The Hunt for the Brittle Prickly Pear

The Hunt for the Brittle Prickly Pear

H. Bradford

8/26/20

Although it may not seem like the ideal habitat for cacti, Minnesota is actually home to three native species of cactus: the Plains Prickly Pear, the Brittle Prickly Pear, and the Purple Ball Cactus.  The Brittle Prickly Pear or Opuntia fragilis, which ranges into northern Alberta, just four degrees from the Arctic circle, is the northernmost cactus in the world. These northerly cacti have several adaptations which allow them to survive extreme conditions.  Although they flower and produce fruit, they can also reproduce from pads that have detached from the plant.  In the winter, they shrivel up to avoid freeze damage. They can tolerate a variety of soils and are fire tolerant, as long as their roots survive.  Prickly pears in general photosynthesize at night to avoid loss of water. These tough cacti can withstand a temperate range between -58 F and 131 F. Since I knew that this cactus could be found at Quarry Park in St. Cloud, which isn’t too far from where my brother lives, I was determined that this summer I would find this cacti.

The first attempt to find the Brittle Prickly Pear was this past June.  My brother and I spent over three hours at Quarry Park in St. Cloud searching the rocky outcrops for the cactus. Perhaps part of the problem was that I expected it to be larger. I have seen prickly pears before, and they are usually somewhat large plants with pads the size of my hands. When blooming, they have large yellow flowers. The Brittle Prickly Pear is remarkably small. The pads are about two inches tall and a half of an inch to an inch wide. They grow in small clusters on bare, southern facing rocks. While they tolerate many conditions, they do not tolerate shade, so they will not survive where they are crowded or shaded by other plants.  The area which we focused on the most was the State Scientific and Natural Area. This seemed like the most obvious place, since it featured a sign with information on the Brittle Prickly Pear. We scoured the rocks, but found nothing.  This isn’t to say that there are no Brittle Prickly Pear in the SNA, but we were not successful in this area.  Even though we didn’t find any cacti, we had a nice hike and even got yelled at by a man who looked like Santa Claus for talking too loudly out on the far end of the SNA (where we hadn’t seen any hikers for at least an hour).

My brother and I visited Quarry Park again in mid-August.  This second visit was cut short when I suddenly got a fever and had to turn around on the hike.  The cactus hunt turned into a Covid-19 scare that sent me back home.  I was quite disappointed that I had to abandon the quest, but my brother cheered me up by painting me a prickly pear portrait.

A week later, after my Covid-19 test came back negative, I visited my brother again.  For this third attempt to find the cactus, I prepared myself for the hunt by wearing a cactus shirt, mask, and earrings.  Clearly this outfit helped, as this time we were successful early in our hike.  We once again headed towards the SNA, but along the way my brother saw a trail which said, “Do Not Enter” or “Wrong Way.”  I believe that this was near number 11 on the map.  He thought we should enter anyway, which we did.  We came upon some rocks and I found a tiny cactus the size of my pinky lying on its side on a bed of moss. I found a cactus!  A tiny, uprooted cactus. A few feet away at the south end of these rocks were several other patches of small cacti.  We took many photos of our discovery, feeling very satisfied that we finally found the cacti. They were much smaller than I had imagined them.  In a way, it is easy to understand how such tiny cacti survive against the harsh winters. The are small, keeping close to the warmth of the rocks and insulating moss. These ones don’t appear to fruit or flower, struggling at the very edge of cacti survival.  And, while this guide is not precise because I don’t have a good memory of the layout of the park, hopefully this helps others find them as well.  As another clue, the spot where the cacti were located was near a quarry pond with trout on a trail which lead onward to the SNA.  I hope, of course, that no one digs up or destroys these cactuses.  They are not protected in Minnesota, but they are in other states and it would be nice to keep a healthy population of these unique plants.

Quarry Park is just one area where these cacti can be found. Some of the places where Brittle Prickly Pear are known to grow include Jeffer’s Petroglyphs, Pipestone National Monument, Blue Mounds State Park, Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge, granite outcrops around St. Cloud, rock outcrops of Big Stone County, and southern sloping rocky outcrops at Rainy Lake near Canada.  Having found one species of cactus in Minnesota, I hope to one day find the others as well. The Purple Ball Cactus is considered endangered in Minnesota, but can be found in Big Stone Wildlife Refuge and its populations outside of the refuge has been threatened by granite quarrying.  The Plains Prickly Pear is more common, but still rare in that it is confined to the south western parts of the state. Blue Mounds State Park seems like a great destination to see both the Plains Prickly Pear and Brittle Prickly Pear.  In any event, my brother and I were elated to find the prickly pear on our third attempt and I look forward to future cacti adventures.

