Thursday, September 8, 2011

Newaygo

July 25 2011 First stop Brooks Township Hall for info.  We were given helpful information and some maps, we are going to check out Newaygo Coastal Plain Marsh.


Along the way we find High Rollaway Roadside Park, it is situated high above the Muskegon River. 
             234 steps down to the river.


      Muskegon River at High Rollaway Roadside Park


                  A lovely Crown Vetch


There was this six-legged spider on a log near the river.  Is it a Wolf spider?


There was also a Liverwort, it was bigger than the Liverwort we saw at Gale's Pond.

Next we drove to Oak Avenue, a dirt two-track, then west onto E 88th Street.  At this intersection is an Indian cemetery with a sign "Surrerar" also known as Little Prairie Cemetery.
We continued west on E 88th until we came to a more open area we thought would be the Newaygo Coastal Plain Marsh.  Well compared to what we saw on Bing maps this place was grown-in with tall, thick shrubs and trees.  No access here.  We back tracked  to another two-track going north, we pulled onto the grassy verge and parked.  In a booklet this place is called the Coastal Plain Marsh - 88th Street Wetland Restoration Area.
We bushwhacked our way to the edge of the "marsh".  No visible sign of water but the ground was damp, with many rushes and sedges growing there.  After an hour here, it was 80 degrees, we had a cool drink and sandwich in the van.


 East on 88th Street the way we came,  stopping at the


    "Prairie in the Manistee National Forest"


On to the "DNR Forest Area along the Muskegon River" at the end of 72nd Avenue off Thornapple Avenue.  This trail leads you through the woods to the river.

              Indian Pipe
After walking here we drove back to Thornapple Avenue to a boat launch, we just pulled through, we didn't get out of the car.  Then off we went east past the Croton Dam then west again to 72nd Street and now we are north of the Muskegon River.  Here we visit the south end of Karner Blue Nature Sanctuary owned by the Michigan Nature Association.
The prairie was quite dry, not much blooming.

We did find Horsemint still blooming and
Katydids jumping.
In the woods, along the edge of the field, was Harebell blooming.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Another fantastic trip! West Michigan is amazing, too. If these aren't the best photos out there, I'll eat my hat. Thanks for all your work. M :)

Anonymous said...

BTW, the time stamp on this comment is way off! It's 4:22 PM, not 11:22 AM...

Dave said...

We are sure loving your blog , Indian pipe , liverwort are great to get images of. I just found out that horsemint is a bee balm family (monarda). Many people think that Crown Vetch is a weed but it is very beautiful as your photo shows. thanks

Anna said...

So, How big exactly is that 6 legged spider???!

Plants Amaze Me said...

Marie,
yes it was another great day to check out these places, now we know what is there first hand.
Not sure about that time stamp, the website is probably in a different time zone than us.
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flowerdave, I'm so glad you are enjoying the blog! Nature is very interesting, there are so many things to see. It's fun.
Crown Vetch is beautiful but yes it's just a weed.
And this is the first year I have noticed Liverwort.
Horsemint and Bergamot both in the Bee Balm family, my favorite field guide is "Wildflowers in the Field and Forest" by Steven Clemants.
Thanks for stopping by my blog!

See flowerdaves blog at http://flowerdave.blogspot.com/
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Anna, my new Granddog, see Anna at http://sabkha.blogspot.com/
-that spider was about 4-5 inches long. It had 6 and 1/4 legs. It was creepy taking its picture, I thought it might jump at me! I really don't like spiders.