Silver Creek Pathway, or maybe Ludington State Park?

It was an unusual Monday in mid-December for a couple reasons.  It was sunny and fairly warm, near 50 degrees, no snow on the ground, And Mike wanted to take a day off to go for a hike.  He decided we should go to Silver Creek Pathway north of Luther in Michigan.  This is about a two-hour drive from home.

We have hiked this trail many times but never in winter.  The Silver Creek Pathway is located in the Pere Marquette Forest along the Pine River near Luther Michigan, the trail consists of one 4-mile loop that extends between two State Forest Campground, Silver Creek Campground and Lincoln Bridge Campground, giving you picturesque views of both sides of the Pine River.

Since there was no snow, I wore my tennis shoes of course.  That is what I wear of most of the time if I’m hiking in Michigan or in Big Bend National Park Texas or just going to the grocery store. It was a beautiful sunny day, and we were enjoying the two-hour drive north to the trail.

As we go farther north there was snow alongside the road. Maybe it was just from being plowed, the snow piles were in the shade.  As we turned off the main road there was snow in the fields like in this picture below.

Then the roads started looking like this!

We made it to the campground entrance where the trailhead is located. It wasn’t plowed and it was covered in several inches of snow. 

So, change in plans.  We decided on Ludington State Park for our walk.  It is right at Lake Michigan, and it is about 57 miles west of Silver Creek Pathway.  The roads cleared up and there was no more snow to be seen.  We stopped at the Dublin General store in Wellston along the way.

We made it to Ludington State Park and had a great walk.  First a walk on the Lost Lake Trail.

This is Hamlin Lake

  

Yes, that is ice on the water.

If you look closely, you can see one of the bridges we were on.

After the Lost Lake trail, which is about 2.5 miles, we talked about heading home and stopping off to eat somewhere.  We went over to the dam, between Hamlin Lake and the Big Sable River. We decided it was too nice of a day to sit in a restaurant and so took another walk along the river.

 

A great day and a fun adventure in mid-December!

Fall Color at Ludington State Park

2011 10 24  It turned into a beautiful sunny day after a night of late October thunderstorms.  Temps in the mid 50's, blue sky.  Marie and I went to one of my most favorite trails, Island Trail with Lost Lake Trail at Ludington State Park just north of Ludington, Michigan.

We checked out some interesting rocks under the shallow waters of Hamlin Lake (this man made lake originated during the logging era when lumbermen dammed the Big Sable River to make an enormous holding pond for trees felled upstream).

                                   Maybe a Pike?

While on Bing maps online I saw one large interdunal wetland near the trail we would be walking on.  We ended up taking a side trip to find it. 

It was big, how big, well more like a small lake.  There were cattails, and lily pads, this place always has water, it doesn't dry up.  And I found Gerardia blooming, lots of it!  This was a very special place, quiet and remote.

On our way out of the park we just had to stop and check out some more wet areas. 

These wet areas dry up, and we found there wasn't much water here but lots of mud.  As soon as I started looking around I found just one Kalm's (Brook) Lobelia blooming! 

Just one flower.

We moved on to a place where last summer we had seen several Bladderwort. 
Remember the Horned Bladderwort from July 2010?

This is the land of Horned Bladderwort.

I was just saying to Marie, we were walking on future bladderwort when I looked down and found the Last of the Summer's -  Horned Bladderwort!! 

            There was just the one. 

What a great day!