Category: Cowles Bog Trail

Autumn Colors

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Today was very pleasant, dry and partly clear skies… in spite of this it was still a good day to be outside.  To be honest, any day spent outdoors in nature is a good day.

Along the southern shore of Lake Michigan the leaves are starting to change color, in a few weeks they will mostly have fallen to the ground.  This is the last hurrah for people visiting the park in large numbers, to see the Autumn colors.  The lots were pretty full all day, I was fortunate to find a spot at one of the two small lots for the Cowles Bog trail.

The view across the width of the marsh. The tree line marks the end of the forested dunes which run all they way up to Lake Michigan. Although not visible here, the trail loops around the marsh and runs just inside the edge of those trees.

Every direction you looked there were the golden tones of Autumn.

Poison Ivy. It gets a bad rap but it really is a beautiful plant, especially when its leaves begin to change color. Once you learn to identify it you start to see it all over the park alongside the trails. It really thrives along this trail and with most of the rest of the ground foliage receding, it really stands out just how much of it there is. For preservation reasons the park service encourages people to stay on the trails, but you really don’t want to go wading through this stuff wearing shorts in the summer. Interestingly, Poison Ivy thrives alongside well traveled trails and its abundance falls off quickly beyond the trail.

After passing over several increasingly high sand dune ridges you descend down to Boaters Beach. Getting here is one of the most strenuous hikes in the park due to having to traverse several steep dune ridges in pure sand. It is not a place to which you are going to haul a big cooler full of iced beverages, beach chairs and such. The only other way to get here is by boat, hence the name Boaters Beach. For this reason it is never packed like other area beaches in the summer.

After a nice stroll along the beach for a few hundred yards it is time to turn inland and had back into the dunes.

It is mid October and this was the only bee, or flying insect of any kind which I came across. He was completely still which made it easy to setup this shot, usually they are in constant motion. I think this one is pretty much at the end of its life span.

Not all of the brilliant yellow is in the leaves. It pays to be looking down, as when I spotted this tiny shroom poking up among the brown fallen leaves.

Reds, oranges, yellows, greens, ochres, siennas and more contribute to natures Autumn palette.

A tight packed colony of fungi almost blend in with the colors of the fallen leaves and the decaying wood.

Black Oak leaves are some of my favorites to photograph throughout the year.

Here we are just inside the tree line, which was the subject of the first photograph of this post, which marks the end of the woods and the beginning of the marsh to the right.

Just about a quarter mile from the parking lot where I started from. One last look back at the varied colors of the trees.

Camping Excursions

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Now of course the point of going rain camping is not to simply experience rain while sitting under a tarp (see my previous post if this makes no sense).  A three day camping trip to the dunes means three days of hiking and nature photography.  As it turns out however, rain does in fact produce some of the best conditions for both hiking and photography.  So rainy weather really is a win/win.

The following is a sampler of the photos I took over during these camping excursions.

Bailly Calumet Trail – Day One Before The Rain

The False Solomons Seal is fading fast.

I love the intricate detail and depth in this spider webbing.

Great Marsh – Day Two, Constant Rain

(I mean what beats a wetland ecosystem for rain hiking?)

Spider webs in the rain are simply beautiful and provide a never ending source of wonder. Notice how the water drops tend to collect at the vertices where different threads come together. They really highlight the structure of the web. Click on the image to see a full resolution version and zoom in, each drop also forms a perfect image of the world around it.

Dunewood Campground – Late Afternoon Rain

Relaxing with a coffee beverage after an afternoon spent in the Great Marsh. Here is the view from my camping tarp rain shelter. When I was not looking over the images from the day, I simply sat and took in the campground vibe.

Cowles Bog – Day Three, After The Rains

Not the brightest or most saturated colors among the wildflowers along this trail. But one of the most compelling for sure.

I am guessing that mid September is getting late in the year for bumble bees. Of the few that I saw they all seemed pretty lethargic. Earlier in the summer they are very active and almost never sit still, so it is difficult to get a good clear image of their faces.

The carcass of a dead hawk, lying just off the trail. I smelt it before I saw it. No idea how it died. It was right alongside a recently fallen tree branch, but it is difficult to imagine that it what killed it. I could not figure out if it’s head was missing or just twisted underneath the rest of the body.

More rapidly fading False Solomons Seal. I like to capture the foliage when it is decaying as much as when it is at it’s peak. It is all part of the cycle of nature and no less beautiful.

Early signs that autumn is approaching.

Cowles Bog has been undergoing an extensive restoration for at least the last 10 years. Although it may not look like it, the ground in this area is very soft and marshy. I always knew that the park’s resource management teams did a lot of work in the heart of the marsh. This photograph of a Marsh Master vehicle shows how they gain access to these areas.

The view across the wetland which is Cowles Bog with the forested dunes in the background.

Can you spot the young buck in this photograph? He is standing up and looking back at me. A nice illustration of how tall and lush the vegetation is.