A few sources:

https://www.minnesotawildflowers.info/flower/brittle-prickly-pear

Click to access 2012%20CSSJ%20Minnesota.pdf

https://www.catherineruddell.com/blog/2016/7/4/cactus-hunting-at-56-degrees-north#:~:text=Little%20Prickly%20Pear%2C%20or%20Opuntia,cactus%20species%20in%20THE%20WORLD.

https://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/plants/cactus/opufra/all.html

 

 

 

Pictured Rocks: Things I Ate

Pictured Rocks: Things I Ate

H. Bradford

08/09/20

Like most people, I like to eat.  Earlier in July, I visited Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.  The trip was about two days of sightseeing and two half days of driving (over five hours each way).  The following are some highlights of the foods that I ate while on this mini-road trip.

Vegetable Pasty:

One of the first things to welcome visitors to Munising, Michigan is Muldoons Pasties.  The award winning pasty shop has been serving pasties since 1989.  A pasty is a meat and vegetable filled pastry from Cornish cuisine.  Cornish immigrants working in the mining industry introduced pasties to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.  A larger wave of Finnish immigrants later moved to northern Michigan and adopted the pastry, as it was a convenient and filling food to sustain them while working long shifts.  Thus, pasties have important working class and Michigan history.  Muldoons Pasties feature a few different varieties, but to my delight, they had vegetable pasties.  It is unusual to find a vegetarian friendly pasty.   It was delicious!  It had a thick, flaky crust and was packed full of carrots, potatoes, broccoli, and cauliflower.  Dan tried the chicken pasty, which he said was the best he had ever tried.  Since the shop is small inside, patrons take the pasties to go or eat them at picnic table outside.  I was very full after eating it and it fueled me through my long hike on the Chapel Loop Trail.  We came back later and tried an apple pasty, which was also tasty.

Sweet Potato Quinoa Burger:

Another place in Munising that I tried was Falling Rocks Cafe and Bookstore.  This cafe featured a small selection of gifts, dining area, ice cream, coffee, and a vegetarian friendly menu.  There were several vegetarian sandwiches on the menu, but I chose the sweet potato quinoa burger.  I took this item to go and unfortunately it got a little squished by the time I ate it.  Although the photo is a bit blurry and the sandwich itself was crushed, it was fantastic!  The soft patty was served on a pretzel bun and was topped with sweet chili sauce.  Overall, the sandwich was sweet and tender, with the lettuce and red onion adding a little crunch.

Iced Latte from a VW Bus:

While checking to see if the Gitchi Gummi Agate Museum in Grand Marais was open, I noticed a VW bus parked by the museum (which was closed).  I almost walked away, but decided to turn around and get an iced latte.  The van is called The Dream Bean Machine and serves a variety of caffeinated drinks.  It is parked outside of a larger coffee shop with indoor seating, but I am uncertain if it was closed due to Covid-19.  The coffee shop/bus also offers yoga lessons on the beach. I ordered an iced latte with oat milk, which I found to be very smooth and not too bitter.  It was the perfect pick me up for the drive back towards Munising.

Mackinac Island Fudge Ice cream:

I will admit that I only went to The Frozen Flamingo in Munising because I liked birds and was attracted to the flamingo themed building.  I was a little disappointed that inside it was mostly a gift shop with a selection of ice cream in the back.  There are several ice cream flavors which originated in Michigan.  One of them is Mackinac Island Fudge Ice Cream.  Mackinac Island is know for its fudge shops, which emerged in the 1880s when the island became a tourist destination.  Moose Tracks is also a Michigan ice cream flavor along with Superman and Blue Moon (an ice cream associated with Michigan but actually from Wisconsin ).  There were several varieties of Mackinac Island Fudge Ice-cream and I believe that they had Superman and Blue Moon ice cream as well.  While the selection was not extensive, it is an opportunity to try Michigan themed ice creams.

