May 13

On a cool, cloudy, early morning, I’m hiking an earthen trail in Sylvan Solace Preserve, anticipating another encounter with the Chippewa River. From the last time I saw the river, it flowed from the spillway on the east side of Lake Isabella and meandered southeast about 4 miles to this access location. From the parking lot, I walk north on the Meadow Lane trail where I spot a couple of Chipping Sparrows on the path ahead. Turning west on the River Loop trail, I proceed into a forest of hardwoods where the leaf litter reveals another sign of the season, the green foliage of a patch of May apple. Reaching the river, I descend the steep bank and pause to take in the scenic riparian landscape as the swollen watercourse flows rapidly southward. On the shore nearby, I observe nature’s version of a green salad, skunk cabbage along with some baby horsetails and ferns. Back up the slope, I follow the trail south along a bluff where I spot a few blossoms from a Service Berry tree as well as a silk nest in the crotch of a young cherry tree containing some 1 cm.-long Tent Caterpillars. Far ahead on the trail, a sudden movement draws my attention to a well-camouflaged Whitetail doe. Continuing on the River Loop trail, I head northeast where, above me the forest canopy is beginning to close up and at my feet Pennsylvania Sedge and Wild Strawberry are beginning to flower. Heading back toward the car on the Meadow Lane trail, I notice a white substance on a pine tree trunk where the watery sap has condensed to reveal the sugars and other minerals contain in it. Also, no hike at this preserve would be complete without stopping to watch the comings and goings of one of many mound ant colonies. Finally, what seemed like an appropriate conclusion to my hike was a serenading Chipping Sparrow.

Welcomed scene

Glad to know

Sustaining life

Flow, river flow

Fish and fowl

Fawn and doe

Living water

Flow, river flow

Farwell for now

Onward you go

Until next time

Flow, river flow

D. DeGraaf