Hidden natural springs in Michigan

Recently my brother Chuck showed us some hidden springs he found north of Ludington, Michigan.  It was a long day but fun, and beautiful weather. 

It was difficult to capture this wondrous discovery in a photo, it just looks like mud.  There was water "springing" out of the side of this ravine in several places!

Our group consisted of three sisters, one brother, and one brother-in-law, we drove north for about an hour, then west for 20 minutes, followed a two-track, then another two-track, then walked down from a field through a wooded hillside into a beautiful ravine.

Cool place, but since this is "Chuck's Place" I won't give away the exact location.  I'm not sure I could actually find it again on my own anyway.
We saw all sorts of interesting things, fungi, liverwort, Beechdrops, trees, water...

  

 

  

Beechdrops (Epifagus virginiana) Broomrape family, with a bumble bee.





This plant is parasitic on beech trees ("Epifagus" translates to "upon the beech").  Note the lack of leaves. The dried stems of beechdrops can often be found through the winter.

This was a fun place and I'd like to visit again someday, maybe in the spring.

Our group also visited Nordhouse Lake which is in the Nordhouse Dunes Wilderness Area, a 3,450 acre listed

wilderness area within the Manistee National Forest. It is located north of Ludington Michigan and is best known for its 4 miles of undeveloped Lake Michigan shoreline.

 Nordhouse Lake

 Buttonbush





We walked all the way around Nordhouse Lake.  We also went out to lunch and visited some of Chuck's property near here.  A fun day.

Cabin Adventure- Day 1

October 27, 28, 29 Mike took a couple days off from work so we could enjoy our anniversary with a trip to Fern Dog's cabin.  The weather was changing almost constantly, with rain one minute then sunshine the next.
We headed up US 31 turning off on M-120 to go northeast, there was still beautiful autumn color in the trees.

We saw the sign for Pines Point (M-120 and west on Garfield Rd. to south 168th Ave.) and decided it was a good time to revisit this place.  It is beautiful here, right along the White River.
Pines Point is in the Manistee National Forest and there is a fee to visit.  You will find that the canoe/kayak is a walk-in landing. This site is popular for tubing on the White River during the summer, with a half-hour float around the peninsula located in the picnic area. It is quiet and secluded, surrounded by towering white pine.

Tilly got out of the car to stretch her legs and have a sniff here and there.  She likes going for car rides, but it is getting very hard for her to get in and out of the car.  We have to put the front seat all the way forward then she can get her front paws up on the floor of the backseat area.  Usually she needs a boost with her rear half.  Not sure how many more trips she will be with us.
 
Mike wanted a different way to go north, so checking my Michigan County Atlas by Dave Brown, I saw the Walkinshaw Wetlands were just a bit north from here, so that's where we went.  I don't know much about this place.  Here is some info about Walkinshaw Wetlands.  It is a 1,000 acre expanse of marsh and wet meadows.  America's third largest bird the Sandhill Crane, known for its leaping displays in the spring mating season, nest here in the Walkinshaw Wetlands, part of the Manistee National Forest, southeast of Walkerville.

Next stop Green Cottage Access point on the Pere Marquette River, also in the Manistee National Forest.  This site has canoe access, a boat launch, parking, toilets, angler walk-in fishing.  And this green cottage.  Nearest intersection is Peacock Rd. and 72nd St., this is just a few miles southwest of Baldwin.

Pere Marquette River
After this we bumped over to Baldwin and stopped in at the US Forest Service Ranger Station.  This is a great places to stop for info and maps, I even bought three new nature books.

Along M 37, at some point we turned west again and drove through the towns of Irons, Dublin, and Wellston.  Dublin General Store located at 18372 Hoxeyville Rd Wellston, MI 49689 is a favorite stop, they have tons of good stuff, we got some beef jerky.  They have 50 varieties of delicious home cured jerky. 

We went north on Synder Rd. and Mike saw Stronach Dam Rd. and thought it looked interesting, so we followed this to the east and it dead ended at Consumer Energy property with this sign.

So we all bailed out of the car for more exploration to find... the Pine River.  Checking the map later I realized we were just south of the Cooley Bridge on M-55, huh.

What a cool little stop that turned out to be!  I found 6 different kinds of wildflowers blooming, Brown-eyed Susan, Spotted Knapweed, goldenrod, asters, Bouncing Bet, and Red Clover.
We finished our drive arriving at the cabin,

made a fire in the woodstove, went for a walk, ate good stuff, relaxed.  Ah.

Up North

2011 06 10,11,12  A visit to the Manistee River Trail

Manistee River

                                   Slagle Creek Trail Bridge


Ferns

  

Indian Paintbrush (Castilleja coccinea)

         White Moth?  Look at the fringe on its wings.

                              Along the Manistee River Trail

The next two pictures are from somewhere deep in the Manistee National Forest

                


 Next we drove south on M 37 to Loda Lake National Wildflower Sanctuary.

 Loda Lake is the only Wildflower sanctuary in the National Forest System, a project supported both financially and botanically by the Federated Garden Clubs of Michigan for over seventy years.


Loda Lake is an area that includes a small spring-fed lake, a bog-like wetland area, a creek and riparian marshy areas, oak forest, pine plantations, and an old farm site.


Right off we found gorgeous Pitcher Plants!

 Nice group of Pitcher Plants at Loda Lake            
These are the leaves of the Pitcher Plant.  Insects fall into this pitcher then decompose and the plants absorb the nutrients of the insect.

This is the carnivorous sundew plant. All carnivorous sundew plants  have a gel like substance at the tips of the tentacles that cover the leaves. This gel is a sticky substance that captures the insects that fly too near the plant. The plant can then eat it.

We left Loda Lake going south on US 37 toward Newaygo stopping at Coolbough Natural Areas, their webite http://www.brookstownship.org/cool.html .

 The trails can be a bit confusing here but there are many things to see. 

Pond at the Coolbough Natural Areas

This is a Wood Sower Gall - home to a group of developing Cynipid Wasps.