Deer in winter

Real Winter™ has been pretty elusive this year, but in the last week it's been here in good form. Right where I am there is about a foot of snow on the ground, and the temperature has remained in the teens and 20s. We've had a few really beautiful days, but all have been good. I've been out during most of them, for at least a good walk.

Not far outside my door.

On Wednesday I decided to take a nice, long walk, in one of my favored spots. I started out following my cat's tracks until they intersected with those of a dog. It looked like my cat then started jumping in and out of the dog's tracks. As they diverged, I followed the dog's out near the road, and then parted ways. I got across the road and into the field, then just kind of picked a direction and went with it. Last winter I followed some coyote tracks to a deer carcass in the area, so I headed in that direction to see if I could find their tracks again. I did not, so instead I just started following the deer trails. At one point I thought to myself It would be nice to see some deer today.

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!

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: