MUN Botanical Garden

One of the things I wanted to do on this trip was walk around the MUN Botanical Garden, so when Wayne came to get me in Mt. Pearl I convinced him to go. 

Wayne thinks these were Dogberry branches

How did I accomplish that?  Asking my second cousin Allison to meet us there made it hard for him to say no!

Me and Allison were wowed by the large hostas

I haven't seen Allison in at least 30 years, but thanks to Facebook it's easy to keep tabs on those distant relatives now!  Hanging out with her led to lots of interesting information on events coming up in the area like the George Street Festival which Wayne is definitely attending.

Green Frog - click here for info and to hear Green Frog call

I like things a little quieter than a festival.  I will probably drop him off and head for the East Coast Trail instead.  We've both decided that this trip is an opportunity to get out there and collect some new experiences.

More than 100 years ago, Queen Victoria chose the pitcher plant
to be engraved on a newly minted Newfoundland penny

The Botanical Garden had a small greenhouse, a vegetable garden, and various other flower beds but it also had a trail system that winds through its 110 acres.

Cinnamon fern?

The Yetman Trail took us through the woods and across a fen to see some native plants but unfortunately most of those were not labeled like the ones in the flower beds were.

Foxglove

You don't have to go to the Botanical Garden if you want to see wild roses, they are everywhere in Newfoundland.

But if you want to see Gnome doors and houses, the garden is your best bet.

Also at the Garden is Oxen Pond where quite a few American Black Ducks were swimming around hoping for some handouts.

I'm guessing the Gnomes don't feed them, but who knows what goes on there at night?

With all these ladies swimming around there should be some youngsters around...

Male in the middle? ID info says pale brown head and yellow bill

Sure enough, they were all snuggled up on a rock having their afternoon nap.

There was a rather large loon on the pond as well, but he was a bit far off to get a good look.  So I settled for a picture of this instead.

A hosta with water droplets made for a good photography subject, but most of my flower shots the color was off so I'm guessing my settings were off.  Oh well, it's not always about the photos I bring home and this was a nice place to visit for $9 and we didn't even get bit by mosquitoes!

Wild August

Getting my walking in at least twice a week in the hot and humid Midwest summer can be challenging, but the worst of the heat broke and some cloud cover helps too.

Restored prairie in Genoa City

The wildflowers are hanging in there despite the wilting heat, and a drier than normal summer has meant less mosquitoes.

I've really enjoyed using the 24-70mm Canon lens I've been trying out, but have decided that it is a little bit heavy even though they make one that is even heavier.  It is very versatile as you can see from the pictures in this post, but for someone who has to carry it for miles along with other equipment every pound counts.

So I've decided to get the 40mm lens that I enjoyed from my previous kit and I'm going to test out the 24mm pancake lens Canon makes as well.  They both weigh about a 1/3 pound each but of course it will mean that I have to switch lenses more often.  But they are so small one could easily fit in a pocket for quick access.

For a switch from the prairies I headed out to Volo Bog to see what it was like in August.  The answer was hot and humid of course, but I've never seen so much wild Bee Balm.

I had a chance to pull out the 300mm lens and get a pretty good hand held shot of a dragonfly.  Unfortunately it flew off before off before I could get a better angle.

I also spied a Monarch butterfly gathering nectar.

This is what it found so attractive.  I can see the appeal.

I didn't see any birds in the bog, but there was certainly no shortage of turtles.

One thing that was surprising was the abundance of Purple loosestrife. Purple loosestrife is a very hardy invasive perennial which can rapidly degrade wetlands, diminishing their value for wildlife habitat.  When purple loosestrife gets a foothold, the habitat where fish and wildlife feed, seek shelter, reproduce and rear young, quickly becomes choked under a sea of purple flowers.

The best time to control purple loosestrife is in late June, July and early August when it is in flower. Plants are easily recognized and it has not yet gone to seed. Once flower petals start to drop from the bottom of the spike, the plant begins to produce seed.

If you see any and you want to help out, pulling and digging the plants is the way to control the spread.  Chemical use at wetland sites is not advised!

Wading the River at Apple River Canyon State Park

I just got back from a two day getaway to nearby Apple River Canyon State Park which is only half an hour east of Galena in Illinois.  The Country Thunder crowds descended on our little town of Twin Lakes starting Wednesday night and by noon on Thursday I finally escaped after two near-accidents within a mile of my house.  Tourists!

Once a stop on the stage route from Chicago to the lead mining town of Galena, nothing remains of the town that used to be here. Millville took advantage of the Apple River's power with its two sawmills and had a population at one point of 330 people.  In 1854 the railroad was built 4 miles away and in 1892 a flood washed out the dam and drove out the remaining population.

The area wasn't flattened by the glaciers like most of Illinois and Jo Daviess County's terrain is rugged and beautiful, including the limestone, dolomite and shale deposits that line the canyon walls.  Plants and lichens grow in the cracks, including the rare Bird's Eye Primrose which appears in April along with other spring wildflowers.  Hopefully I'll remember to come back next spring!

As fascinated with lichen as I am?  Check out this link to a lichen group on Flickr with its 122 pages!  Crusty yellow lichen was the most common on the rock, but there was also a lot of what I first mistook for a lichen that turns out might be liverwort instead.  So much to know out there in the natural world!

Liverworts are true plants but instead of anchoring themselves with roots they have rhizomes on their underside.  When I pulled one to look underneath (I do this all the time with lichens to help with identification) it resisted a little and then let go much like velcro does.

Walking in the river in my Keens I even followed a frog as it swam away from the cliff's edge and tried to hide by blending with the river bottom.

After exploring the river and one of the short hiking loops that went up the bluff I headed back to my campsite, satisfied after finally getting some challenging exercise for the first time in a week.  Unlike this treasure, my county was flattened by the glacier and it's been too hot to run.

Much more relaxing than the crowds descending on my neighborhood this weekend

Illinois state parks do not require a permit like Wisconsin, and the non electric sites are only $8.00!  They are large and well spaced, but even though they had a dump station there were only vault toilets (incredibly clean ones!) and no showers.  I threw on running shorts and took a dip in the river to rinse off the sweat and dust, just like I did in Lake Superior.

Crayfish shared my bathing pool, can you find all three?

The park was only about two thirds full when I left this morning and all the campers were unusually quiet for a Friday night, perhaps because alcohol is prohibited at Illinois state parks and there is no other entertainment nearby so true nature seekers are most likely all that stay here.  What else was missing?  Biting insects!  Not a single mosquito landed on me, not even when I sat in my camp chair, something I haven't been able to do yet this year.  It was wonderful to read outside of my tent for a change, and the only insect that visited me was this tiny fly that looked like a cross between a mosquito and the world's smallest poodle.  He wasn't a biter, and therefore I tolerated his presence when he kept returning.  Anyone know what it is?

Swallows had their nests built on the underside of the bridge, so maybe they help keep the mosquitoes down, but I also didn't see any swampy spots or ponds nearby.

The light in the morning hit the wall for a short time and I got there just in time to see it after my hike.  Then I was ready to take on Galena before the weekend crowd descended.  Believe it or not it was a shopping list I had for Galena Garlic that brought me out to begin with!  More about the hiking and other tidbits to follow.

Mom, The Explorer

Avon Bottoms is a Wisconsin State Natural Area, a floodplain forest alongside the Sugar River in Rock County, about an hour and a half from home.  When I looked at the map yesterday I chose the intersection of Carroll Road and Nelson Road as a place to start looking for the parking area.  It turns out there are a few little spots to park, but after exploring the area I would recommend continuing the half mile down to Sugar River County Park which has a large parking lot and is closer to the wildflower colonies.

Don't think I've seen one of these before.  Maybe Judy will tell us what it is!

Of course I didn't know there were multiple places to park so I took the first area I saw and ended up in the fields instead of in the forest, thinking I had to cut through to get there.  Wisconsin's State Natural Areas usually don't have specified trails and it's acceptable to just wander around.

I don't regret starting my exploration in the "wrong" spot, the wet fields had things to discover, too.  I'm not the only one who has visited them, the deer obviously like to come there to get a drink.

