Wandering Around Ellis Lake

Ellis Lake is an area I used to go pretty often but that I haven't been to in almost three years. I don't know why I haven't, either; I guess I just have been more likely to wander closer to home. It's about a 15 minute bike ride, which isn't bad by any means, but I guess I just haven't felt like making it.

Ellis Lake itself is a relatively small lake (by Michgan standards), but surrounding it are a network of small streams connecting other, smaller lakes/ponds. There is also a network of trails, many of which are traveled mainly by folks on horses (no horse tracks today though—some deer and shoe'd-human tracks on the main trail). The forest is mostly a good mix of hardwoods—some areas seem to be oak dominated while others maple, but with many ashes, ironwoods, aspens, white pines, and near the wet areas cedars, hemlocks and birches. Today I wanted to check out the state of the cattails, and I know there are a ton on one of the smaller lakes, so Ellis Lake it was, after almost three years.

Right next to the spot where I dropped my bike and removed my bike shoes I spotted a little container under a log. If you're familiar with what it is it's probably a pretty common sight for you:

I don't geocache but I think it's a pretty decent hobby for those that do. And a cool spot.

So then I moved down the trail. Actually, I didn't move down it for long; it always ran right into some water/soft ground, but it looks like nobody had been down this particular trail for a long time (but then I found a hair tie, so clearly someone had been down it). It was completely covered in leaves and, in fact, I didn't even find the path I was looking for initially. I found a deer trail and followed that for a little while, saw some deer tracks, what I'm pretty sure was a coyote track, and a hole of some ground dwelling animal with some tiny scats nearby—about 1.5-2 in wide, but I'm not sure what made it.

I was kind of distracted and wasn't really in the moment and scared up some deer, about five. The must not have been very scared, though, because they only ran a few hundred feet. About five minutes later I scared them again and I only saw their white butts in the distance as they ran further away this time.

I was pretty distracted today and just pretty much tromped through the woods. After I following the shore for a while I came to a property line and then accidentally came to the trail I was initially looking for but couldn't find. It was then that I decided to look for and old campsite of mine which I must have stayed at in ... September of 2008?

I was a bit surprised that I found it so easily and for some reason it made me happy. Maybe it's just something about reacquainting with an old place.

You can see some charcoal from a past fire, and somewhere off to the left there is still a small pile of firewood. I feel like going back here sometime soon.

Perhaps difficult to see in the picture, but a deer trail went right through my old camp! I can't remember for sure whether or not I noticed this when I camped there. If you have a good eye maybe you can see it.

On the ground nearby I found some signs of beavers in the area, and then something strange: a pin cherry! It was a single cherry, just the fruit and without the stem, and I don't know how it got there. I looked for a few minutes but there were definitely no cherry trees in the immediately surrounding area.

Some beaver chews:

This one is my favorite, because as you'll see in the next picture ...

somehow this white oak is still alive!

And then, of course, what I came for: the cattails.

I came to collect some of the pollen. I've never gathered pollen before so I'm not totally sure whether or not what I got was even the right stuff, but I'll try it out. I think maybe I should have went a week earlier but I'm not sure yet.

Thoughts of the Day
Holy crap it was hot today. I'm not sure what the temp was but it was hot—a good day to be shirtless in the forest. I actually seemed to be sweating less while riding my bike, presumably because the movement of the air produced a bit of a breeze (or, conversely, I sweat just as much/more and it simply evaporated faster). Either way, for my whole walk I was pretty much covered in a layer of sweat which wasn't actually that miserable. I don't usually ride my bike shirtless and I have no idea why. So much better when it's hot.

"This would make a good blog post." I kind of decided earlier in the day that I was going to make this blog so it kept going through my mind. It's one of those cliche and cheesy things people occasionally make fun of on the internet, but it's not totally without reason I don't think. Like I said somewhere else already, I think it's natural to want to share our experiences with other people; since I don't get to see my more woodsy friends as often as I'd like to I feel like I need to make woodsy friends on the internet.

Still, I feel like this is something I need to get over, and the sooner the better. I have a lot of trouble "getting out of my head and into my body" already, so I need my walks to be therapy in a way. And I found that I wasn't paying attention to what was going on around me either: I was tromping around a lot louder than I usually do, was barely hearing the birds, and wasn't seeing frogs until I almost stepped on them. I can't go out with the intent of making a cool blog post.

Being in the woods rocks. Just does. And what's more human than being half-naked in the woods? Nothing—well, except maybe being fully naked in the woods.