A Slog Through A Bog For The Blog

Most of the time I am all about the journey, but sometimes I get in a hurry and focus on the destination, but then I realize I probably missed something. Also, focusing on the destination can lead me to grow frustrated if the progress isn’t a straight line, or fast enough. Focusing on the journey has been a learned way of looking at life, really all the many pieces that make up life. Appreciating the journey affords me a way to tame the vices of impatience and self-centeredness and instead to be present in the moment appreciating where God has put me. Having this blog opportunity has even helped me more to see the importance of the journey, the putting of one foot in front of the other to achieve a goal, but more importantly to grow in many ways along the way.

The destination vs. journey topic is especially relevant for me now as we begin our frequent trips up and back from Michigan. It’s a long drive, that we have made most efficient over the years. But this year, given the interest to explore new parks and trails, the drive has become less efficient since adding the side trips. Setting aside regular routes to be able to experience new hiking trails has had unexpected benefits, most notable seeing parts of Indiana I’ve never seen before. In northeast Indiana, for example, I did not appreciate that the landscape has transitioned from simply having flat farm fields to include rolling hills and forests. I missed that zipping by at 70mph. It’s beautiful. Our new routes have taken us through small quintessential Indiana towns. This past week we found ourselves passing through Albion, a town we had never been to, but G. knew of it since an old college friend was from there, as we made our way back to I69 after a visit to Chain O’ Lake State Park.

Again, we timed our stop to include lunch before the hike. Still being so early in the season, we pretty much had the place to ourselves and could pick any picnic table we wanted. I was relieved that this beachside lunch stop was G-rated unlike our last R-rated state park stop. I was very happy to spot a very large family of Canadian Geese happily swimming along undisturbed by any predators. Other animal sightings were: Baltimore Orioles, Red-Winged Black Birds, turtles, a Blue Heron and a beaver, who has been a very busy beaver around this lake. What I found most impressive though was the transformation in the woods from our hike just two weeks ago at Pokagon State Park, located not too far from Chain O’ Lakes. The ground was covered in a bright display of wildflowers, and the redbud trees were in full bloom. Summer birds are arriving and providing new songs to enjoy. That’s actually how I spotted the Baltimore Orioles, I didn’t recognize a birdsong and followed its voice to see the bright orange and black bird. I am not doing well capturing songbird photos with my phone camera. Getting close enough to catch them before they fly off isn’t possible. Though I was surprised how close a red-winged blackbird let me approach before it flew to the next branch.

Chain O’ Lakes State Park, dedicated on June 12, 1960, has nine connecting kettle lakes that allow only electric motors so the area is quiet and peaceful. We saw several fishermen enjoying an afternoon floating on the lake. There are 29 miles of trails to explore. We only hiked around Sand Lake so there will be plenty of other hikes left to pick from the next time we visit. The shape of this park is unusual as it is longer (4 miles) than wide (2 miles) including a total of 2,718 acres including 212 surface acres of water which provide more than seven miles of shoreline. Like Pokagon this state park’s geological makeup was created by the glacial action during the Pleistocene Epoch part of the Ice Age. The rolling hills, bogs and connecting lakes were created by the massive ice sheets that advanced over this part of Indiana then melted. A kettle lake is formed when a big block of glacier begins to melt and the melting waters carve the landscape.

A slog through a bog for the blog is where our next hike of the week took us. Technically it is a swamp. But bog sounds so much better. “Swamps are low wetlands; bogs are generally higher than the surrounding land.” We were on a trail that generally is dry, but the swamp has encroached upon the trail causing us to find new ways to proceed to avoid the marshy water.

We headed to the south end of Higgins Lake this week to the hiking trails across from the South Higgins Lake State Park. Southeast from the state park is a smaller lake that the Cut River flows through, connecting Higgins and Houghton Lakes. Like Sand Lake at Chain O’ Lakes State Park, Marl lake is a smaller lake that does not allow motorboats. It is a serene lake that invites fishermen and hikers to connect with nature. We saw both, hikers enjoying the trail like us and fly fishermen wading through the lake. We have covered this sandy, pine needle covered trail many times, but today it certainly held some surprises. I suppose we have not hiked here this early in the spring, so we were surprised to see that the water was encroaching on the trail in several areas. We did the best we could to avoid the icky water, but Teddy just trudged right through. Both hikes this week have him proudly owning the slaxmuddypaws moniker. Another surprise were the two snakes that we encountered, having never crossed paths with one here before. I think one was a Butler Garter Snake and the other a Northern Water Snake. I found a great resource to help identify these snakes that included short videos, titled “The 17 snakes you might meet in Michigan.” I would be happy to NOT meet any others, especially the poisonous ones!

The forest floor is coming alive with ferns and other foliage, but not too many wildflowers were spotted along this trail. But the young growth made everything look so fresh and pretty. It has been fun watching the forests wake up after a long winter’s nap.

Til’ next time.