Frogs were everywhere, hopping back and forth as I crossed through the grasses along the edge of the water.  Even after seeing them jump sometimes it was hard to pinpoint them, their camoflage works very well.

Another set of tracks looked too small to belong to a raccoon, maybe a porcupine?

Eventually I made my way over to the woods, where I broke through into the undergrowth to find a colony of what was probably Hispid Buttercup.

This is the mother my kids have to live with, how do they do it?  

I was at my most inventive, using the rubber boots I toted along as a spot to perch my Gorillapod!  Luckily I didn't need the boots, but I wanted them along in case I had to cross any watery spots.  From the buttercups I marched back towards the road and found the other parking area...and masses of Woodland Phlox.

I continued on through the blooms, keeping my eyes peeled for more delights.  The fragrance that wafted up as I walked through was nice but nothing else was in bloom yet and as I got closer to the river the only thing I discovered was that it's not too early for mosquitoes after all.  I kept up a good pace so I wouldn't get bitten, and the farther I got from the river the less there were.  And even though I was careful to tuck my pants in to my socks and check often for ticks I didn't encounter any of those pesky guys.  I've noticed I'm less likely to pick them up in really wet areas like this one.

No ticks on me!

At the parking lot for the Sugar River Park two gents were out fishing with the kids, one so young she was in the stroller.

When I asked how deep the river was the men didn't answer me (perhaps they thought I might stay and talk their ears off), but the youngster was eager to tell me he'd been busy catching snakes and frogs (worms on fishing poles tempt frogs as well as fish according to him).  He demonstrated his technique for me and showed off his prizes in their bucket.

This is the child my mother had to deal with.
 I climbed trees and caught frogs and snakes too.
I also put dresses on puppies and hid from Indians and bad guys in the woods.

Today I'm at home and all is quiet.  Cory is in bed with a cold, Katrina is gone for the weekend and Wayne is working a double shift again.  My parents stopped over and I made them some homemade vegetarian split pea soup with some paninis for lunch and Katrina is bringing home cupcakes tonight to have while we watch "Game of Thrones" and "Orphan Black".  Maybe I should go for a walk before the cupcake eating begins....

Me and my babies, May 2002 

Look at my kids 13 years ago, they really do grow up too quickly! Happy Mother's Day, Ladies!

Asters in the Lions Den

The Lion's Den - it's been on my "Wisconsin" list for awhile, and the new girl at work mentioned it last week.  When Wayne said "Let's go camping" this past weekend I booked us a site at Waubedonia Park not far from Port Washington on Lake Michigan's shoreline.

The park is small and only has about 10 sites and no dump station, but it does have electric and water at each site for only $22 night and as far as I know is the only non-Wisconsin State Park campground within driving distance to Port Washington.  The state parks book out far in advance on the weekends so unless you can get to one on a Thursday early evening you're out of luck in the area.

After setting up in the dark on Friday evening and pretty much heading straight to bed we got up on Saturday and drove to Lion's Den Gorge which is in Grafton, just south of Port Washington.

The land was private property until 2002, so it is a new addition for public hiking and is very popular.  We saw quite a few families with young children and folks with leashed dogs on this mostly flat, wide trail system that parallels Lake Michigan.

Besides sweeping views of Lake Michigan along the bluffline we also saw tons of asters in bloom, in a variety of colors and sizes.

If you want to head down to the beach the trail narrows a bit as it approaches the gorge, and there are 94 stairs involved in getting down there.

Once down on the "beach" there wasn't much to see.  Online reviews had stated you could see the Port Washington pier light from there, but all we saw was the power plant and a little boy clearing the way for the water to flow to Lake Michigan unimpeded.

So back up we went, and followed the loop back out to the parking lot.  We figured it was about 3 miles round trip, mostly in the sun so luckily it was only in the 70's.

Near the parking lot there is a trail that leads to a wetland area.

There were no birds in sight, but Wayne did spot a frog trying to hide from us in the duckweed.

From there we explored Port Washington a bit.  We haven't been there in at least 15 years and things weren't quite as I remembered!