Finger Lakes, NY, Watkins Glen State Park, NY and Pittsburgh, PA

     My partner Susan and I had the recent fortune of traveling to New York for a wedding.  My buddy from graduate school was getting married to his girlfriend of 7 years.  They live in Geneva, New York so we made the long drive out there from Illinois for the wedding.
     Luckily, we had friends along the way we wanted to visit and traveled to Pittsburgh, PA the first day in order to break up the drive.  We continued on to Geneva the next day, which was in late October.  The leaves were about peak color for most of our drive.

With the bride and groom.  Rocks denoting table placement at the wedding dinner.

     The day of the wedding we had some time so we visited a winery.  We stayed with a friend of the bride and groom and she directed us to Fox Run Vineyards in Penn Yan, NY.  We had a nice lunch and did a wine tasting.  After picking out a few bottles to take with us, we headed south down highway 14 to Watkins Glen.  The air was chilly, but the sun was shining and the Finger Lakes region was beautiful.

Beautiful day for a drive in the Finger Lakes region

   

At Fox Run Winery, Penn Yan, NY

     Watkins Glen is the name of the town, but it is also the name of a large gorge in town, named Watkins Glen State Park.  It was highly recommended and it did not disappoint.  It cost $8 to park but it was well worth it.  The park was busy as expected on a fall Saturday, but it was still amazing and the beauty started as soon as we left the parking lot.

Waterfall near entrance to Watkins Glen State Park

     The gorge at Watkins Glen State Park was carved by Glen Creek, approximately 12,000 years ago. Thousands of years of erosion created the deep chasm, and a rock pathway and stairs lead the visitor up the canyon from the main parking lot on the southeast end.  We gorged ourselves on the Gorge Trail.

As they say in the area, "it's gorges!"

Along the trail and behind waterfalls

     The park was opened in 1863 and since then it has seen many changes,  The trail has been reconstructed several times as weathering and flooding have deepened and widened the canyon.  Two dams have been built far upstream in order to alleviate severe flooding.  Humans try to tame nature, but the geologic forces will continue, whether we like it or not.

Along the Gorge Trail at Watkins Glen

     Most of the underlying rock in this area is shale, which is a combination of mud and clay that formed when the area was covered by a shallow sea about 400 million years ago.  Since the last Ice Age, glacial meltwater and large rain events, as well as freezing and thawing action, have removed the layers of rock little by little and we are left at the perfect moment in geologic time to observe a natural wonder.

Main Waterfall

Lover's Lane

     Next we went to Watertown to see some of Susan's friends and we stopped in for lunch at the town's oldest restaurant, built in 1909!

The Crystal Restaurant, Watertown, NY

     After a nice visit to Watertown, NY we returned to Geneva, but on the way we stopped at Niagara Falls.  We forgot our passports so we were not able to see the better view from the Canadian side, and the sun was behind us so photographs were tough, but we took one anyway.

Niagara Falls, NY

     We visited our friends in Geneva again on our way back and continued on the next day to Pittsburgh to see friends and explore the city.  On our last day of the trip we went to the Andy Warhol Museum.  It was super cool and not something one can describe in words.  You just have to go there and see it for yourself.

Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, PA

     Outside the museum was the Andy Warhol bridge, the only bridge in the United States named after a visual artist.  Pittsburgh is the city of bridges, as three rivers converge here.

Andy Warhol bridge

          The museum visit made for a perfect morning and from there we went to an overlook to see the city.

Overlooking Pittsburgh, PA

     For lunch, our host asked if we wanted to go to church.  He took us to the Church Works Brewery, an old church converted into a brick fire pizza oven place and brewery!

Church Works Brewery, Pittsburgh, PA

     It was a great way to end a great vacation!

Mill Bluff State Park, Wisconsin

     Being from Minnesota, but living in Illinois, I frequently travel through Wisconsin on Interstate 90/94 to visit family back in southeastern Minnesota.  About halfway on the trip is a fine state park, right off of the interstate, that I like to stop at, take a break from driving, and check out the view from the overlook.  The place is called Mill Bluff State Park and much of it is designated as a state natural area.
     If coming from the west, exit at Oakdale, and if coming from the east, exit at Camp Douglas. Then follow Highway 12 to the entrance road to the park.  A state park vehicle sticker is required, but a daily pass can be purchased  for $10 (for out-of-state residents), or $5 for a single hour, which is plenty of time when just stopping for a respite from a long car ride.  We paid the ranger, parked our car, and headed for the stairs to the top of the namesake feature, Mill Bluff.
     Only 223 stairs and we were at the top of the bluff!  There is a nice hand rail on one side and the stairs were carved out of the sandstone cliff.  Although they are uneven and challenging for some to climb, it is neat that they were made on site.

