A Woodsy Buzz

After Tuesday’s 20-mile mountain bike beatdown to my out of shape body, I took a break. The break was not planned but it wasn’t unplanned either. It sort of happened like this…

Wednesday morning I laid in the Chamber of Farts contemplating the To Do list of the day. When I got to the “me time” of the day I, of course, thought of the various rides I could do, but I vowed to myself to be honest and the honest part of my brain told me that I didn’t want to ride my bike, but I did want to be in the woods with my camera. So that’s what I did.

I made a drive out to the Hall’s Lake Preserve. The last time I was there was back in April and there were several inches of snow on the ground. This time around it was sunny and in the 70s and the forest and swamps of the preserve were alive with budding flowers, plants, and trees as well as slithery critters and birds.

I walked a few miles got some cool (to me) photos then headed home to get to that To Do list.

Here is a gallery of photos from the Hall’s Lake Preserve. Click on the pic to enlarge and navigate through the gallery.

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Come Thursday I once again found myself in the Chamber of Farts going over lists in my head. This time the decision was made for me by the fact that we had some heavy thunderstorms overnight and I had a feeling the dirt roads would be a gritty mess. Still creatively buzzing from the previous day’s hike, I decided to head out again but this time I would make the short trip down Pickard Road to the Sylvan Solace Preserve.

I hiked a few laps around the preserve, hung out along the river for a bit, and took another crap ton of photos; some were good, some were not. Here are is a collection of the ones that I liked.

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In the past couple months, I have made the conscious decision to check out as many of the preserves that the Chippewa Watershed Conservancy maintains and really take advantage of the opportunities to hang out in the woods that the CWC provides to folks. I have also really enjoyed taking photos and have even learned a few things about some various critters and plants along the way (of course some I just made up with my lowbrow wit). Who says you can’t teach an fat old dog new tricks??

The coming weekend is booked with a soccer tournament, so any riding or hiking will probably be on hold until next week.

Later.

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