 

 

Blueberry Zucchini Panini

The Iron Bay Restaurant and Drinkery in Marquette, Michigan is a really neat restaurant located in a building that once housed the Iron Bay Foundry.  The restaurant has outdoor seating with a view of Lake Superior and markets itself as ecofriendly by seeking some locally sourced foods, using recyclable containers, and sending food waste to animal farms.  It was closed on Sunday when I first arrived, so it was the last place I ate at and the grand finale of the trip.  I wanted to try the Blueberry Zucchini Panini since I like that zucchini and panini rhyme.  The panini featured arugula, goat cheese, swiss cheese, blueberry ketchup, and zucchini.  I will say that the blueberry was more overpowering than I expected. I thought it would be a bit more savory, but instead, it tasted like blueberry syrup for pancakes. It was good, but not what I expected.  Perhaps ordering the blueberry ketchup on the side would have been a good idea (to control the amount). According to Michigan Grown, the state ranks third for blueberry production and most of the berries are grown on family farms (575 of them).  I am not sure if the blueberries were local, but I certainly saw a lot of blueberries while hiking.  Dan tried the white fish and chips.  There are a few white fish dishes, which feature Lake Superior caught fish.

Econofoods:

This isn’t as exciting as a zucchini panini, but I also bought some groceries from Econofoods.  Econofoods is a Minnesota based grocery chain and was open 24 hours (in Marquette).  The double rainbow image of Econofoods actually comes from the store’s Facebook page.  I feel that this is quite an epic photo for a grocery store…

There you have it, some of the highlights of things I ate on my trip to the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.  Because I only spent two days adventuring in the area, I didn’t get the opportunity to try too many things.  I would have liked to have tried Eh Burger in Munising, which featured a veggie burger on the menu and burger eating Velociraptor statue by the front door.  The restaurant closed early so I didn’t get an opportunity to eat there.  I also would have liked to have a picnic at one of the many Lake Superior view rest areas between Marquette and Munising.  Alas, there was no time.  But, I was otherwise satisfied with the foods that I tried!

I did not take this photo…but it was a good gimmick for Eh Burger.

 

Two Days at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore

Two Days at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore

 

H. Bradford

08/09/20

One of my 2020 bucket list items was to visit a national park and a new state. I certainly won’t accomplish most of my 2020 bucket list due to Covid-19. Although there are many things I can’t do this year, I thought that one small thing I could do is visited Pictured Rock National Lakeshore in Michigan.  Michigan is not a “new” state on my list of states, but it is “new” for 2020.  Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore is operated by the National Park Service, so, it is a part of the national park system even if it is not one of the 62 designed national parks.   Pictured Rocks is one of only three National Lakeshores, which makes it special, even if it isn’t a national park.  The rocks get their name from the minerals such as iron, copper, and manganese in the groundwater that have dripped down the rock face.  Located only five and a half hours from Duluth, it made for the perfect quick getaway.  The following are some highlights of my two day visit.

 

Chapel Loop:

This was my favorite part of the trip.  It was a ten mile loop of trail which followed the cliffs of the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, while weaving through the forests as well. The trails were very muddy in many areas, which made the hiking slow and added more distance as muddy areas often had to be circumvented.  The trail brings hikers past Chapel Falls to Chapel Rock. Chapel Rock is an interesting looking sandstone formation. The outcropping is straddled by the roots of a large white pine.  Near Chapel Rock is Chapel Beach. This is the part of the trail which marks the beginning of following the Pictured Rocks cliffs. The trail offers stunning views of Lake Superior and the cliffs.  By the end of the hike, I felt worn out, but accomplished!

 

 

Pictured Rocks Boat Tour:

A less arduous way to see the Pictured Rocks is with a boat tour. Boat tours are very popular and were booked until the late afternoon on the second day of the trip.  I had also tried to book a shipwreck themed glass bottom boat tour, but these were booked for both days. I managed to snag a 3pm boat tour for the Pictured Rock boat.  The boat tour costs $38 and lasted about two and a half hours. Due to Covid-19, the occupancy of the boat is half of what is typical and everyone was required to wear a mask. There are two seating levels, so for the most part, people could space out.  There was some crowding in the line and when it started to rain, which sent upstairs passengers to the bottom of the boat.  The great thing about doing the boat tour after the hike was that it is an opportunity to see the places you’ve been!  It also is was an opportunity to see some of the landmarks that I did not have time to visit, such as Miner’s Castle and Miner’s Beach.  The boat tour also offers views of Grand Island, including the Grand Island East Channel Light.  The gray wooden lighthouse began operations in 1868.  The boat tour is a leisurely way to soak in the astonishing cliffs and learn more about their history.  The boat was very stable, so there seemed to be little risk of seasickness.