Only 223 stairs to the top!

     Pine trees are common on the bluff, and along the trail at the top we observed lots of blueberry (Vaccinium pallidum), native honeysuckle (Diervilla lonicera), and bracken fern (Pteridium aquilinum).  Mill Bluff and the other rock formations are comprised of sandstone of Cambrian origin. These many sandstone pinnacles and mesas are geologic features called sea stacks, rock pillars composed of a steep vertical layer of rock formed by wind and water erosion within a large body of water.  Although this area is within the Driftless Area, a region covering southwestern Wisconsin that was never glaciated, the area was influenced by the last ice age, 15,000 years ago.  The rocks were once islands barely visible in a giant waterbody called Glacial Lake Wisconsin.  The giant lake was created when icebergs dammed the outlets draining the area.  Once the icebergs melted, the glacial outwash carved out the distinctive valleys of the Wisconsin Dells area.  Many glacial erratics were also deposited in this area, material carried south by abundant meltwater.

View from Mill Bluff 

   

Selfie

     After taking in the views to the north, we descended the stairs and returned to our vehicle.  But I wanted to see another one of the rock formations.  One of the rock bluffs is not as angular as the rest. This one is called Ragged Rock and it more uneven in appearance because it is not covered in protective limestone cap, like the other rock bluffs are.

Sandstone cliffs at Ragged Rock

     This characteristic also made it easy to scramble up to near the top.  Rock climbing is prohibited, but to me rock climbing is vertical and hiking doesn't require ropes so I carefully made my way up the steep and sandy slope.  I couldn't get to the top without doing some maneuvering that I would consider climbing.  But I did get some good views from my perch near the top.

View from Ragged Rock

View from Ragged Rock

     This unique area was very fun to explore and I only saw a small portion of it.  Looking out across the wide open expanse made me want to hike the area cross country.  But with lots to do, we made our way back to the car.  Along the way back down I found Spinulose Woodfern (Dryopteris carthusiana) and Polypody Fern (Polypodium virginianum), as well lots of Blue Toadflax (Nuttallanthus canadensis).

Spinulose Woodfern (Dryopteris carthusiana)

     This area is a real gem and convenient to stop at and take a closer look.  The geologic formations are really quite fascinating!

Base of Ragged Rock

Great Smoky Mountains National Park

     This spring there was one thing that I knew I needed to do: visit the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  I am somewhat ashamed to admit that I had never been there before and it is not all that far from Carbondale, Illinois. 
     We set out Friday morning for the park.  Not really knowing that much about the park, we figured we would head to Gatlinburg and go from there.  We heard from wise friends that we wanted to avoid that area, as well as Pigeon Forge, and decided to start in Townsend.  What a neat little town that was!
     Before finding a motel, we decided to go to a Visitor’s Center to learn more about the park and mainly, to get a detailed map.  We proceed to Cades Cove and found ourselves driving the scenic loop.  It was a bit early in the year at that altitude and so we did not observe that much in that area, but we did stop at the small Visitor’s Center, which was a neat little log cabin.  On the way back around the loop we stopped to admire and photograph some old settler cabins, but it was getting dark so we went back to town.

