Nature Goes Wild

In our effort to spend more time outside enjoying nature at its finest, sometimes I suppose we need to accept nature isn’t always at its finest.

This past week we had the opportunity to hike at two State Parks in two different states. On our way to Michigan last week we decided to stop at Pokagon State Park, located just off I69 in NE Indiana. I have only been to this park once before, when the kids were quite young. One weekend we joined extended family to enjoy a unique winter experience, the toboggan run. That was a blast, but I had never experienced the park’s natural resources in warm weather. We decided to include a stop at the park for a quick hike and picnic lunch. We parked in the Potawatomi Inn’s lot and walked down the hill to Lake James’ beach to eat. We were not expecting the events that would play out just yards from us. Shortly after getting settled at the picnic table we spotted a family of Canadian Geese swimming nearby, two adults and 4 fluffy yellow goslings. Far in the distance, against a curve in the beach I could see a white object but could not make out what it was. But as the white object drew closer it was clear to see that it was a swan…a mute swan. If you read my blog from January 23rd, you will understand why the sight of the presence of a mute swan didn’t provide warm fuzzy feelings, and this particular swan lived up to its nasty reputation. As the swan grew closer the geese swam down the edge of the beach, closer to the area we were sitting at, giving us a front row seat to the show that would play out. The swan approached the escaping geese with its feathers puffed out and with focused purpose. The goslings could not swim quickly and the swan easily caught up with the family and proceeded to attack the goslings. The adult geese tried to defend the goslings by attacking the swan, but they could not deter the swan and it grabbed and killed a gosling. After the swan was distracted by its kill the geese turned and retreated in the opposite direction that the swan continued to swim. We did a head count, and concluded the Goose Family lost one gosling. Once examining pictures I took of the geese when we first arrived to the beach I notice that one of the adult geese is flying from the area of the swan, returning to the family. I conjecture that the goose provoked the swan. I’ve seen some nasty Canadian Geese behavior so wouldn’t be surprised if this was retaliation for a prior incidence.

While watching the swan swim away and the geese return to the spot where we originally noticed them we sat there stunned by the events that we had just witnessed. “The Circle of Life” concept comes to mind. To add to this idea of circle of life, just as the commotion of the swan and geese subsides two black birds get busy making new birds. Lunch on the beach turned into a rated R movie. And as if this wasn’t enough bird show, while eating, a couple sandhill cranes flew over us and took up residence at the top of the hill just outside the large windows of the lodge. Perched up there they looked like a couple mini velociraptors. And as we headed out on our hike a killdeer crossed our path in the grassy field. Killdeers have a distinctive response to perceived danger to their nesting area. They fly away from their nest and feign injury to attract the predator’s attention away from their nest. This killdeer didn’t seem bothered by our presence so I suspect it didn’t have a nest to protect yet.

Pokagon State Park touches two lakes, Snow Lake and Lake James providing opportunities for swimming, boating and fishing. The State Park offers 13.7 miles of hiking trails along shorelines, through wooded hilly terrain, meadows and wetlands. Not unlike other areas of Indiana, a glacier one-mile thick, while melting left behind the varied landscape seen today. Random piles of rocks, called glacial erratics, were brought down with the movement of the glacier from the north. No doubt I would recommend this park, but hopefully it won’t include so much drama.

Reading about the formation of the hills and lakes of this area in northern Indiana by means of a glacier I couldn’t help but make a connection to a far smaller scale of ice movement and its displacement of anything in its way. Another way in which nature went wild in our corner of the world is up in Michigan on Higgins Lake. In early April I posted pictures of the still frozen lake. A couple weeks ago as the ice broke up on the lake the winds did not favor our beach nor several of our neighbor’s. The ice slabs that took aim on our beach pale in light of the mile thick glaciers that pushed into Indiana, ours were only 8 inches in depth but that was enough to push LOTS of sand and rocks up the edge of the beach and into the yard, while destroying the greenbelt of aquatic plants, our effort to minimize erosion damage. Another example of nature having unimaginable power.

Thank goodness our next visit to a state park was not nearly as exciting as at Pokagon. We did not witness any animal aggression in any form, just some deer grazing, squirrels and chipmunks scurrying about and plenty of birds flying here and there. On a warm and sunny afternoon we headed to the North Higgins State Park Trail system just across the road from the park and campground. We rediscovered this area last summer and it has become one of our favorite destinations for a close hike. The sandy hiking trails cross with many snowmobile trails providing many options to head out on. As well as very interesting hiking trails this area includes the CCC Museum. At the museum I learned that Michigan had been terribly deforested in the late 1800s and early 1900s and what was left was ravaged by forest fires. In 1904 the first state nursery was opened here by Professor Filibert Roth. Through the efforts of the Civilian Conservation Corp the Michigan landscape was restored and we have their hard work so many years ago to thank for the beautiful forests present today. A sign on the property reads: “At its height this 48-acre facility, the size of 36 football fields, grew millions of tree seedlings every year. Young men from the Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC) worked with the nursery in the 1930s and 1940s to plant millions of trees around Michigan.”

Also located here on the museum grounds is the top portion of the “Hale Fire Tower.” Another sign explains that in the 1920s-40s the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and the Civilian Conservation Corps built 154 towers that were 100 to 150 feet tall, to spot fires before they got out of control. The towers were staffed by lookouts, aided with binoculars, they keep an eye out for smoke and would quickly communicate either by radio or telephone to grounds crew who would extinguish the fire. The towers became obsolete in the1960s.

We don’t often encounter many other people on the trails on the top of the sandy hill, and although it is peaceful the feeling of being a bit more isolated made me far more nervous about crossing paths with a bear so we now carry bear spray. Hopeful we will never need it, but it makes me feel better having it. There are black bears in this area and they would typically be far more afraid of us, but I don’t want to risk coming face to furry face with a brave mama bear so better safe than sorry, even if I’m wearing my MOMMA Bear hat gifted to me by A. Although now with Teddy as a hiking companion I can’t imagine a scenario where we could ever surprise a bear.

Winter has been slow to release its grip on this area and the air and water remains very chilly. The wildflowers have still to bloom and the trees haven’t leaved out much yet, but the difference being up here is that the predominate tree is the evergreen so the trails still are green. Maybe during our next visit to the park the forest floor will show more color.