Yesterday was the last unseasonably warm day we were going to have for quite a while so I drove down to a state forest area about 10 minutes from my home.

Busiek State Forest and Wildlife Area, roughly 2700 acres with a river running through the middle of it. I thought this might be a good place to look for winter mushrooms as we've had rain the last couple of days.

I did find mushrooms but no edibles that were harvestable. Still, I enjoyed the 5 mile hike across the trails through the river bottom on New Year's Eve.

We did a 7-mile hike through the old equipment tunnels they used to build Hoover Dam. Great views of Lake Mead!

I have been out to some friends' house a few times in the last few months now that the weather is better. They live about five or eight miles out of town in an area with plenty of industrial forest land. That means roads and trails. I've been going out to hike with them in part because it's nice, and in part because I bring my GPS-enabled wrist device. One of my friends is, for some reason, enjoying putting lines on an air photo of exactly where the roads and trails are. I think in part he is curious where some of the spurs go. We did some exploring yesterday, so our "five mile hike" turned into about 7.5 miles. That was fine. Got nice views. Saw lady slipper orchids, trout lilies (a.k.a. faun lilies a.k.a. dog-toothed violet), bleeding heart, false solomon's seal, serviceberry, and lots of poison oak. At the end of the hike, my friends took me back around an overgrown area behind their house to show me some old logging gear that was probably abandoned in the '40s.

Ferns were coming out. Saw a few snakes out getting warm. Even saw two other groups of people hiking. This particular landowner allows hiking on their land, but you have to have a permit. No big deal. They don't let you collect mushrooms, which is too bad. I'd be concerned anyway because of the herbicides they spray.




We also saw false morels and a bunch of other mushrooms.

Schedule and weather finally aligned here (in Michigan), where we've been having one of those Springs that hints a little, but seems unwilling to full-bore Show Up. For the first time, I got out my li'l ol' lady hybrid bike, took an easy pace ride on the local trails, only about 11 miles, but it felt So Good to be cycling through the actual world (birds! dogs! fresh air! even sunshine!) instead of slogging away on the stationary bike in my living room playing games on my phone. Bonus: The early wildflowers are blooming!

There were a few Trilliums (T. grandiflorum), some Trout Lily (Erythronium americanum) here and there, and a wealth of Eastern Spring Beauty (Claytonia virginica). The Mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum) has its lovely umbrella-esque foliage, but not flowers yet.

The place I've been running is a large park - a bit less than 500 acres. Part of it used to be a farm that the City acquired maybe 25 years ago and did a restoration. The native forest is growing. There's also some sports fields, playgrounds, shelters, a disc golf course, and a bunch of trails through a riparian forest. I've been watching the progression of flowers.

This week there's False Solomon's Seal, Oregon Avens, Fringed cups, and many others.






I might get out in the forest today, in the rain, and see different species like bleeding heart, chocolate lily, tiger lily, and others.

@mtaratoot, how lovely!

I didn't realize there was a US wildflower checker lily (we don't have them in Michigan, AFAIK). Maybe Fritillaria affinis?

I grow the alien one (from Europe/Asia) that looks similar, Fritillaria meleagris. One of my (many) favorites: The pattern seems so improbable. There's a white variant, too - every once in a while I get one of those. The checkered pattern is still there, but quite subtle, hard to photograph.

I had a run through the mud again today, but didn't stop to take pictures. But after I got home and cleaned up, I decided to take this one because..... I harvested two artichokes today.




I also cut the first open peonies of the season. I cut some earlier today and put them in water to open inside, then found these. Shamelessly holding the jar in front of the double-file and some tulips in the front yard.

Picture yourself in a boat on a river . . . well, I'm no "Lucy in the Sky", but my double partner on Friday took a photo of me in bow of my double, at the dock, on our river.

This picture is awful. You can't even tell what it is.



I'll tell you what it is.

I took a canoe out today for the first time this season. I was surprised to see how high the water was. I was pleased to see that the canoe was fine in the fast current and that I still remember how to paddle. Fishing wasn't very good, but that's ok. Wind was calm, and it was nice to feel paddle on the water.

At one point I let my canoe lodge up against a log that's been down in the river for five or ten years at the top of an eddy. It held me so I could try to fish. As I mentioned - not too many bites. But I looked down at the log my boat was being held by, and there was a dragonfly emerging from its larva. Very cool.

Sorry about the terrible picture.

@mtaratoot, that's a very cool thing! I'm glad you got to see it, even if we . . . well, kinda can't.

I've only seen an insect doing that "emerge and hydraulic pump to adult shape" process once, in the wild, and it was a profoundly, profoundly memorable thing. (In my case, it was a cicada on a tree, when I was a child.) It seems impossible, miraculous.

Lucky you!