Motel in Townsend, TN

     We found a motel to stay at for only $60 and it had a nice fire-pit area with wooden rocking chairs.  We joined the crowd around the fire and had interesting small talk until one of the participants told us a couple bizarre stories from his tenure as a police officer in Chattanooga.  I’ll spare you the details.  Another person told us to check out the trail at the intersection just south of town so we packed it in for the night.
     In the morning we drove a few minutes to the Chestnut Top trailhead and proceeded up the slope.  It was splendid indeed!  The cliffs along the trail were loaded with wildflowers.  We saw large patches of many wildflowers like Fern-leaved Phacelia (Phacelia bipinnatifida), Great Chickweed (Stelaria pubera), Early Saxifrage (Saxifraga virginiensis), Soloman’s Seal (Polygonatum biflorum), False Soloman’s Seal (Smilacina racemosa), Bishop’s Cap (Mitella diphylla), Stonecrop (Sedum ternatum), Meadow Parsnip (Thaspium sp.), Long-spurred Violet (Viola rostrata), Dwarf Crested Iris (Iris cristata), Fire Pink (Silene virginica), Toothwort (Dicentra lcacinata), Rue Anemone (Anemonella thalictroides), Foamflower (Tiarella cordifolia), and several species of Trilliums (Trillium spp.).  It was a splendid introduction to the spring wildflowers of the park, but we had lots to see so we turned around after a mile or so and went back to the car.

Yellow Trillium (Trillium luteum) and Fire Pink (Silene virginica)

     Next we drove the Little River Road in order to make our way up to Clingman’s Dome.  The road was lined with Wild Columbine (Aquilegia canadensis) blooming along the cliffs.  The road followed the river and it was an extremely winding road.  We drove slowly in the light rain, and traffic was light, allowing us to take in the views all around.
     There was some more activity around the Sugarlands Visitor’s Center, so we skipped stopping there and drove up Newfound Gap Road.  Traffic was light for the most part and I was beginning to wonder where all the people were, since we knew that this is the most visited national park in the United States.  All it took was a wildlife encounter to bring the people into visibility.  On our way up Newfound Gap road we encountered traffic and cars along the side of the road.  Our inquiry indicated a female black bear and her three cubs could be seen in the woods.  We responsibly drove up to a small parking lot nearby and went to observe the black bears slowly walk around foraging.  It was pretty cool.

Female black bear and view from Clingman's Dome

     After a couple more hilarious encounters with motorists, we arrived at the parking lot for Clingman’s Dome and headed up the short, steep path to an observation deck that had been erected on the summit.  Clingman’s Dome is the highest point within the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the highest point in Tennessee.  Having completed Arizona’s highest point last November, we were excited to have completed another one.  On the way down we noticed some inappropriately dressed tourists make their way up, and I said, “You’re going to be cold up there!” to which they just awkwardly smiled.      

     

Clingman's Dome, 6643 ft, highest point in Tennessee

     It was cold, windy, and rainy up in the parking lot area, and visibility was reduced from the cloud cover so I snapped a few photos and we headed back down the mountain to one of the main Visitor Centers.  On the way, we stopped several times to look for salamanders under rocks in the smaller flowing streams.  Unfortunately, we didn’t find any, but they are reportedly usually everywhere.  However, we did stop to admire an area with old growth trees and huge mats of wildflowers, mainly Fringed Phacelia (Phacelia fimbriata) and Large-flowered Trillium (Trillium grandiflorum).  

Fringed Phacelia (Phacelia fimbriata)

     I was very impressed by some of the large trees here, mainly the huge Ohio Buckeyes (Aesculus glabra), probably because I had never seen ones so large before.  Before getting into the car at this spot, a young girl pointed out a curious mouse that was roaming around in the grass.  We went to observe it and it jumped on my boot!  

      I stopped along the road at a couple other pulloffs to photograph wildflowers, particularly the Trilliums.  I found some pink ones that were beautiful, and read in the guidebook that the white ones turn pink with age.

Blue Cohosh (Caulophyllum thalictroides), Ohio Buckeyes (Aesculus glabra), and Trilliums (Trillium spp.)

     Once at the Sugarlands Visitor Center, we asked for advice about visiting some of the better waterfalls and ended up buying a guidebook to the waterfalls in the park.  We decided to go to Porters Creek at the suggestion of a botanist who works in the park.  He told us to go at least a mile to get into the real good wildflowers.  The trail was wide and well-travelled with mostly flowers we had already observed and so we made quick time in the late afternoon rain.  

     I really liked an area with a small bridge that was loaded with Brook Lettuce (Saxifraga micranthidifolia).  It was a plant I had never seen or even heard of before!

