point beach ridges is, according to the wdnr website, a series of 11 swales and ridges parallel to the current lake michigan shoreline in manitowoc cty. the ridges and swales are former beaches of the last eight millennia that used to border glacial lake nipissing. open blowing sand near the lake to juniper/bearberry dunes to swampy swales to fully forested ridges give this site a tremendously varying quality. super fun to hike, and we had a gorgeous late-autumn day for it.

last visit to walk all of manitowoc cty’s snas.

first id’s of bearberry, bunchberry, birch polypore, and dune goldenrod! first non-bog id of sphagnum moss. (thanks to twitter folks for help with recent ids)

a.

beech leaves under ice

sunlight in

thru cedar swamp boughs

b.

newest beach’s dunes

juniper

comes to view from sand

c.

waves under midday sun

galloping

to the chilled shingle

d.

these tiny dune-lasts

circling

the sea’s own leavings

e.

clouds in western sky

stranded strips

of yellow birch bark

f.

o kinnickkinnick

bearberry

bless and grace this beach!