March 5

Wednesday, Remi and I hiked through Reed Park, a 100-acre, Gratiot County park located 12 miles southeast of Alma near the village of North Star. The early morning weather was partly sunny with a temperature of 10 degrees and a mild north wind. We left the car and headed south across a footbridge over a frozen pond where I followed a path through a semi-wooded setting that was used by disc golfers in the summer. Along the way, I looked up to see a couple of Blue Jays flying and looked down to notice a patch of snow stained red by berries that had fallen from a nearby shrub. As I circled back, the trail led me through a dense grove of diseased Ash and scraggly Box Elder. Before retracing my steps back across the footbridge, I couldn’t help but notice a huge spinning wind turbine, a now familiar sight on the county landscape. After crossing the footbridge, I headed north and found the entrance to the Beech-Maple trail. As I followed the circular trail, I paused to look at some man-made carvings in one of the Beech trunks and wondered what was Dale’s story. Was he alive or dead? Was he young or old? Was he a local or out-of-townie? Resuming my walk, I wasn’t surprised to see lots of young Beech trees that still held their leaves. Heading back to the car, I walked under a Red Oak that was still shedding its leaves. Finally, we arrived back at the car for our trip home.

A hike in the dawn of March

Old man winter won’t let go

Mother Nature still fast asleep

Trail covered deep in snow

Walking through a silent forest

Naked maples in a sea of white

Few squirrel tracks to my left

Some deer tracks to my right

Turning into a stiff north wind

Hands are cold. Cheeks numb

Not yet sounds of singing birds

Not yet clues of spring to come

D. DeGraaf