“My hope still is to leave the world a bit better than when I got here.” Jim Henson (1936-1990); American Puppeteer
When I woke up this morning, I knew I wanted to do something outside. When I watched the weather and they said the winds were supposed to kick up today, I figured a bike ride would not be very fun. So my next immediate thought was a hike. I have been wondering if the pair of loons we seen on Reid Lake last year had come back, so we decided to go hike the Reid Lake area to check. I packed a couple to PB&Js, some chips and chocolate and off we went. By the time we got to the trailhead, the wind was howling, it had turned cloudy and quite cool, only in the mid 40’s. Considering we were in the 80’s a week and a half ago, we are back to more normal temperatures now, but boy, the warm weather was nice while it lasted!
We immediately noticed the amount of down-fall. We thought back over the winter, and realized that we may not have had much snow, but we did have a lot of wind. And looking around, that was pretty evident. The first junction of the Homestead Loop is right at Reid Lake, and unfortunately, no sign of the loons, but we did scare up a grouse, or should I say, it scared me! We did a quick Tai Chi practice, to honor Mother Nature, and continued on down the trail. About half way around the lake, we seen and heard a pair of Sandhill Cranes fly over, we figured they were going to one of the other bodies of water in the area.
We then worked our way around Fanny’s Marsh Loop and was surprised at the amount of water that was in it. We also noticed a very 
large flock of Bufflehead ducks on it and almost right in the middle was a very large beaver lodge. Whether it was still an active lodge, we couldn’t tell, but it was an impressive one. We stopped and ate our lunch on a large fallen tree and always had to keep one eye looking up. The wind was still quite strong and the trees were swaying and crashing into each other up high and every now and then, we seen and heard branches coming down.
We then started around the Mossy Bog Loop and that loop was definitely true to it’s name. We found ourselves avoiding some wet areas, but not too bad for early Spring. Until…all of a sudden our trail disappeared into the bog! Thankfully, we were able to pick our way around the bog and eventually got back onto the main trail. On the other side, we immediately discovered the reason for the high water, a beaver dam. We could tell that this dam was old, but the engineering and architecture was such that it looked like it was going to be there for quite some time to come. Just a little way up the trail, we came to a rather long foot bridge across yet another beaver pond. This one also had a large lodge in the center of it, and again, we couldn’t tell if it was still active, but the lodge and the dam looked like they were there for the long haul. It’s amazing what beavers can do!!
We also spotted a lot of the False Morel Mushrooms, but couldn’t find any of the edible Morels. Not sure if the latest cold weather put a damper on their popping up. What we did miss today were the scurrying, furry little Chipmunks or Ground Squirrels. We usually see at least a few dozen when we are in these woods, but today, the ground was quiet. All of the wildlife we observed was of the winged families.
Our wildlife sighting list goes like this: 8 Wild Turkeys, 2 Hawks, 1 Grouse, a flock of Bufflehead Ducks, 4 Mallards, 2 Sandhill Cranes, and 1 Green-backed Heron. Overall, a great 5.5 mile hike on an early Spring day.
Happy Hiking,
Sheri
