I Spy on the Trails - Weeks of Oct 1 and October 8, 2023

It’s been a long and languorous fall. We received some rain over the past two weeks (and a lot going into this weekend) which got the lawns around town pretty excited. Temperatures finally began to hit our more usual 50s-60s F and a first nip of frost here and there brought us briefly into the mid-30s. A precipitous 2 week drop! While some mourn the cooler days, I welcome the crisper temps I hope are coming. With September on record as one of the hottest months world-wide, we are seeing real-time results of accelerating climate change.

I spent some time up on the North Shore on MN this past week and was treated to some new plants and fungi. It was really pleasant driving back and forth and seeing the colors change as we headed north than back south on the 350 mile trip. 

I came across a lovely blog post from the Friends of the Blufflands this week. Written by Jon Rigden, it talks about this time of year and the profusion of asters along the trails. Each flower gets it's special time and, for asters, its now.

Also profuse this year are the acorns!  From the Driftless up through MN’s northwoods, we have been crunching over oodles of acorns on our hardwood forest trail hikes. The oaks are having a “mast” year where an oak might produce up to 10.000 acorns rather than the more usual 2000. Mast years occur in an irregular cycle about every 5 years. During mast years, the oaks slow their growth and put all their energy into seed production. What is particularly curious is that oaks across wide regions seem to synchronize their mast seeding. While people often attribute this to a coming colder winter or drought year, scientists are still studying exactly why and how this is happening. For now, let’s just say it’s a wonder of nature.

The vegetation continues to die back along the trails and the birds are more silent. Warblers appear to be flitting quickly through. We are still waiting for the bulk of the geese and swan migrations that peaks in late October and through November. 

Colors in the Driftless are just starting to peak but the frost may turbo-charge the color. Be sure to get to rim trails and overlooks these next few weeks to soak up the colors of the final party thrown by the trees. No one wants to miss that!

Wildflowers

Rockcap ferns crown a huge boulder
in the BWCAW

• Blue-wood aster
• Calico aster
• White snakeroot
• Lady fern
• Maidenhair fern
• Interrupted fern
• Rockcap fern
• Evergreen wood fern
• Spinulose woodfern 
• Long beechfern
• Lady fern
• Sweet fern
• Agueweed, a dwarf gentian
• Sky blue aster
• Smooth blue aster
• Hoary alyssum 
• Harebell
• Hairy aster
• Aromatic aster
• Yarrow
• Chicory
• Indian grass
• Big bluestem
• Heal-all
• Golden pholiata fungi
• Prickly tree clubmoss

Wildlife (seen, heard, detected)

Pelicans along the Mississippi
from Great River Bluffs State Park

• Blue Jay
• Pelicans
• Pileated woodpecker
• Northern flicker
• Black-capped chickadee
• Cardinal
• Winter ween
• Yellow-rumped warbler
• Palm warbler

What are YOU noticing on your hikes?

Two weeks of hikes:  Great River Bluffs State Park, Nodine MN; Sugar Creek Bluff, Ferryville WI; Vetsch Park, La Crescent MN; Goose Island Wigwam Slough, La Crosse, WI; Reno Quarry, Reno WI; Aldo Leopoldo Center and Ice Age Trail Baraboo segment, Baraboo, WI; BWCAW Topper Lake portage, Superior National Forest, MN; Wolf Point Lookout, Superior Hiking Trail, Castle Danger, MN; Temperance River Loop trail, Temperance River State Park, Tofte MN

Image - Lloyd Lorenz

All images - Marge Loch-Wouters, unless noted