adventures from the Second Half of June 2014

This is the second half of June, here are some places we went "wildflowering".
On June 16, 2014 my sister Marie and I visited places in Oceana County, Michigan.  Gale's Pond and also that same day - Doolittle Memorial Park, Genevieve Casey MNA Nature Sanctuary, Park Road (End) beach.

First Gale's Pond.

 

Next stop Doolittle Memorial Park 

Doolittle Memorial Park is a small wooded area belonging to Oceana County. The trail and park area was developed by Boy Scout Steven Miller as an Eagle Project.  There is a trail of about 3/8 mile- a simple loop with a cutoff across the middle.

Then off to Genevieve Casey Nature Sanctuary.

 We ended up stopping by Park Road end where you can access Lake Michigan, a nice little beach for swimming.

June 23, 2014 Marie and I went to Bass River Recreation Area in Ottawa County, Michigan.  We have several places here to hunt wildflowers and there are varied habitats from swampy areas to forested areas.  We checked a site where we have found Loesel's Twayblade growing and there it was - right where we left it last year.
It isn't easy to spot in all the green.  The orchid is in the center of the photo below.

 Loesel's Twayblade - Orchid Family

 Loesel's Twayblade - Orchid Family

Nearby we found another orchid, also green-yellow in color and not easy to spot.  We examined it carefully.  It was small and close to the muddy ground.  We determined it to be Platanthera aquilonis, with the help of  the guide "Orchids of the North Woods" by Kim & Cindy Risen.  As it mentions in this guide, "This trio (Plantanthera aquilonis-huronensis-dilitata) is a bottomless pit of confusion to most folks, even the experts". So all I can say for sure is that we found these orchids at Bass River RA growing on their own, they really are not the prettiest flowers, but they are special.

Northern Green (Bog) Orchid  Platanthera aquilonis

One of the super secret ponds, filled with so much water it was too deep to cross with our knee-high boots.  Neat place!

               We also saw Moneywort Lysimachia nummularia Primrose family.

                         Butterfly Weed Asclepias tuberosa Milkweed family

June 30, 2014    We went southeast to Barry County Michigan.

 Here we saw a very showy orchid, beautiful and amazing,  growing in a wet area, a land of larch.  

Tuberous Grass Pink Calopogon tuberosus Some of the Grass Pink were a very blazing pink, some pale pink.  Most plants were over a foot tall, so easier to photograph than the orchids at Bass. 

 We saw some Showy Ladyslipper Cypripedium reginae Orchid Family.  These were already fading a little with brown on their petals, but still quite a sight.

We found Swamp Candles Lysimachia terrestris Primrose family growing deep in the tall grass.  Pretty flower. 

And below we have Death (White) Camas Zigadenus elegans
"All parts of this wildflower contain toxic chemicals (alkaloids) said to be more potent than strychnine."  I assume this is if you eat it but I leave most plants right where I find them because you just don't know what form of protection they might be using.

 

 Far across the water we saw a Great Blue Heron...

And here are a few other things we came across.

 

That was June 2014 a very beautiful month.  I also received a new camera from my very considerate husband!  The camera is a Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D.  He really shouldn't have.  My brain is still working out how to use the last camera he bought me.  It is a whole kit with three different lens to attach and a carrying case.  I'm really more of a stick the camera in my back pocket type of person.  Well there is no sticking this camera in your back pocket, let me tell you. Okay now I say thanks, so much, Mike for the new camera, it was very thoughtful of you!