Clearing Trail

Remember a couple weeks back when I mentioned the new/old hiking trail we're reopening on the museum and nature center grounds where I work? Yesterday, Andy, I, Andy's aunt and cousin, spent our Saturday afternoon clearing the end of the trail to the scenic overlook where the trail will now end. Initially, the trail went past the scenic overlook and into a federally designated wilderness, but for maintenance reasons (aka, you can't use chainsaws in a federal wilderness), we're ending the trail before we hit the wilderness border.

The trail is about a mile, maybe a mile and a quarter, long and the first half had been cleared out in March. Because the trail's been unused for nearly 15 years, there's all sorts of undergrowth that needs to snipped away from the trail, not to mention a slew of fallen trees (from a windstorm and a forest fire) that need to chainsawed off the path. Believe it or not, the picture below is of the cleared path: 

There might be a little work to do yet . . . .

I always get swamping duty because I can't be trusted with chainsaws and I actually really enjoy grabbing bits of charred tree truck and hurling them off the trail.  There's such visceral satisfaction in taking a hiking path that's all tangled up with deadfall and undergrowth and making it passable. 

 

No matter what the path looks like getting there, there's always one heck of a view at the end of the path.

 

It's still too early for wildflowers to be popping out, so I contented myself with taking some pictures of lichen.

As we stomped back through the woods, chainsaws on our shoulders, backpacks filled with empty waterbottles and cookie bags, we found a moose hiding out in the brush. Can you spot her?

Soon Andy and I will be clearing another trail, so to speak. We leave tomorrow to go visit my brother in southwestern Michigan. It's a 15-hour drive (one way) and I'm already having nightmares about crossing the five-mile long Mackinaw Bridge. Still, I'm excited to see a new part of the country (the only time I've been in Michigan's lower peninsula was to change planes in Detroit) and catch up with my brother.

I'll be popping in and out during the week as time allows and I have a guest post or two for you to enjoy during my absence. Have a great week!
 

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Late Winter Snapshots: The Week That Was

It's been one of those weeks. Despite have more than enough to keep me occupied, I've managed to do the bare minimum. Why? Who knows? Somewhere, deep down, that procrastinator inside me was reawakened and I suddenly felt very, very sleepy.  It was an odd enough week anyway; both of us getting over a cold and a different work schedule for Andy.

But here are some snapshots from what we did do this week. 

On Thursday, we trekked back to "ye olde fishing hole." The forecast said it would be calm, overcast, and warm. Instead it was sunny and warm (not going to argue with that), but so windy that our footprints drifted in within an hour. We spent some time on the shore, hiding from the wind in front of campfire, but after catching one fish on a tip-up and not having any action while jigging, we packed it up pretty early in the afternoon.

 

I may not have gotten a great amount of work done this week, but yesterday I took a field trip out to one of the local maple stands for an article I'm working on about maple syrup. While freelance writing is often a rather unglamorous profession -lots of phone interviews and worrying about illustrations - I do love when a piece involves a field trip. The maple syrup operation I visited has 18,000 taps and an intricate vacuum system (pictured above) for getting the sap to their sugar house. Each year they produced about 500 gallons of pure maple syrup. (Wowzers!) With temperatures creeping up into the 40s (and above!) this coming week, the sugar run should be upon us very soon.

This is Elsie. My parents are dogsitting her and because I'm hanging out at home this weekend to get my annual fix of the Minnesota Boys State High School tournament, I'm the dogsitting assistant. Elsie is pretty sweet, but she's none too sure how about all of us.  Hopefully she'll settle down soon and get some sleep!

In other news, I turn 27 today. Yikes, where did that year go?! 

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Wednesday: The Vlog Edition . . . Burn Baby burn

If Mohammad won't come to the mountain . . . The snowbanks aren't going anywhere, so Andy proposed we have a bonfire on Friday evening to dispose of some of the brush he's cut during the winter months around the cabin and some of the snowbank. While this was a perfectly honorable task, things got out of hand quickly and yet another "you know you're a redneck when . . ." post was born.


What did Andy say at the end of that video? He said "This is really going to woof." You'll see what he means. . . .



I apologize for the poor video quality. This videographer was a little too close to the burn pile.

But all's well that ends well. Right? Right?

(Please don't repeat this at home. In fact, I would prefer not to have this repeated at my home either.)

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Walking the Line

They say that every day you should do something that scares you. Because I am scared of a lot of things and generally wimpier than I like to admit, I find this pretty easy advice to follow. Still, some days offer especially scary challenges. Take last Thursday for example.

A good friend is working at a nearby environmental learning center and she offered to take a group of girls for a day of fun at the center. She promised visits to Chickadee Landing where chickadees eat seeds out of your hand and off of the top of your hat; a chance to meet the center's owls and other animals; rock climbing; the center's skylab; and, of course, the infamous ropes course.

Because I was a homeschooled jungle freak, I didn't go on the epic multi-night field trip that all fifth graders at the local public school make to the center. While I am not lamenting my homeschooled-ness, I am saying that when I was ten years old is when I should have overcome my fears of the rope course. (In all honesty I had a chance to do the ropes course when I was fourteen and attended an open house at the center and I totally wimped out.)

So on Thursday I was a 25-year-old scared of the ropes course.

Luckily, the other three girls went ahead of me, I was feel pretty confident as I watched them go around the course, which consists of five segments: a suspension bridge, a single wire with two wire rails, two parallel logs, a single wire, and a single log. Then they got to the end of the course - a zipline which transports you (very quickly) back to the course's starting platform.

Hmm. . . . Not feeling quite so confident now.

Still, I gamely strapped myself in.

It started out just fine.

Ireland, 2005

As you can see, bridges suspended at absurdly high heights do not scare me. (This is the Carrick-a-rede, which is about 600 ft above the ocean below.)

And two parallel logs? Not too bad.

 

Then we reached the single wire. This is where I wimped out before. But this time I was determined. I set out, cursing both the springiness and length of the wire and focusing on getting one foot in front of the next. 

And I made it! Maybe not raring to go at it again, but pleased to have proven to myself that I can walk the line if need be.

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