Spring is Creeping In

Back in da Harbor, a shift has taken place.

The Isle Royale Queen IV is parked at her dock.  I can only gaze longingly at her because I will not make it out to the Rock this spring.  Can't win them all!

Another old friend is bobbing in the lake.  The bell buoy!  I missed his arrival by a day.  In the evenings, I hear only three sounds: the wind, the buoy and guess who else?  The peepers!

Yes, the sounds of spring are back, and I can feel that buzz in the air.  People are already  driving the Mandan and Brockway Mountain Drive.  Tiny buds are speckling the trees, turning the landscape hues of red, green and gold.  I even saw the first hepatica wildflowers in my yard!  All sorts of birds are swimming, flying, nesting and singing us songs.  Cheery indeed.

I was longing for some waterfall action.  Lots of my friends said they got out for waterfall tours.  Three days ago, I hiked up Manganese Falls and made you this video.  For some reason, Blogger would not let me pull it from youtube, so don't be afraid to click the link below!

Manganese Falls Spring Rage 2013

Did you get wet?

From there I hiked up the Mango Trail to Lake Manganese where I found the only bridge uprooted, flipped and flushing with water.  

West side of the broken planked bridge...

Call me stubborn (or crazy), but I was crossing that bridge.  Otherwise, I would have to go down the way I came up.   I pulled off my boots and socks, tied the laces together, slung my boots over my shoulder and rolled up my pant legs.  With a deep breath and a test of the chilly water, I slowly shimmied across the planks.  I knew I couldn't take either foot off for too long, or the force of the water would take me with it.  But I also couldn't tarry because that water was cold!

I found a happy medium and made is safely to the other side.  

East side of the broken planked bridge!

Never a dull moment, I tell you.

Yesterday, on a bike ride to practice for the Keweenaw Path, I pulled in to my trusty arbutus site to see if those fragrant little crawlers were blooming yet.  No such luck.  I'll try back next week.

Well, how 'bout them lakes?  Manganese is slightly frozen on the south side, Fanny Hooe is pretty much open and people throw their arms up in wonder when Medora will thaw.

Things are coming to life, despite today and tomorrow's light snow.  That Mother Nature, she's keeping us on our toes!

Oh, I almost forgot!  Here is the link to that kiting video.  I still laugh every time I watch it.

Snow Kiting on Lake Medora

Peepers, Road Ride and Firsts

My last post may have seemed a bit vague.  In a way, it was meant to.  “What are the adventures she had on the deer trails?” you wondered.  I wanted to wait for the video to upload, so you could hear for yourself.

One evening on one of my usual walks, I noticed the deer paths leading in the opposite direction from which I often travel.  The terrain was only ground foliage and low juniper bushes in a field of pine trees, so I easily meandered through.  Low and behold, what did I see 40 yards in?  A ridge jutting ten feet up in the air, stretching twenty feet wide.  “I am going to climb that!  It was put here just for me to find!”  

I noticed how mossy it was.  I mean furry with moss... like it was alive!  I introduced myself and walked around it before daring to tread upon its coat.  A quarter of my way around this rock, I noticed that it was indeed a ridge that sank into a valley behind where I first met it.  Wow.  I never knew that was there.

I slithered down into its marshy depths.  The spring peepers were so loud!  Oh, my goodness!  I have to go back and get my camera so I can take a video for my loyal blog readers!  So I did.  See what you make me do?  Here is that video.

Did you hear that bird at the end?  Gosh, I wish I could tell you what it was... do you know?  Anyway, it called one more time after the time you heard it on the video, and all the peepers quit peeping.  There I was, after half an hour of peeper bliss -- standing alone in silence!  I knew that meant it was time to leave the marsh.

I continued on to my usual spot on the beach.  I went to visit the ice caves from the winter, but in the last post I didn’t mention what they framed.  As I looked through the first cave, I saw a freighter right in the center, waaaaaaay off in the distance.  That’s why it didn’t show up in my picture, so I thought I’d spare you the details of my camera’s inadequateness.  Then I climbed to the party-sized cave, and guess who was in the center of that frame!?  A little otter swimming about.  Oh, what a sweet little thing.  Once again, the pictures did not turn out (hopefully I will get my camera fixed, so I can see what I’m taking pictures of!)

Pretty neat, eh?

Wednesday I went for a bike ride on M-26 along the shore of Lake Superior.  I don’t know of many road rides with scenery as captivating as that!  The sky was so sunny, and even the breeze was warm.  I was riding in shorts and short sleeves.  Allehlujah!   The ride was magical, and traffic was minimal (hence why I chance riding in the spring).  

Twice I had to stop and get off my bike because the shore boulders were calling me.  “Amanda,” they said, “come walk out onto me.  You will be standing right above the lake.  You know you want to.”  I didn’t need much convincing.  I slammed on my brakes from a full throttle pedal, and walked down to the “beach.”  Oh, sweet glory.  High on a boulder-ful ridge on the Big Lake in the sunshine.  I tell you.  It doesn’t get much better than that... at least for me!

Are you tired of reading yet?  Well, I’ll make the rest short.  Yesterday I experienced a series of “firsts.”  I saw and smelled my first patches of Trailing Arbutus since I have lived up here.  I’m kind of embarrassed to admit that it took me, um, five and a half years to find some, but I knelt down right in the mud and got a good nose full more than once.  It kind of smells like Gardenia.  Mmmmm.

Today I also saw my first Red Headed Woodpecker ever in real life!  I looked at it and memorized its colors and patterns and thought, hmm, I’ll have to check the bird book when I get home.  I guessed correctly about it being a woodpecker, but a Red Headed?  What a treat!

Last thing.  I also ate my first dandelion greens!  I ate them right off the ground, grit and all.  Mmm, I haven’t had those for a year!