Just Another Day in Paradise (Monday)
Jun. 10th, 2025 09:35 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lydamorehouseThe weather here has been overcast and rainy. As Shawn told a somewhat uncertain staff person, “It’s gorgeous!” (The staff was concerned that she was being sarcastic. Shawn assured her that she was not.) Our family is very happily indoorsy. So, we spent much of the day inside, by a roaring fire, reading.
However, the weather cleared up on and off, and during one of the ‘on’s, Shawn and I headed out for an early morning canoe. We tend to canoe much like we hike, which is to say, we don’t go all that far, and we glide along at a snail’s pace.
Image: Shawn in a canoe at Bearskin
I’ve also resumed my quest to walk as many of Bearskin’s ski trails as I feel is reasonable. I tend to enjoy a hike to a destination like Sunday’s accidental trip to Rudy Lake, but not all of the ski trails are set up for vistas. In fact, most of them aren’t. A person can tell, even as hiker, how excellent they are for skiers. So many up and down slopes! We are technically in the Pincushion Mountains here, (though people from the Coasts are allowed to scoff at what we call mountains around here.) However, the elevation changes are real! In fact, it usually takes me a few days to get used to the steep slopes. This time, having just come from Middletown, CT, which I feel like was built entirely at a 45-degree angle (all of it uphill!), I didn’t seem to need as much time.
At any rate, this year, I decided to try and find Ox Cart. FYI, an Ox Cart would not make it around this loop. I mean, I guess oxen are strong? But pulling a cart would be tough! Skiing however? It would be glorious.
Bob, the owner of Bearskin, did want to point out that if I walked Ox Cart, I would see the new boardwalk that they installed.
The boardwalk goes over a very marshy, swampy area. A place that my family would call “very moosey,” as this seems to be the sort of areas that we imagine moose tend to enjoy. This is a highly unscientific “hot take,” however. The one time that we saw moose in the wild, while hiking (at, of all places, “Moose Viewing Trail”) there was a place a little like this, though much more lake-y and slightly less boggy/swampy.
Moosey view.
I did not see moose here.
I will note, however, that I did see moose tracks and what was very obviously moose scat on my way back out of this trail. So, perhaps our family is not entirely wrong as to what constitutes a moosey place.
Much of my hike was just woods.
Image: wooded path
However, I have been trying to stop and take pictures of wildflowers that I’ve been seeing on my hikes. Here are a few:
Image: pussy feet? Something like that (looking for id,pameladean !)
Image: star flower
However, the weather cleared up on and off, and during one of the ‘on’s, Shawn and I headed out for an early morning canoe. We tend to canoe much like we hike, which is to say, we don’t go all that far, and we glide along at a snail’s pace.
Image: Shawn in a canoe at Bearskin
I’ve also resumed my quest to walk as many of Bearskin’s ski trails as I feel is reasonable. I tend to enjoy a hike to a destination like Sunday’s accidental trip to Rudy Lake, but not all of the ski trails are set up for vistas. In fact, most of them aren’t. A person can tell, even as hiker, how excellent they are for skiers. So many up and down slopes! We are technically in the Pincushion Mountains here, (though people from the Coasts are allowed to scoff at what we call mountains around here.) However, the elevation changes are real! In fact, it usually takes me a few days to get used to the steep slopes. This time, having just come from Middletown, CT, which I feel like was built entirely at a 45-degree angle (all of it uphill!), I didn’t seem to need as much time.
At any rate, this year, I decided to try and find Ox Cart. FYI, an Ox Cart would not make it around this loop. I mean, I guess oxen are strong? But pulling a cart would be tough! Skiing however? It would be glorious.
Bob, the owner of Bearskin, did want to point out that if I walked Ox Cart, I would see the new boardwalk that they installed.
The boardwalk goes over a very marshy, swampy area. A place that my family would call “very moosey,” as this seems to be the sort of areas that we imagine moose tend to enjoy. This is a highly unscientific “hot take,” however. The one time that we saw moose in the wild, while hiking (at, of all places, “Moose Viewing Trail”) there was a place a little like this, though much more lake-y and slightly less boggy/swampy.
Moosey view.
I did not see moose here.
I will note, however, that I did see moose tracks and what was very obviously moose scat on my way back out of this trail. So, perhaps our family is not entirely wrong as to what constitutes a moosey place.
Much of my hike was just woods.
Image: wooded path
However, I have been trying to stop and take pictures of wildflowers that I’ve been seeing on my hikes. Here are a few:
Image: pussy feet? Something like that (looking for id,
pameladean !)Image: star flower
no subject
Date: 2025-06-10 06:59 pm (UTC)I love the photo of the marsh. And a tamarack, yaaaay!
P.
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Date: 2025-06-11 02:17 am (UTC)K.
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Date: 2025-06-11 04:21 am (UTC)One of my books says they are a tough group.
P.
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Date: 2025-06-12 01:50 am (UTC)K.
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Date: 2025-06-12 02:58 am (UTC)P.
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Date: 2025-06-11 04:44 pm (UTC)https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?nelat=48.05458463817677&nelng=-90.31790308998717&subview=map&swlat=48.02302083793244&swlng=-90.47471575783385&taxon_id=51901
This search of around there of plants shows the species according to frequency of reporting. It can be a quick way to orient. I selected May-June-July (month=5,6,7), you could change the months to just June if you think it's seasonable.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?captive=false&month=5,6,7&nelat=48.256070404815155&nelng=-89.30980676266763&quality_grade=research&subview=map&swlat=47.51936046170836&swlng=-91.46312707516763&verifiable=any&view=species&iconic_taxa=Plantae
no subject
Date: 2025-06-12 01:56 am (UTC)K.