Happy Boots

April 25 2011 We got an early start with Marie arriving at 7 a.m., we were on the road at 7:10.  Driving all the way to Warner Sanctuary in Barry County Michigan.  Gas/gallon $4.14.  The first and last time we visit this sanctuary was in January of this year.


It was 50 degrees and 8:52 when we parked at the Warner parking area off Erway.  It was also raining lightly.  We didn't see much blooming here, Spring hadn't sprung here just yet.  We walked for three hours, all the way to Hart Road then turned around and walked back.  Marie did find her binoculars case that she had accidentally left here last time.

Here is Warner Sanctuary.

                                                                           Glass Pond

Trail at Warner Sanctuary

   Nice Group of Skunk Cabbage, easy to see no circles needed.

                                              Foot Bridge over Glass Creek

                              You want to wear boots at Warner
 Located in an area of glacial moraines, this sanctuary contains rounded ridges, seasonally flooded ponds, a stream, and lake. Most of the 108 acres is wooded and contains old-growth beech, oak and tulip trees. Large evergreens provide additional woodland habitat. The sanctuary is botanically quite diverse and includes a number of threatened and endangered plants. The sanctuary is adjacent to the Barry State Game Area Global Important Bird Area and is home to Cerulean Warblers.  This is from http://www.michiganaudubon.org/conservation/sanctuaries/index.html/title/ronald-h-warner-sanctuary.

                                    Old bridge over Glass Creek

Glass Creek

After Warner we went west into Allegan County to our favorite intersection, M-40,M-89.  Ahh nice wet woods. 

Happy boots

We could see the Marsh Marigold before we got out of the car!  Wow.

Marsh Marigold

Spring Beauty

Hispid Buttercup (Ranunculus hispidus) If I identified this one wrong let me know.

False Rue Anemone

So this was great, wildflowers blooming finally.  We saw trillium here but it had only a bud.  One more stop before home, 133rd Avenue still in Allegan County.  Here we found many spring wildflowers blooming.

White Trout Lily

Yellow Trout Lily

                                                    Yellow Violet

                                                     Spring Cress

Large-Flowered Trillium

Squirrel Corn

Dutchman's Breeches

                                                     Spring Beauty

                                               Round-lobed Hepatica                  

We left here happy, it was a good day.

133rd Avenune train bridge built in 1908

Through the Holland tunnel to home.

ROAD TRIP!

 January 3, 2011
The snow has melted so the roads are clear and not slippery,  today we will go for a road trip!  Marie did the research and found some old bridges to check out and two Michigan Audubon sanctuaries.
Sounds like fun!

            On the road we go, heading east of Martin, Michigan.

                    Portal View of the 2nd Street Bridge (North)
This bridge is camelback style built in 1926 over the Gun River in Allegan County, Michigan.  For information on historic bridges in the US and Canada visit this interesting website. http://www.historicbridges.org/index.htm

    Some sun and blue skies, temperature around 24 degrees.

The first sanctuary we visited, Ronald Warner, had a well marked trail that took us through forests and wetlands.  Below is Glass Creek with a footbridge and boardwalks in the marshy places.  Very nice, maybe we will come here in the spring.

Just down the road a mile or so is the Robert and Mildred Otis Sanctuary.  The Michigan Audubon has a nice website with lots of information.  This should take you to the page to find sanctuaries to visit.  http://www.michiganaudubon.org/conservation/sanctuaries

If you are member of Michigan Audubon Society you may launch a canoe or kayak here on the Glass Creek, a wild tributary of the Thornapple-Grand River Watershed.  You need not be a member to stroll about the sanctuaries.

That's the Otis farmhouse, barn, and tile silo, looking back from Glass Creek.

We wandered at bit on our way home, through Dorr, and North Dorr, along here we stopped at the Dorr Township library, a friendly place.  Then right on across a tri-county confluence, the counties of Allegan, Kent, and Ottawa. 

So this day we really had an adventure and road trip, it was the first time we had been to these sanctuaries.  Unfortunately the snow started when we were south of Grand Haven and Marie had to drive back on slippery roads to Montague.  Thanks Marie for your excellent driving skills(You drove ~ 222 miles)!