Today, on Paulie’s 3rd birthday, I had an extraordinary hike with extraordinary friends and they all send him their love and birthday wishes. Against a wonderful stone wall, other hikers had left their “found” hiking sticks for others to use. It feels so good to be so connected to other hikers! I was drawn to… Continue reading

A four miler with rocky trails, muddy trails, trails full of water. All in great Spring weather, and with great high sprits among us. Good dog Sukee had so many water holes to swim in and drink from. In a swampy area, we saw a yellow jelly fungus that we’d never seen before. We ate… Continue reading

This time of year all of our hikes seem focused on the spring ephemerals. So the wet woodlands of the Dubuque forest is yet another promising place to be on a Thursday. We saw the Pad Orchid putting up a bud, Wood Sorrel, dainty white GoldThread just blooming, native Honeysuckle with its twin blossoms, Toothwort… Continue reading

It just doesn’t get better than our day today. Our friendship is such a treasure, and after 7 years of “Thursday hiking” together, it just keeps on getting more and more wonderful. Here are a few moments captured today. After the hike we went to Ashfield’s Country Pie Pizza where we ate outside on the… Continue reading

We go to Bear Swamp second week of May because the wildflowers will be wonderful. And they were. They will be wonderful for another week so come on up and I’ll take you there. In order (and I didn’t even include everything): Marsh Marigold, Beech fern, native honeysuckle, first snake we’ve seen this year. bryophyte,… Continue reading

It was a rainy morning, but was quite wonderful to be out hiking. The trail was generally soggy, and fun (of course). Here are some photos of the terrain, and of some of the hikers. This hike features a steep and beautiful waterfall. It’s fun to climb up to where it begins. Once at the… Continue reading

First, here come the Spring ephemerals (and a few non-epemerals). In order they are: Ostrich fern (emerging), Sessile Bellwort (or”Wild Oats”), Sensitive Fern (with red stem), Hobblebush Viburnum, Dwarf Ginseng, Round leaved yellow violet, Rock Polypody, Northern white violet, raindrops on a spider web, Carolina Spring Beauty, and, of course, red Trillium. Continue reading