Happy Boots and Hepatica Hill - Michigan Wildflower Adventure

 2026 April 9 Thursday

You won’t find Happy Boots on a map.  Marie and I made up that name for a place in Allegan County,  many years ago.  It is a delightful swampy woodland with wildflowers! 

Here are a few things we saw on this day in April. 

Marsh Marigold

Spring Beauty

Anemone 

Marsh Marigold

Skunk Cabbage

Trout Lily

Sand Creek at Happy Boots

We also visited Hepatica Hill. Mark Cassino told me about this place several years ago.  It is a south facing hill along the Kalamazoo River.  In the spring this hill is brown and muddy except for the burst of purple Hepatica! 

My favorite flower! 

We also saw a dragonfly, and a few butterflies.  

Hepatica Hill

Kalamazoo River

Last week, April 8th, I also got to walk with my other fun sister, Sugar. We started at Nunica Junction Trail Head, part of the North Bank Trail.  We headed east to the trestle bridge over Crockery Creek.  It is a two mile walk, round trip.  It was a wet, 35 degree day. Yet it was nice to be outside for a walk especially with my sister.

We have had a lot of rain, so we went to see how high the water was in Crockery Creek. 

Crockery Creek near Nunica

Today is April 14th, Betsy (my fun daughter) and I went to Riverside Park today to see if we could get to the wildflower trail.  Every route was flooded but you could make it with a boat. We did see a few pretty flowers!

I hope you enjoy these adventures, I certainly did!

Hepatica April 3 2019

 Our first stop on Wednesday April 3, 2019  was Schutmaat Park on the Rabbit River in Hamilton, Michigan. 

Our second stop was New Richmond Bridge Park on the Kalamazoo River located at the historic village of New Richmond  -  Allegan County, Michigan.

 

 
Our third stop was our very own Happy Boots. 

 

 We saw Skunk Cabbage.

 Marsh Marigold Buds

 

And a surprise, Golden Saxifrage!  We have found it here before but not this early in the year.

We saved our special Hepatica Hill for last, hoping that the sunny day would warm the Hepatica and tempt them to bloom.  They were blooming!  What a sight to see.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

The First Hepatica March 18 2019

We visited Hepatica Hill in Allegan County on Monday, March 18 2019.
It was 39 degrees, the ground was snow covered in places.
This south facing hill along the Kalamazoo River was just plain brown. 

We saw green and purple hepatica leaves from last spring, and we found a few new tiny buds.  We took our time walking here, looking closely for an early glimpse of spring...

It was a nice enough day, cool with sunshine and blue sky.  We are just too early to find this favorite spring ephemeral blooming, we weren't expecting anything to be blooming yet.

Then Marie calls out, hmm, what did she see?  She had found it!  The one and only Round Lobed Hepatica blooming on this day!  It was nestled in a bed of green moss, so perfect!  Unbelievable!   

Thanks again to Mark Cassino for sharing this special hill with us.

     Kalamazoo River

We also saw....

 

 
We stopped at Happy Boots to take a peek at Skunk Cabbage.

 

   Happy Boots, Happy Spring

Next time a different kind of adventure from our trip to Moab, Utah!