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Ferns in the atrium, etc. July 21, 2007

Leader: Chuck Bosley

Although our regular scheduled outing was cancelled due to weather (dry), we enjoyed an alternate plan. Chuck decided to give an educational fern outing and, we all tried to incorporate his “fern information” as we forayed into various sites.

Since this was a fern outing we ignored the Pearly Everlasting, Wood Lilies, Herb-Robert, Blue Cohosh and Sweet Cicely etc. that were within our view. Instead we concentrated on identifying the ferns as: Rattlesnake, Spinulose Wood Fern, Lady, Ostrich, Bulblet, Maidenhair, Sensitive and, Oak .

The treat of the day was the Hart’s-tongue fern; which is a closely guarded secret. Many ooh’s & awh’s were evident!! A very informative outing! We can’t wait for your outing on the walking fern!! Thanks Chuck, Evelyn Simon (see photos p. 2 )

Bogs and Caves. July 7, 2007

Leader: Carl Linhart

Carl was right. On Saturday July 7, we had “A long but fun day”, just as he predicted. We started a bit earlier than we often do, at 8:00 am, and headed west into the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Our first stop at Shingleton Bog, which is actually a “patterned fen, had a few scattered larch and cedar trees, and singing Lincoln Sparrows. These sparrows have very specific habitats and we don’t hear them often. We also saw lots of showy orchids, although only 1 or 2 were still in bloom. This was a short but very interesting stop on the trip.

Next stop was in Munising where we walked into a small Nature Reserve owned by the Michigan Nature Association. This Reserve contains a gentle waterfall, A canyon- like descent behind the waterfall led us to see one of the cliff brake ferns Cryptogramma stelleri. thriving on the dry, edges of a breathtaking cave wall.

Coppercorp Mine. July 28, 2007

Leader: Gerry Bennett

Civilization exists by geological consent, subject to change without notice”. Said Will Durant, a historian of the early 20th century, and that was Gerry Bennett’s theme for our field trip to the Coppercorp Mine on Saturday 28 July. Gerry pointed out that people have only existed for a moment of geological time, and he led us on a trip to the past, as far back as 1.1 billion years. The medium of instruction was rocks: feldspar, quartz, calcite, pyrite and malachite, and the traces of geological events in those rocks. Some were hot and cooled rapidly on the surface, some were hot and cooled deep in the Earth’s crust and some cooled when sudden decreases in pressure caused an explosive boiling followed by a cooling period. Although the temperature that day was high, over 90 F, and more than 32 C, we had a great time and Gerry once again provided excellent insight intoThe Earth and how it formed. Thanks, Gerry. Dave Euler

Canoe trip down Tahquamenon River. Aug 10, 2007

Leader: Carl Linhart

Carl Linhart decided to check out the Tahquamenon River and 5 willing adventurers decided to go along with the plan: to canoe from the lower falls to the river mouth!! However, none of us knew that the actual distance was 17 miles, not 10 miles as we all thought.

The river bank was absolutely breathtaking with it’s festoon of flowers as purple vervain (Verbena hastata) , turtleheads (chelome), blue monkey-flower ((Minulus ringens), Joe-pie weed, boneset (Eupatorium ssp.), asters, bulrushes (Scirpus ssp), duckpotato “wapato” (Sagittaria latifolia), burweed (Sparganium ssp), cattails (Typha latifolia), pickeral weed (Pontedera cordata).

The fish had great hiding places among the eelgrass (Vallisneria americana), tapegrass (Elodea Canadensis), and many pondweeds (Potamogeton ssp.), to name but a few of the wonderful water plants.

We were treated to many animal sightings as eagle, kingfishers, osprey, hummingbird, broadwing hawk, merlin, great blue herons, painted turtles and, a beaver.

The two mink hunting along the riverbank was a great viewing but, we couldn’t believe our good fortune with the young moose who let us view him for over 10 minutes. He was so enthralled with noisy teenagers swinging into the river from across the river that he ignored our three canoes! A great outing, (and workout!). Thanks Carl! Evelyn Simon