Porters Creek and Brook Lettuce (Saxifraga micranthidifolia)

     Things got real cool when we came to the crossing over Porters Creek.  There were several large logs that were cut in half and lined up to form a single walkway across the cascading river.  The flat part of the logs were placed face-up and were covered with roofing tiles to increase traction.  There was also a wooden handrail secured with wires and some cement foundations anchoring the log bridge to some large rocks in the river.  It was so fun to cross, and I made a video of it that can be seen here.

Crossing Porters Creek and at Fern Branch Falls

     The vegetation became very interesting immediately after crossing Porters Creek.  All of a sudden, Fringed Phacelia everywhere!  The lightning was poor and the rain was falling, preventing me from getting any good photos, but it was a beautiful site.  After another short hike, we made it to Fern Branch Falls.  Although not a spectacular flow, the area was lush and colorful in the late afternoon rain.  We scrambled around the area, took a selfie, and headed back to the parking lot. 
     On the way, we ran into some folks who pointed out a neat plant called Little Brown Jug (Hexastylis arifolia).  It is in the Aristolochiaceae, along with Wild Ginger, and it was something I had not seen before.  

Wild Geranium (Geranium maculatum), raging river, and Little Brown Jug (Hexastylis arifolia)

     Another highlight was seeing several flowering Showy Orchids (Galearis spectabilis) along the trail.  Seeing orchids in flower is always a cool thing.       

Dwarf Crested Iris (Iris cristata), large rock cleavage, and Showy Orchid (Galearis spectabilis)

     Later on, we saw another orchid, the common Rattlesnake Plantain orchid (Goodyera pubescens), not currently in flower although the seed capsules could still be seen.  Another interesting shrub we observed that I had not seen or heard of before was Dog-hobble (Leucothoe fontanesiana).  Apparently bear hunters back in the day used dogs to chase bears and the heavy bears could penetrate the dense thickets of this shrub but the dogs would be hobbled.  Another plant that I enjoyed photographing was Blue Cohosh (Caulophorum thalictroides).  The delicate flowers are hard to capture and there was more of it here than I’ve ever seen in southern Illinois!
     It was getting late in the day so we decided to look for a place to stay, while also avoiding Gatlinburg.  The guide at the Visitor’s Center made it seem like little else was available outside of town, but we took our chances.  We were planning on camping, but the rain was a strong deterrent.  We found a place just outside of Cosby that was nice.  We had a living area with a full kitchen and wood stove for only $75.  We ordered a homemade pizza from an Italian guy in Cosby who told us many stories while we waited for our pizza.  I played guitar while Susan relaxed.  It was a nice evening.
     The sun was finally shining in the morning and the air was warm.  We were excited to get on the trail to enjoy a few more hours of the park before heading back to Carbondale.  We headed over to the Big Creek Campground and hiked up the trail to Midnight Hole and Mouse Creek Falls.

Midnight Hole

     One of the folks we spoke with (I have a habit of chatting up everyone I encounter), mentioned that Midnight Hole was a really nice spot, but wanting to see waterfalls, we didn’t think the picture in the guidebook looked too phenomenal.  Funny because when we came upon Midnight Hole, we didn’t realize at first we were there, but both immediately thought what a cool place it was.  It is was warmer, we would have jumped in!
     A short hike up the trail from Midnight Hole was Mouse Creek Falls and it was a pretty waterfall.  What was so nice was that this was supposed to be the most visited national park in the system, yet we had the waterfall all to ourselves for the half hour we spent there having lunch and taking it all in.  On the way back, we saw a lot of the same wildflowers we had been seeing, and a hiker pointed out a water snake and a black rat snake.

Mouse Creek Falls

     Hiking along Big Creek was so nice.  The surging crystal clear water was flowing over and through the large and well weathered boulders.  It sounded very peaceful.
     After getting back to the car, we split the last beer in our cooler and decided to hike a short way up the Baxter Creek Trail.  The most interesting thing observed along this section, besides lots of the neat plants we had already been seeing, was a plant called Yellow Mandarin (Disporum lanuginosum).  I had never seen it before and had fun pondering what it could be before I got out the guidebook and figured it out.

Baxter Creek Trail and Yellow Mandarin (Disporum lanuginosum)

     As we made our way back to the car we were sad our brief vacation to the Smokies had come to an end, but we knew we would definitely be back.  Although there were many plants I was hoping to see in flower, there was one thing I spotted flowering at some point along our travels that I wished /I had stopped to photograph.  On our last few miles of road before getting to the Interstate, I found what I was looking for: the Silverbell (Halesia carolina).  What a great way to end a great vacation.

Silverbell (Halesia carolina)

Porcupine Mountains in Winter

    The Porcupine Mountain Wilderness is a state park in the upper peninsula of Michigan. My very first overnight backpacking trip was there over Thanksgiving, back in 1999.  Seeing the beautiful natural character of the forest in winter convinced me that this place was special.  Now, 15 years later, I look at the forest through the eyes of an experienced ecologist, and while I understand it much better, I retain the awe I felt on that initial trip so many years ago.
     Another vivid memory from that trip was seeing a man with a female companion, who were pulling a sled into the woods to stay in a cabin.  I thought the idea was so romantic, and ever since have wanted to take my honey on a wilderness experience in style and relative comfort.  I was very excited to finally have the chance.
     In the winter season, staying in a yurt is certainly plush compared to tent camping.  This became strikingly apparent to me during my first yurt trip in the Never Summer Wilderness in Colorado, after years of tent camping in the snow, and several times in the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness while an undergraduate at Winona State University.  While yurts have no plumbing or electricity, sometimes propane is provided for running a stove and heater, but mostly you rely on a wood stove for heat, and canvas walls around a wooden frame for shelter.
       Susan and I drove up from the Chicago area on a Sunday night and stayed at the AmericInn in Silver City, just 3 miles east of the park.  The last 30 miles of driving were blizzard-like conditions, a rather regular occurrence in this area.  It was dark and cold and windy, so we were relieved when the drive was over and we found ourselves at the hotel bar in time for last call.
     A couple inches of fresh snow fell overnight so we were excited to get to the yurt.  The road to the park entrance was close to the lake and was very slippery due to ice and blowing snow.  It made for an extreme scene.  Since we started our trip on a holiday, the visitor's center was closed.  We found our reservation packet on the kiosk and headed over to park at the Whitetail Cabin parking lot.

At the trailhead to the Union Bay yurts

     There are two yurts along the shore of Lake Superior in the Union Bay area. In the summer, the yurts can be accessed from the nearby campground, but in the winter it is about a one mile hike from the nearest plowed parking area.  We pulled our plastic sleds from Ace Hardware loaded down with gear along the nice path through the forest to the yurt on the west end of Union Bay.

If you come to a fork in the road, take it - Yogi Berra

     It was very cold outside, the temperature hovering around zero degrees, and the yurt seemed even colder inside once we got there.  The previous occupants did not leave us any split wood, but we had brought plenty of newspaper and firestarters.  I chopped up a couple logs to get the fire going, and, although it took a bit for the radiant heat from the wood stove to warm up the yurt, the fire was roaring quickly.  We made warm drinks and unpacked our gear.

Inside the yurt with the wood stove

     Confident that the yurt would provide warmth during the bitter cold weather, we decided to get in a loop on the cross country skis.  Almost 90 miles of groomed ski trails exist right out the door of the yurts, and they provide access to the beautiful forest in the surrounding area.

Chris and Susan in front of the yurt   

Cross country skiing in the hemlock forest

We returned to the yurt after completing a thoroughly fun and brisk ski along the Deer Yard and Big Hemlock trails.  The website said they groom the ski trails daily, but the only evidence of such we observed was a new grooming machine that appeared stuck or abandoned along the ski trail.  The few inches of fresh snow from the night before made for fun conditions to plow through on our skis.  After a couple hours we were back at the yurt, and enjoyed a toasty night playing games.

Playing Spite and Malice and Yahtzee while drinking Labatt Blue

     The yurt was a really a wonderful way to enjoy the winter beauty at an expansive park.  The two yurts in this area are a little close together, but with such extreme conditions, we found that somewhat comforting, and it really didn't distract from the solitude, since we were either out in the wilderness (where we saw no one), or closed up in the yurt.

     I was concerned about keeping the yurt warm since the folks we saw at the trailhead said that the yurt was colder than the cabin they stayed at, and it was bitterly cold outside, and inside the yurt initially.  This led to my overzealous tendency to add more firewood than necessary to maintain a comfortable temperature, and soon we were in our underwear and opening the door to cool down the place!

     The next day we went on a longer ski adventure, and it was exquisite.  Although it was cold, the winter conditions were perfect, and although it was the day after a long holiday weekend, we saw no people nor any sign of recent activity on the ski trails.  We enjoyed the fresh layer of powder snow and decided to plow our way up to the East Vista.  The park is said to have the most scenic cross country trail systems in the region.

Ski trails in the Porkies

     The Porcupine Mountains Wilderness is a state park administered by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.  It is located in the upper peninsula of Michigan on the western end near Ironwood. The Lake Superior Ojibwa referred to the area as "Kaug Wudjoo" which means "place of the crouching porcupine."  There is a series of high ridges in the park that begin at the East Vista, and the series of basalt and sandstone rock is known as the escarpment.

     The Porcupine Mountains Wilderness is 60,000 acres of forest along 23 miles of Lake Superior shoreline with hills and cliffs that rise above 1000 feet from the lake.  These are volcanic mountains that are over a billion years old, worn down long before the birth of the Rocky Mountains and the Appalachian Mountains, but are not, as local folklore sometimes asserts, the oldest in the world.  About half of the park is old growth forest, and the area below the Lake of the Clouds is considered to be the best tract of virgin northern hardwoods in North America.
     It was an awesome sight to see such a winter scene in the forest.  Small trees, laden with heavy snow, were completely bent over, and their highest branches were stuck in the snow on the ground.  Several spanned the width of the trail and made it feel like we were entering an enchanted land.  I was able to free some of the smaller trees by whacking them with my ski pole.  It was fun to watch the snow drop and the tree catapult back in the upright position.  Only once did I succumb to the temptation to move a branch of an evergreen tree with my ski pole right after passing it along the trail, and laugh as the fluffy snow fell onto Susan as she skied by. Anticipating possible retribution, I vowed not to do such a thing again.

Skiing through the forest under trees bent by snow

        When I looked at the availability of cabin and yurt rentals online while booking our trip, almost all the rentals were taken for every winter weekend.  However, we didn't see anyone on the trails, except our neighbors staying in the yurt to the east.  The trails we took to the East Vista led to cabins as well, and it was right after a holiday weekend, but it didn't appear that anyone had used the trails, or groomed them, recently. That added to our wilderness experience in my opinion.  Coming up on the view at the East Vista was fantastic!  Clear late afternoon skies made for a great view and I was able to get a photo of us together at the overlook by lugging my tripod in my backpack.

View from the East Vista

     We drank some hot chocolate at the overlook and took in the view, but soon it was apparent that the sun was going down and temperatures were dropping. Susan was getting quite cold so we decided we had better make our way back to the yurt.  As soon as I started skiing, the colder snow started sticking to the bottom of my skis and I was unable to ski downhill.  I became anxious as Susan skied on and I was stuck scraping snow of my skis.  Once I was able to continue, I caught up with Susan and she said her fingers and toes were starting to hurt.  I was able to warm up her hands in mine and that helped but warming up her feet would have been a much greater undertaking.  We thought once our heart rates picked up, we would warm up.  As we made our way down the slope, I was quite concerned and wished it was not so late in the day.  I scolded myself for not bringing hand warmers and getting an earlier start, and I was worried because I could not judge the severity of Susan's cold feet.
     The trail was mostly downhill on the way back and that made for easy and fun skiing, but we were getting tired.  The light from the setting sun cast at a low angle sparkled across the tops of the trees.  It was a beautiful sight that I was cognizant to remember.  Soon we came out at the parking lot at the chalet, crossed the entrance road, and completed the final mile back to the yurt.  Thankfully, when we got there it was still warm from our morning fire.  We enjoyed the view of Lake Superior on the only clear day we had while in the park.

Lake Superior from the yurt

      The temperature dropped below zero by the time we returned and the wind chill was dangerous.  We were thankful for the wood supply we had left ourselves from earlier!  I think my beard at the end of the ski trip says it all.

Frozen beard man

     We had another fun night hanging out in the yurt playing games and staying cozy. The next morning the weather was ominous and we decided it would be best to get on the road back home.  The snow was blowing in the wind and after signing the yurt journal we packed up our things and pulled the sleds of gear to our car.

Signing the yurt journal and sledding out our gear

Leaving the Porkies