2015 January Walks and Adventures

Happy New Year, tomorrow is March 1st - 2015!  It has been winter here in Michigan for a long time, cold and snowy.  Our computer is in a very cold room of the house so I don't do much blogging this time of year but here are a few adventures from January.
Marie and I had to wait until the middle of January to get together because of the weather and road conditions. First outing of the year Rycenga Park located in both Spring Lake Township and Fruitport Township along Hemlock Road. We walked at Coast Guard Park that same day.

January 23rd we went all the way to Hudsonville Nature Center in Hudsonville Michigan.  

 That same day we stopped at Hager Park, an Ottawa County Park.

We tried to visit a few new parks but they were snowed shut or closed for the winter.
The end of January we walked at Crockery Creek Natural Area in Ottawa County.

 No sunshine but we came to a piece of farm equipment that we hadn't noticed before.  I'm not sure what it was used for.

So that was January, no wildflowers.  And this is what it usually looked like when I would back the car out of the garage.  

Into February things didn't change much, except it got colder.  Several mornings the temperature was well below zero (Fahrenheit).  But mid February held a warm added adventure?!  
But first my sister Marie and I got out early in the month to Hoffmaster State Park.

 We walked the north end of the park first.  That's Lake Michigan in the picture below, a whole bunch of white and gray.  Still fun to see and no crowds!

 We walked the very southern end of the park and saw this Pileated woodpecker far off in a tree.  We had a nice walk, it's always good to get outside if you can. 

 In the next post, which won't be out until March I'll fill you in on the rest of February and the added adventure.  And it will include a few blooming wildflowers!   
 

North Ottawa Dunes

December 12 2011
North Ottawa Dunes,  513 acres, an Ottawa County park. 
For more info on this park check out this link,
(http://www.co.ottawa.mi.us/ParksVI/Parks/dunes.htm)


We parked at the entrance of Ferrysburg’s Coast Guard Park (18161 North Shore Road Ferrysburg Michigan)  here you will find signs marking the North Ottawa Dunes trail.  No bikes, no horses, yes to dogs on a leash and in the control of the owner.  It was a beautiful December day, with blue sky and no snow.

We were out 4 1/2 hours and covered about 4 miles, walking as far as

P.J. Hoffmaster State Park. The property features tremendous topography with an elevation change of 185 feet in the parabolic dune formations. Eight distinct dunes in the rugged landscape exceed 750 feet in height.

   Not wildflowers but nice to look at.

 We even found a Field Pansy blooming!  It was a small flower so I took a photo through Marie's hand lens.

                                   Coast Guard Park from the entrance

Plenty of room to roam.