The first thing I noticed when I headed off down the trail Friday morning was a new sign at the trailhead kiosk. It made my heart grow two sizes that day.

While I didn’t exactly abolish I.C.E. or keep tiny, greedy, orange hands off our public lands for good, I’d like to think that my observations, Instagram posts, and e-mail conversations with the county had a little something to do with this. Shout out of thanks to Isabella County Parks for taking notice and for the new parking lot signage.

Will it help? I’m hopeful, maybe, I guess. At the very least people are aware of the issue, the word is getting out, and this will help protect the wildlife, the trails, and the folks that enjoy them.

As far as the lumber, it was what it was; I did 4.76 miles and met my 25-mile minimum for the week. Sadly, other than the above mushroom, I found little to tickle my photographic fancy.

So, with the hike done and my fancy still in need of tickling, I headed back to the Sylvan Solace Preserve after breakfast to stalk bugs and tiny critters with my macro lens setup.

***

This was my second Photo Creep at Sylvan this week, and I spent about 45 minutes lurking around in the weeds, got some shots I dug, and then headed home to do what needed doin’.

I was content enough with a hair over 25 miles in my feetz this week, and planned on calling it for the week, and maybe doing a ride on Saturday or Sunday. But then I looked and saw that I needed just over 4 miles to hit 30 miles for the first time since June. I also remembered that my plans to “rest and relax” always put me in a vile mood, so probably best that I don’t attempt it.

So, with that, I was up at 5:25 AM to coffee up, dump out, and get on the trails at 6:30 for a quick 4.41-mile loop to get me to 30.34 miles on the week. Huzzah!

***

Once again, I didn’t see much to photograph until, with about a 3/4 of a mile to go, I saw two bucks venturing out into the river for a drink.

The one buck had a massive felt-covered rack, and the other a spike. I couldn’t help but think that after getting several shots of does and their fawns this summer, I got a shot of dad and his boy.

Sadly, Dad wasn’t that cooperative and seemed a bit nervous. I’m pretty sure think he could sense me from a good 75+ yards away and wandered back into the woods, but Junior hung out a bit, sipping from the mighty Chip.

With the start of the week in the high 90s with 85% humidity, I really didn’t think I would be getting 30+ miles in this week, but a blessed cold front moved in, and here we are.

Not sure what Sunday will hold, but if nothing else, I might seek out some new places to Photo Creep.

Later.