First "flowering" wildflower of 2012!

February 27 2012 This post is going to be out of sequence but it was a special day!  Let's at least go through the day in order.

We went south to Laketown Township Beach Park, this is about half way between Holland and Saugatuck, Michigan.  We were going to check out Halfway Creek (at least that is the name in given in the Michigan County Atlas by David M. Brown) which is about a quarter mile south of the park along the beach.

     Stairs at Laketown Twp Beach Park

Lake Michigan

 Halfway Creek meets Lake Michigan

            Halfway Creek
There were no rocks, well OK, we found three rocks, that's it.  The creek was cool and we crossed it easily, having our boots on and timing the waves.  There are houses here.  The wind was blowing.  There was quite a roar from Lake Michigan.

           Stairs at Laketown Twp. Beach Park


It was early when we got back to the car, we decided to go to Allegan Forest, a favorite place of ours.  First we wandered over to 133rd Ave. went under the train bridge, looking for very early signs of wildflowers, maybe Marsh Marigold.  Not much here, some green coming up.

    133rd Ave in Allegan County


On we go, and this is the best part.  We went to Happy Boots corner!  Marie stayed in the car to snack.  I jumped out with my camera, grinning ear to ear.  This place is just wet woods with a ditch along the road, so what's the big deal.  Well, the big deal is the Eastern Skunk Cabbage were up and I think I can say they were blooming.

Ok so you can barely see inside, not the best shot but this is when I looked up and saw a Michigan State Police car pulled up next to Marie's car.  OH OH!  She told him I was looking for wildflowers, I'm glad she didn't tell him this was Happy Boots corner or I might not be here to tell this tale.  Ha ha.

                 Not yet flowering

              Maybe flowering

                 Yeah just a little bit flowering?

             Something is growing here at Happy Boots Corner.

    New growth, this will be a wildflower soon.

    Back road in Allegan County. 
We checked on the dried stalks of the American Columbo in the Allegan Forest.  We followed 58th Street north, through the tunnel

and on up into the city of Holland, stopping by at Herrick District Library. 


That was our day, out of chronological sequence but fun all the same.

Laketown Township, Allegan County, Michigan 2010 08 23

Another adventure day with my sister, finally!  It was a long week, and our wildflowering trips are necessary for both of us.  Really. 

So where to go this week?  We decided on Laketown Township, just south of Holland Michigan.  We stopped and got info from the township hall, great maps, we like maps.

Farview Nature Park  87 acres, with a large pond, walking trails, boardwalks, picnic area, very nice.  

Nodding Ladies' Tresses

Round-leaved Sundew (right - those leaves are round)

  

So the trail here at Farview went through some interesting places - wet, wooded, mossy places.  This is a good place for a walk.
Next we headed over to Huyser Farm Park and Nature Preserve.  We picked some blueberries here as we walked through the field of blueberry bushes, yum.  Then over a small sandy creek to some remnants of farm buildings with what we think may be an American Chestnut tree. We could be wrong.

                                                American Chestnut ?

  Pond at Huyser Farm

 

Orange Hawkweed


After Huyser we drove by Gilligan Lake which does have public access and paved parking along the road, and Kelly Lake which has public access limited to foot traffic but we didn't see a good spot to pull off the road.


We also stopped at Wolters Woods 34 acres, a community park with a playground including a merry-go- round, hiking/skiing trails, picnic area.

There are many more parks in this township, Shore Acres, Sanctuary Woods, Laketown Beach, and Saugatuck Dunes State Park.