Rain

Something I meant to do more of beginning in the spring, and for the most part have failed to do, is scout out some areas on state forest land to do some deer hunting. I'm new to deer hunting but it's something I really want to do. Last year, and it'll probably be the same this year, I spent the first week of rifle season in Alpena county—and then I didn't even get out during the second week.

This year I'd like to get out almost every day during rifle season. I bought a recurve bow this summer, I've been shooting it, and even though I will continue to shoot it I'm not sure whether I'll be confident enough to hunt with it. What I'm thinking of doing is buying a combination license and at least sitting around with a bow to see if any deer walk close enough to think about shooting. We'll see.

Anyway ... I went out the other day to scout one of the areas I thought would make a good hunting area. This area is near a swamp but the forests are pretty varied. I think I've found a few spots that might be OK, but I'll have to check them out some more.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that the area has been (essentially) become inaccessible to motor vehicles, which means it hasn't seen much human traffic since the last time I was there (in June).

I found coyote tracks and deer tracks (and, as seen below, many times right next to each other), but no car or human tracks. If it remains mostly unvisited I'll definitely think about hunting the area.

This was a strange find. It looks like a crayfish claw—but where did it come from?

The weather was nice when I left the house. I wasn't expecting it to change, but I was wrong.

A pretty heavy downpour hit me on the bike ride home. I saw the clouds moving in and decided to try to "beat" the rain, but I actually just made sure I'd be stuck in it. A mile or so from home it basically stopped, but by then I was throughly soaked and cold.

"Survival trip"

I haven't done much posting about wandering, I've realized. I'll get back to it eventually.

Last Friday I went on what my buddy Matt kept calling a "survival trip"—the idea being that we just go out with (more or less) nothing for a night and just practice skills. He brought just the clothes on his back and I think he was a little bummed that Clay (the other guy who came with us) and I brought knives. I also brought water, which was frowned on. My bad. (And a blanket, which I didn't use.)

We basically started trying to get a fire going right away. And failed. For hours. The hand drill stuff we had just wasn't working out.

Some nice big blood blisters to show for my efforts.

Sand Lakes Quiet Area

I didn't do a whole lot of wandering while I was out there but I got some in. We were out there from mid-afternoon last Monday until about mid-afternoon on Wednesday. It was mostly a good time but there was a lot of stuff getting me down too. I'm trying to let it go.

Mostly pictures today.

A few belated pictures from last weekend's UP trip

I went to Muskallonge Lake State Forest campground last weekend with my entire immediate family and our grandfather. We only stayed for three days but they were good days. Personally I would have preferred to camp in a more private and totally "rustic" setting, but it was still pretty good—despite having to walk a few hundred yards to an actual toilet every time I had to pee.

I didn't post these last week because I was mad about breaking my camera while we were up there (busted the screen), and also because there aren't really any wilderness-related shots. I just uploaded them to my computer though and decided I could throw a few up. Not much commentary.

There was a bear ranch somewhere outside of Newberry. From what I understand most of the bears are rescued, which is pretty cool, and they all looked happy (if hot!). This was after we started picking cherries and throwing them in.

A Copper Beech(?), Some Berries and a Track

Saturday was a day for berries. We collected a pretty decent amount of raspberries, black raspberries, mulberries and serviceberries.  We wandered around quite a bit just exploring too, and made some decent discoveries.

Can't tell in the picture, but this bush had some big raspberries on it—like store-bought size. Personally I had a hard time even believing there were berries on it; it was a bush right on the trail, but apparently nobody wanted them! People!

Check Out This Spider!

I just ran outside for a minute to see if this plant was Queen Ann's Lace or yarrow and sitting atop it was this white and red spider. I've never seen anything like it before and initial internet searches aren't turning up anything.

It was hard to get a good picture of it because the breeze kept blowing the flower around (and I'm using a 6-year-old point-and-shoot and I'm not a photographer to begin with) but I think I got a few decent ones. When the wind blew it did this crazy thing with its front legs like it was having trouble holding on.

EDIT, two minutes later: It looks like it's called a goldenrod crab spider and can actually change colors from white to yellow and back. They do exactly what you're probably thinking: lay in wait on a similarly colored flower and then ambush unsuspecting prey. They will also imitate flowers. There were actually other bugs around and I was waiting for/hoping to see it lunge at one of them, but no such luck.

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: