Wandering Blog

Tomorrow we’re supposed to have another snow storm blow through our area once again (am I hearing an echo?)… we’ll see what actually happens.  But in the meantime, today was beautiful, sunny and warm, and there was no way we were going to stay indoors!  So we opted for a wander along a portion of the eastern loop in Carver Park.

The trails are becoming drier, with rapidly shrinking patches of snow and ice, but there are still some icy sections that are quite tricky to manage, particularly in the woodland.  In some areas we made our way through crusty snow that reached halfway to our knees.  In other places, the snowmelt running under a layer of slushy snow caught us off-guard and we ended up a bit wet.  But it was such a lovely day, and the woods were so peaceful and stunning, we didn’t mind any of that!

The stream of melting snow running down the ravine shown here, veers to the north when it hits the path, trickling alongside it for a short time before covering the trail in a thick sheet of ice.  The moving water beside the trail was obviously under snow cover earlier, but the icy snow is now receding, leaving fingers of patterned ice bridging the water.  I’ve never seen ice quite like this, it was fascinating to examine closely, the patterns are so intricate and delicate.

I was also fortunate to notice an unusually colored wooly bear caterpillar just before it sluggishly moved across the snow and tumbled over the edge of a footprint my husband had just made. I rescued the little guy and left it in a more protected spot.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen coloring like this before, almost blonde with a darker rusty area only near the glossy black head – it was quite distinctive and handsome!

I have to admit that I’m somewhat of a birder, although I’m not out every weekend and I don’t often chase rarities.  I am certainly interested, though… I do go out birding sometimes with friends, and I have made more than one trip to look for a single, unusual bird.  I even have a life list, I just don’t spend a lot of time working on building it.  Most of my love for birds is channeled into things like volunteering to care for disabled captive raptors, or engaging in avian field research.  But, having said all of this, whenever I’m outside I always spend a significant amount of time looking up, noticing which birds are around me and listening for the calls of birds I can’t see.  Today was a busy bird day in the forest, and we spent quite a lot of time watching and listening… we heard Black-capped Chickadees and White-breasted Nuthatches, as expected, as well as a couple of American Crows.  We also followed the comings and goings of at least five dozen American Robins.  We spotted a couple of Hairy Woodpeckers, and a Blue Jay flew across our path.  Deeper in the woods we could hear the high-pitched calls of Cedar Waxwings.

It was also a good day for spotting larger birds, particularly raptors:  We noticed a Bald Eagle, a Rough-legged Hawk, and a pair of Red-tailed Hawks circling above us at various times.  Another Red-tailed Hawk surprised us when it burst into the air from the ground, carrying dinner in it’s talons; and not too far from that sighting we found the Rough-legged Hawk (presumably the same one spotted earlier), at rest atop a willow.  And lastly, we spent a little quiet time watching from a distance as a pair of Trumpeter Swans glided along and browsed in a mostly-thawed pond.

Regardless of whether or not it snows here tomorrow, today was a day I’m very happy that we took full advantage of in terms of enjoying the warmth and sun!

Actually, the snowstorm we were predicted to get last night was quite a blast, and those in the storm’s path saw some significant snowfall… but not here.  The storm’s trail slid to a more southerly route before it reached this far east.  I’m actually a little sad – as you might know from previous posts, I love snow!  Oh well, this just gave us an unexpected opportunity to walk again today, and I won’t argue with that!

Today I chose the Lake Independence Regional Trail, which stretches for nearly 16 miles from Crow-Hassan Park Reserve, through Baker Park Reserve, ending on Old Crystal Bay Road in Orono, just shy of Noerenberg Memorial Gardens.   Crow-Hassan and Baker Park Reserves, and Noerenberg Gardens are all part of the Three Rivers Park District, and you can find maps for these areas, including the Lake Independence Regional Trail, on their website.

On the portion of the trail we walked today we did see a couple of trail markers, but there were forks in the trail where there were no markers at all, so I would recommend taking a map with you if you aren’t familiar with this trail.

Lake Independence Regional Trail is advertised as a paved trail, however we did spot a dirt horse trail alongside it that is also available for hikers.  I’m not sure how far the dirt trail parallels the Lake Independence trail – that will take a bit more exploration.  The paved trail was largely covered with slush and ice, and required some concentration as these areas were quite slippery.  We weren’t the only ones on the trail, however, and the many human and dog footprints we followed suggest it’s used often.  Just be aware that, right now, there is a lot of ice on this trail.  In fact, on the way back we used the Baker campground tunnel under County Road 19 to get back to our car, and found the pavement inside the tunnel is covered with solid ice and very treacherous – I don’t recommend using that section of trail until that ice has melted.

We wandered about 2.1 miles along the trail, starting at the Baker Park Campground parking area and strolling southward, between Lake Independence and Lake Katrina.  This portion of the walk is forested and pleasant and, once the trail veers away from CR19, very peaceful.  Yesterday we spent some time looking for nests, today we looked for footprints – footprints, that is, belonging to creatures other than humans or dogs!  We did see a few White-tailed Deer prints here and there, but mostly we found Wild Turkey prints.  I’m surprised we didn’t actually see the birds, as we were finding their arrow-like prints everywhere!

Because we were obliged to pay such close attention to where we were placing our feet in order to avoid icy patches, we weren’t able to spend as much time gazing upward and outward as we usually do.  But we did take some breaks in order to soak in the quiet and the serene landscape.  This was a lovely trail and I do plan to try it again when the ground is drier.

Oh, and even though this wasn’t technically a part of our wanderings today… we were thrilled to see a beautiful Red-shouldered Hawk fly over the road in front of us on our way home!  Nature really is all around, if we take the time to see it!

Hello!  I hope you’ve all been having a wonderful week!  Mine has been quite hectic, and I’ve been looking forward to getting out today.  We went for another short stroll, meaning to beat yet another snowstorm that is apparently bearing down us.  As our local temps have been relatively warm during the day, but dropping to below freezing at night, many areas are contending with ice.  So I chose another fairly short trail today, just in case the walking conditions weren’t good.  I needn’t have worried, though.  The trail I chose was the Courthouse Lake loop on the southeast edges of Chaska, which (unbeknownst to me) is actually paved and quite easy going.  There is currently no snow on any portion of the trail, although there are a couple of large patches of ice at the northern side of the lake, which do cover the path.

I’ve mentioned in previous posts that winter is a good time to look for nests – while leaves aren’t obscuring the view.  We found a few of them today…

It is a warmish day today, temperature-wise, but there’s a brisk wind keeping things chilly.  Even so, we were happy to find more moving water… which a pair of Mallards seem to have discovered before us.

 

The Courthouse Lake loop, as I mentioned earlier, is not a long trail, only about a mile.  So we took our time and enjoyed breathing in the cool, fresh air, as we listened to and watched the ever-increasing bird activity.  We spotted a couple of Downy Woodpeckers, heard a White-breasted Nuthatch calling too deep in the woods to spot, saw five Bald Eagles circling overhead.   This American Robin was perched along the edge of the trail, and didn’t seem to mind us passing by:

The Robin is sitting in a tangle of Buckthorn, which (for those of you not familiar with it) is actually an invasive plant species in this area.   I know of a number of groups (city volunteers, nature centers, etc.) around the Twin Cities that have ongoing programs organized to work on eradicating Buckthorn.  Mark and I are battling it in our own yard – it’s a tough job, but if it isn’t done the Buckthorn could choke out many of our native plants.

On the flip side, we also found quite a lot of beneficial milkweed, particularly along the western shore of the lake.  Monarch butterflies rely on milkweed for their survival as a species, so we were very happy to find such a lot of it!  This photo shows several milkweed pods.  I don’t know as much as I’d like to about milkweed, so I’m not sure what type this is.  If someone more knowledgeable would be willing to enlighten me, I would certainly be grateful!

The impending snowstorm is predicted to drop 4-7″ in our area later this evening, but the daytime temperatures have been consistently warm, so I don’t anticipate the snow will stay around long… at least, that’s what I’m hoping!  I’m anxious to get out and try wandering along some longer and more remote trails as soon as possible!

 

 

 

 

Hello, and happy St. Patrick’s Day!  I hope you are enjoying this day – we certainly are!  It’s a beautiful sunny day here in the upper Midwest, and we got outside to do a little wandering and to take in the warmth of the sun!

Today I did two walks.  The first was just a little break during a morning songbird banding program I was helping out with.  My friend Annika and I strolled along the Acorn trail (the same trail I posted about last weekend).  No Barred Owls this time, and the trail was quite icy, so it was slow going.  But we did make the all-important discovery that Mother Nature was displaying her greenery today as well, in the form of soft, bright moss on a stump… everyone’s getting into the spirit of the holiday!

After the program and a quick lunch, my husband Mark and our friend Linda accompanied me to Edenbrook Conservation Area, off Dell Road in Eden Prairie.  I’d originally had another park in mind, so this walk was a last minute change in plans… and since I didn’t have a map (which resulted in us losing the trail twice!), I’m definitely supplying you with the trail map here.  It didn’t help that most of the trail was snow-covered, but the map would certainly have come in handy!  We reached Edenbrook about mid-afternoon, and by then the temps were in the mid 40’s.  So although the trail was hidden under snow, it was pretty soft and somewhat slushy, with almost no ice – definitely manageable.  However, things have been warming up over the past week or so, which meant that we did encounter some open areas that were mostly mud.  So if you decide to do any walking there in the near future, be prepared for puddles, mud, and slushy snow – and if you’re there when the temps have dropped again, you can surely expect some icy conditions as well.  But overall it was easy going, and the day was too beautiful to be indoors!

The map doesn’t indicate distances, but we estimate our walk was about 2.5 miles or so.  The area is primarily wetland encompassed by mixed woods, with Purgatory Creek winding through.  The creek offered me my first sight of moving water this year – ahhhh!  Although we’ve been seeing the return of the first migrating birds for over a week now, the sound of trickling water did much more to convince me that spring is actually on it’s way.  Such a welcome, welcoming sound!

We began our ramble at the Edenbrook parking area off Dell Road.  There’s a lovely gazebo nearby, on the hill overlooking the wetland, which would be a wonderful place for a picnic once summer arrives.  The start of the trail is bordered mostly by maples, oaks, and cedars.  This part of the trail was alive with birds:  Northern Cardinals, Black-capped Chickadees, White-breasted Nuthatches, Slate-colored Juncos, Blue Jays,  American Robins – and a Wood Duck passing by overhead.  But once we moved on to more open country it became very quiet, and stayed that way throughout the remainder of the walk, even when we reached the woods at the south edge of the wetland.

The warmth of the sun, the peaceful quiet of the wetland, the soft rush of the creek, and the birdsong fading away behind us, all conspired to make this a very relaxing walk.  Even maneuvering around the slushy and muddy areas was no hardship – it was just too nice a day!

At the south side of the wetland we found a paved walk that lead us into the residential area.  My guess is that there were other, more rustic trails to be had, but we couldn’t find them under the snow cover.  I guess we’ll just have to go back later in the year and do a little more exploring!  We didn’t notice much in the way of signage either, which would have made a map even handier.  Since we were passing over marshy land, we encountered a number of boardwalks, such as the one pictured above, all very well maintained, and the easiest part of the trail to follow!

As we entered the residential area, which looped back to the parking lot, we passed a small pond bordered by cattails.  We could hear water rushing down the nearby north-facing hill and into the pond, but it was still hidden beneath snow and ice.  It was a lovely spot to exit the wetland.

I won’t have another opportunity to get out wandering until late in the coming week, so I’m very happy to have been able to take advantage of this beautiful day!  I hope you all had an equally memorable St. Patrick’s Day!

After yesterday’s exhilarating walk, I was feeling so good that, after finding I had a little unexpected free time in Carver Park Reserve today, I took the opportunity for another short hike.  Since I had limited time, I opted for the Acorn Trail, which is just under a half mile.  But it doesn’t always take a long walk to find something really interesting!  In this case, about half way along the trail, I saw a Barred Owl fly by.  It landed high in a tree not far away, so I was able to get a few photos.  Unfortunately, I didn’t have my camera with me, so I had to rely on my old mobile.  The result is a less-than-crisp image, but I’m posting it anyway – spotting a wild owl is always exciting to me!

The owl is pretty much in the center of the photo, but you should be able to spot it fairly easily, even though it’s a poor image.

The biggest up-side of this experience, aside from the great owl sighting, is that I’m feeling quite motivated to upgrade my old mobile phone – hopefully the new one will take better photos!

Until next time…

Hello!  It’s been a while since my last post… I actually caught a very unpleasant strain of the flu that has been going around, and have been out of commission for almost a month.  The last 10 days or so have really been more a matter of regaining my energy and strength, but I’m feeling nearly back to my old self now, finally!

Today we went on a walk for the first time since I got sick, and it felt wonderful!  It was a nice day, overcast but relatively warm (about 40 degrees).  We chose to walk in Carver Park Reserve (part of Three Rivers Park District), along the Maple Trail, which is a loop of about 1.5 miles.  Links to trail maps can be found under the Trail Markers menu tab, but I’m also including the link to this trail map here for your convenience.

There are signs that spring is returning everywhere, but there is still snow on the ground here, and the trail was primarily snow-packed.  The warmth of the day made some areas of the trail a little slushy, but overall the snow was easy to manage and not icy.  However, some parts of the boardwalk (over the marsh) were a bit slippery, so if you take this trail anytime soon, be careful of that.  It’s a hilly area for the most part, and wooded, except for the trek across the marsh.  There were a few other people on the trail, but for the most part we had the woods to ourselves.

As I mentioned in my last post, winter wandering might require a little more preparation, but it can be just as beautiful and sometimes even more peaceful than walking in summer.  It was a calm day today, so the walk was relaxing and beautiful, with birdsong everywhere!   We walked slowly, taking it all in and allowing the cool air to revive us – it felt so refreshing and rejuvenating after a month of illness!

There were also signs that folks on the trail before us had been enjoying themselves as well!

We noticed a few other things that indicated spring is on the way, such as tapped maple trees like this one:

Learning the history, lore, and methods of tapping maple trees and making maple syrup are things I’ve begun learning this year, so this is all of special interest to me right now.  I’d never before given much thought to how this tasty tradition started, and it’s fascinating to me to learn about the ways Native Americans cooked down and used the bounty from these trees.

Ambling on winter trails can give you the chance to notice interesting details that might not be as visible when the trees and bushes are all leafed out.  For example, winter is a great time to take note of nest sites, so you can more easily locate nesting birds in the spring and early summer.  It’s also easier to spot things like a uniquely gnarled oak, interesting bark patterns, maybe a small owl roosting among tangled branches, or fungi tracking up the side of a tree, as in the photo below.

Now that spring is getting nearer, and my health has returned, I’m planning to get into a more regular wandering schedule, so please stay tuned.  I feel so refreshed and energized after today’s walk, I’m excited to dive in!  Hope to see you on the trails!