 

Grand Sable Dunes:

Grand Sable Dunes are located about an hour away from Munising, Michigan. The dunes are located on the far east end of the Pictured Rocks National Lake Shore.  Whereas Pictured Rocks is most famous for its fifteen miles of colorful cliffs, it also has a five stretch of impressive dunes called Grand Sable Dunes. The tallest of the dunes is 275 feet above the lake. A short, quarter mile long trail takes visitors to the dunes. I expected a sprawling, Sahara like landscape.  Instead, the trail ended with a few dunes which could be climbed and a view of other dunes which was partially obscured by jack pines. It was hard to appreciate the size and expanse of dunes from that vantage point.  The Log Slide offers a better overview of the dune landscape. Although the view does not offer a full account of the landscape, it is a first hand experience to hike up some smaller dunes.  I think my visit to Grand Sable Dunes was another example of my imagination imposing unrealistic expectations upon reality.  To be fair, my imagination has been informed by dunes in Namibia, including a hike up Dune 45 and an attempt to hike up Big Daddy (ran out of time…and it was hot).  The Grand Sable Dunes are an example of perched dunes, or dunes which occur on cliffs.  They were formed when sand was blown up and deposited upon a glacial moraine. According to the National Park Service, Ojibwe called the dunes Gitchi Nagow or Great Sands, and used them for religious fasting.  I know next to nothing about dune ecosystems, but the Grand Sable Dunes is orchid rich and home to some unique plant species.  I didn’t know that the dunes were home to rare orchids!  The only noteworthy plant that I saw during my hike was a gauntlet of poison ivy.  Grand Sable Dunes is definitely worth a visit!

 

   Grand Sable Waterfall:

There are dozens of waterfalls to visit in Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore and the surrounding area.  But with only two days to take in the sights of the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, there wasn’t time to visit many. One very easy to visit waterfall is Grand Sable Waterfall.  It is located right by the Grand Sable Dunes, making it easy to visit both at the same time. There are several viewing platforms from which visitors can view the 75 foot falls. There are 168 steps on the stairs that lead to the lowest viewing platform.

 

Log Slide Overlook:

The Log Slide Overlook is located about five miles west of Grand Sable Dunes. The overlook was used to roll logs down the dune into Lake Superior, hence the name.  A short trail (.25 miles round trip) leads visitors to the overlook.  The overlook is 175 feet above Lake Superior and offers views of the perched dune landscape as well as Au Sable Lighthouse in the distance.  Visitors can hike down the side of the dune, but this is a steep five minute journey down and a long, grueling, sandy hike back up.  There have been emergencies wherein tourists who could not make it back up the steep dune and had to be rescued. I was not inclined to tackle the sandy incline and enjoyed the views from above.

 

 

Sable Lake: 

This is close to Grand Sable Dunes on the other side of the highway.  There isn’t much to say about this stop, but that it only takes a minute or two to pull off and visit the lake.  There was a small bear near the lake when I stopped there.

Grand Marais:

Since Grand Sable Dunes are only a mile away from Grand Marais, there is no reason not to stop by this small town at the far east end of the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.  There are a few attractions in the town, such as the Pickle Barrel House, which is a barrel shaped house on the National Register of Historic Places.  There is a museum inside of the house, but it was closed due to Covid-19.  Another attraction is the Gitchi Gummee Agate Museum. This had limited due to Covid-19, with evening hours on the day that I visited.  There is also a memorial monument to commercial fishers, Lighthouse Keeper’s House Museum, and Old Post Office Museum.  I did not visit any of these museums. However, I made a brief visit to the public beach near the Lighthouse Keeper’s Museum, where visitors can view again the dune landscape. The area is also a breeding ground for rare Piping Plovers.

 

Christmas, MI:

Although this is not part of the Pictured Rocks, Christmas is an unusual stop right outside of Munising, Michigan.  The tiny town is definitely past its heyday, but tourists can still stop to take a photo of a giant Santa sign or the giant Santa outside of a casino. There is also a motel called the Christmas Motel and several streets with Christmas themed names.

 

Overall, I had a good but brief visit to Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.  If I visited again, I would like to do more hiking and see a few more waterfalls.  I also wouldn’t mind going on the shipwreck tour and perhaps trying kayaking (I am not sure if I am confident enough to kayak on Lake Superior.) Otherwise, I felt that I made pretty good use of my time.  It is a popular tourist destination, so there were many people around.  The trails allowed enough area for social distancing and the tourist were less plentiful closer to Grand Marais. That seemed to be a quieter end of the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.  With plenty of things to do and see, it was definitely worth the visit!

Big Bog with My Brother

Big Bog with My Brother

H. Bradford

8/1/20

I promised my brother “it would be the Disneyland of bogs.” In my mind, the Big Bog State Recreation Area was a big deal. It had been on my bucket list for a few years and a July visit with my father in Bemidji provided the perfect opportunity to make the journey. So, I coaxed my brother into abandoning his family and coming along. As a spoiler, it was not “the Disneyland of bogs,” that I had promised. This has happened before. As a teen, I visited the amethyst mines by Thunder Bay, ON.  I imagined fantastic caverns of sparkling lavender hued crystals. Instead, it was a giant open pit mine of dusty brown rocks. Last summer, I visited the Forestville Mystery Cave, which was epic in my imagination with twisting caverns of fossil embossed walls. It was a large cave, but the standard tour visited only a small portion, and it was much more mundane than the cave I had imagined. Big Bog State Recreation Area was indeed a very large bog. It had all of the impressive qualities of a very large bog, but it was not the orchid bejeweled paradise with towering mounds of moss and giant, carnivorous plants. Big Bog was big in my imagination and big in real life, but it is best appreciated for exactly what it is…a large bog with an impressive, mile long bog walk.

To begin, bogs are a type of wetland or water saturated environment. They are furthermore a type of peatland, which is an environment wherein organic material has built up over time because cool (usually) low oxygen conditions have inhibited the decay of these materials. Among peatlands, bogs are characterized by peat or partially decayed vegetation that has built up over time. According to basic definitions of bogs, this built up peat landscape is not nourished by groundwater, and instead derives its nutrients from precipitation. This results in water with low nutrient content and high acidity. This means that bogs host uniquely adapted plants such as carnivorous plants, orchids, and stunted, slow growing trees.

Minnesota has 6 million acres of peatlands, which make up 10% of the state. It is second only to Alaska in peatlands. According to the Department of Natural Resources, Minnesota’s peatlands began forming 5,000-6,000 years ago during a climate cooling period that saw increased precipitation. Big Bog State Recreational Area, which is also known as The Red Lake Peatland, was formed in the part of the basin of Glacial Lake Agassiz.  Nearby Upper Red Lake and Lower Red Lake are remnants of the lake.  Richard Ojakanga’s Roadside Geology of Minnesota states that Big Bog itself formed about 3,000 years ago as vegetation began to overtake low lying areas of Glacial Lake Agassiz. The average thickness of peat is ten feet. Big Bog is 50 miles long east to west and 12 miles wide. It is the largest bog in the lower 48 states. The Red Lake Peatland is also unique in that it is located only 50 miles from prairie.  

Big Bog State Recreation Area was added to the Minnesota State Park system in 2000. It was established through a local effort to boost the economy after the collapse of walleye fishing on Red Lake.  Fishing was the main tourist attraction for the nearby town of Waskish, which saw resorts close in the late 1990s. When I told my brother this, he was skeptical that a large bog would attract tourists.  After all, there is a difference between the type of tourist who wants to stroll through a bog and those who want to go walleye fishing.  In other words, people who like bogs might be a bit more on the nerdy side. I had read that several years after opening, there were 75,000 visitors to Big Bog, a number that was expected to grow (but cannot find the source). Since walleye fishing resumed in 2006 after efforts to restock the fish and a moratorium on fishing them, the two types of tourism actually coexist at the moment. 

Big Bog State Recreational Area attracted me for a number of reasons. One, I want to visit all of Minnesota’s State Parks (and Big Bog is part of the state park system). Two, I like big bogs and I can not lie. Really, I like bogs of all sizes. Bogs are interesting. They are full of interesting berries, carnivorous plants, orchids, and unique trees. In Europe, they have preserved corpses.  There are also opportunities to see unique birds. Three, it is the biggest bog in the lower 48 states! Four, it has a great board walk. Speaking of which, the boardwalk really is amazing. The mile-long boardwalk was completed in 2005. The DNR states that it is the longest boardwalk  in the U.S.  The Bemidji Pioneer reported that the boardwalk was constructed in a way which allowed for 60% of sunlight to reach the plants under the walkway (Wikipedia reports 38%). Sixteen foot sections of boardwalk were installed without machinery, as to avoid damage to the fragile ecosystem. Work was done in the winter to minimize damage and the boardwalk itself stands 18 inches above the bog on anchors drilled fifteen feet into the peat. The boardwalk itself is worth the visit.

As I mentioned in my introduction, the Big Bog Recreation Area didn’t quite live up to the hype in my head. One reason for this is that we wanted to see orchids. My brother and I had visited Lake Bemidji State Park the previous day and saw two species of orchids. The Showy Lady’s Slipper was past its prime and wilted. I was hoping that by going an hour north to Big Bog, we might catch some fresher specimens. We didn’t see any. Also, we were attacked by deer flies. This made it difficult to stop and enjoy the nature around us. We saw many different species of butterflies, but I was unable to stop and identify them because I would be immediately assaulted by flies once I stopped moving. The most comical example was when a Mourning Cloak butterfly landed on my butt, but I couldn’t stop to photograph it because of the flies. I also didn’t see many birds that morning. The boardwalk was impressive and certainly a feat to build.  It was also pretty astonishing to see what seemed like endless bog in all directions. But, my brother pointed out that we grew up in a boggy area and it really didn’t look that different. Perhaps it is hard to take in all of the small details of such a large area, especially while attacked by flies. 

The interpretive signs were full of useful facts. For instance, I learned about efforts in the early 1900s to drain the bog for farmland. Millions of dollars were spent to dig 1,500 miles of ditches in the Red Lake Peatlands. This project failed as farms were abandoned during the Great Depression, but the bog is still scarred in some areas due to the drainage ditches that were constructed earlier in the last century. I also learned that Big Bog was home to remnant woodland caribou into the 1930s. The population was cut off from its Canadian calving grounds and ultimately failed to thrive. The boardwalk might be better appreciated in the spring and fall when the bugs are less bad. It might also be better enjoyed on a guided hike, where a naturalist can point out the plants, butterflies, and birds. Due to Covid-19, Minnesota State Parks have not been offering naturalist programs. I think this would be a great way to get to know the bog.

Another interesting fact about the Big Bog State Recreational Area was that it was used during the Cold War as a bombing/ammunition test site. Between 1947 and 1951, the U.S. army used Big Bog as Upper Red Lake Firing Range for gunnery and bombing training. Later, the Naval Reserve dropped over 50 bombs to create wallowing holes for moose. From 1948-1953, the National Guard set up targets in the bog for aerial bombing based on the Cold War fear that Duluth was a strategic target for the Soviet Union. Some of the bombs that were dropped in the bog were inert bombs or non-nuclear parts of bombs otherwise developed as nuclear weapons.  One of these non-nuclear bombs weighed 11,000 pounds, was detonated 3000 feet above the bog, and seen 60 miles away in Bemidji. This history was uncovered when researchers in the 1970s began to suspect that a meteor may have created Hillman Lake and a bomb casing was later found in the bog by a naturalist. Despite the fact that the bog was abused for military and agricultural purposes for most of the century, in 1975 it was designated a National Natural Landmark. Of course, the bog was a source of food, tools and housing supplies, and medicine to prehistoric Native Americans to Ojibwe. For instance, many Native American tribes have made medicinal beverages from Bog Labrador Tea. Yellow eyed grass is also one of the 150 medicinal bog plants utilized by the Ojibwe.

While the bog is not a magical wonderland, it is scientifically, ecologically, and culturally important. Had we visited a few weeks earlier, we may have seen orchids. Even without orchids, the simple vastness of the bog and engineering feat of the bog walk are worth the visit. The bog walk begins at Ludlow Pond and a wet mixed forest. This slowly transforms into the open expanse of tamaracks, spruce, and mounds of sphagnum moss. We were the only visitors on the bog walk during our short hike. The walkway is a unique opportunity to delve deeper into a bog than what is typical. The morning was noticeably quiet of people, cars, and the sounds of society. As a whole, it was a good experience. At the same time, there are many short bog walkways where it is easier to get a more condensed, but detailed experience. Because of the length of the bog walk and size of the bog, it was hard to focus on the tiny details around us. After a while, everything becomes moss. Perhaps that is the shortfall of “big things” as they are harder to comprehend and take in. A highlight of the experience was catching a glimpse of a bog lemming and stalking a park ranger for my collectable state park patch.  Maybe I will revisit the bog one day when programs resume.  Really, not matter how great the bog was, I was just happy to have a fun morning outdoors with my brother.