October 24

Last Sunday, I continued my eastward journey, hiking another section of the Meijer Heartland Trail. The early morning weather was partly cloudy with a temperature of 55 degrees and a slight but gusty wind out of the south. Exiting the car, I glanced to the north and noticed the sign for the Stearns Preserve, 14 acres of Chippewa Watershed Conservancy property adjacent to the trail. Heading east, I spotted a dense patch of Rough Horsetail stems. Also called Scouring Rush, theses evergreen stems were used to scour pots, pans, and floors during pioneer days. Horsetails are closely related to ferns and both were common during the Carboniferous period (280-345 million years ago), when tree-sized horsetails and ferns occurred. Much of our present-day coal deposits originated in large part from these plants. Further ahead, I came to the bridge over the Pine River where I paused to watch the water flow gently to the south under a large Basswood Tree that had recently fallen over the channel. Continuing east, I noticed that, while the once-colorful Goldenrod blossoms were seeding out, the now colorful Witch Hazel blossoms were on display. Next, I passed through a corridor of red Sumac before reaching my turn-around point at Osborn Rd. Proceeding west, I followed my shadow before pausing to observe the light breeze gently move through some Milkweed seeds. As the wind picked up, the quaking leaves of nearby Aspen trees caught my attention. While a variety of leaf colors were evident among the deciduous trees, I especially noticed the crimson red of the Red Maple and the pale gold of the Sugar Maple. However, nearing the end of the hike, I approached a maple tree whose leaves showed no sign of color change. Upon closer inspection, I determined that it was a rarely seen Big leaf Maple that is known for not turning colors in the fall. Finally, I got back to the car and headed home.

Milkweed pods

Bursting white

Flossy seeds

Take to flight

Goldenrod

Dying brown

Fading grass

Bowing down

Mother Nature

Shows her hand

Autumn spreads

In meadow land

D. DeGraaf