Pickerel Lake and Townsend Parks

October 17, 2011   

Pickerel Lake Park  (6001 Ramsdell Road NE Cannonsburg, MI 49317)

was our first stop of the day, 46 degrees- sunshine, blue sky.   

Michigan has been  having wonderful autumn weather. 
Pickerel Lake Park is a favorite in this area (just NE of Grand Rapids  Michigan) because of the interesting trails.  Larch Swamp trail, Sandy Knoll trail, woodland trails, and the main trail which circles the lake for an easy
1.9 mile walk.  You can cross country ski here, or fish from the docks.

There has been a big tree on the top west end of Pickerel Lake that a beaver chewed almost all the way through.  Well we found that tree was finally down.

First here are two pictures from 2010 of the tree.

The tree today (below).

Near the beaver tree, one of the many boardwalks at Pickerel Lake Park.

Next park for the day is Warren Townsend Park  (8280 6 Mile Road Cannonsburg, MI ), just a mile south from Pickerel Park on Ramsdell to 6 Mile Road. 

This park has a stone shelter, scenic footbridges, baseball diamonds, cross country skiing, fishing, hiking/walking, nature trails, a playground, and

restrooms.

Footbridge over Bear Creek at Townsend Park

We walked north on the Red Pine Trail, about a mile round trip, then checked out the enclosed shelter and Bear Creek.

                           Remanants of Bittersweet Nightshade

Still some wildflowers, this is a weed called Cheeses (always plural).

Another beautiful day!!

Fall color at Pickerel Lake Park and Luton Park

2010 10 11 With archery deer season happening now, we try to avoid those arrows.  So Pickerel Lake Kent County Park (no hunting) here we come. 

                  Pickerel Lake
 This place is just NE of Grand Rapids Michigan, south of Pando ski area.  We have walked around Pickerel Lake, this time we decided to walk the trails in the SW part of the park, Larch Trail, Sandy Knoll Trail. 

                             Pickerel Lake

Wood Frog (Rana Sylvatica) This friendly fellow was along the trail.

We moved on to Luton Park (6125 Kies Street Rockford, MI 49341). About a 6.5 mile drive from Pickerel Lake.

                                    Rum Creek
Luton Park (consisting of 264 acres of scenic walking paths and mountain bike trails Managed by the Kent County Parks. With the first of five planned biking trails completed, Luton Park will eventually feature a stacked loop of mountain biking trails totalling 6-7 miles) is more for bicyclist but it is OK to walk there too, just move aside for the bikes!


At the parking area Luton looks like a big piece of farm land (and it was) but Rum Creek flows through the park and we found great sections of undisturbed nature to explore. We will come back to Luton in the spring!


For more great parks explore
http://www.accesskent.com/CultureLeisureAndTransit/Parks/
 

Michigan Fall Color at Long Lake

  Long Lake        
 2011 October 11  We were looking for fall color and while the sun was shining we found color. What a difference the sun can make. These two photos are with the early morning sun still low in the sky just lighting up the leaves, and the sky was quite blue, later it was a bit more hazy.

Long Lake (13747 Krauskopf NE Sparta, MI 49345)
is in Kent County Michigan, remember http://www.accesskent.com/CultureLeisureAndTransit/Parks/park_directory.htm


Kent County has many wonderful parks and a very good website.  When using a GPS it helps to have an address, addresses are included on this site, as are maps and a list of what you will find at each park.


Near the playground where there are maple trees with golden leaves, even if the sun isn't shining, it looks like sunshine.

Maybe we should call them Sunshine Maples.

Marie found one Nodding Ladies' Tresses still blooming!

We identified these asters as Heath Aster (Aster ericoides), there were lots of busy bumble bees.

 This little Wood Frog was curious.

The bugs were as busy as the bees.

The park wraps around the most of the north end of Long Lake, the very south end of the lake is private.  There are three entrances to the park, with the playground on the east side, a non-motorized boats only launch on the west side of the lake.

We left Long Lake Park with an hour of fun time left so on our way home we stopped in at Patterson Park in Muskegon County.  Patterson Park is located on the Little Rio Grande Creek two miles southwest of Ravenna on Blackmer Road, here is a site for Muskegon County parks, http://co.muskegon.mi.us/parks/index.html.

At Patterson Park there are many Sycamore trees, this is what the bark of the Sycamore looks like.

This composite was blooming, we didn't ID it, sort of looked like Woodland Sunflower, but it was nice to see.  Time to head home.

2010 08 09 Continue to Johnson Park

So after our quick stop at Bass we headed down M-45 (known to some old timers as M-50) still cloudy and raining.  We were going to the scenic drive at Johnson Park (Kent County), but when we arrived there, it had a locked gate.  So we headed up the scenic drive on foot and we probably saw more this way then if we had been in the car.



Along M-45



Virginia Creeper climbing a tree at Johnson Park

One of my favorites for the day!

Next time Prairie Park and beyond.  Check out Access Kent for parks in Kent County Michigan.  http://www.accesskent.com/CultureLeisureAndTransit/Parks/

Kent County Michigan Park

May 8, 2014        A visit to a Kent County park!

We finally saw Miterwort (Mitella diphylla).  Here's a close-up of the snowflake-like flower. 

 

                     Miterwort

                           Miterwort
 
       Also for the first time this year, Goldthread!

                                Goldthread (Coptis trifolia)

          Some other interesting things we noticed.

 

 

            Great Scented Liverwort
        and I think this may be another type of liverwort. 
        Possibly Three-lobed Bazzania (Bazzania trilobata)?

 

                                   Golden Saxifrage
 

 

              Marsh Marigold
It was a beautiful day, definitely warmer and more humid this time, but nice.  We talked with a County park employee about the park.  It is always good to get info from people who know about the place you are visiting.  We saw many of the spring wildflowers blooming, Large-flowered Trillium, buttercups, Spring Beauty, hepatica, toothwort, and violets.
It is a very busy time of year. 
This week Marie and I went out for two full days of wildflowering.  Mike and I have been working on a massive amount of firewood, cutting, splitting, and stacking.  Not much time indoors on the computer for blogging or to do much research but I'm not complaining, because I would really rather be outside.