wisconsin

sna poems #88: lost lake

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lost lake is a kettle-like depression in a ravine, surrounded by alder thicket and oak woods. my walk was mainly on the slope headed down into the thicket wetland area. once i got into the hollow i didn’t have the proper footwear to keep going into the muck, so i trekked back up the slope to some larger quartzite boulders along a rivulet to take in the woods a bit.

tho’ i’ve never lived in columbia or sauk counties, my grandparents used to live in sauk, so my childhood impressions of the natural world are very much caught up in the sights and smells of this area. right when i got out of the car and into the woods, the scents made a very welcome homecoming. an excellent early-morning start.

(b.n.: i was trying out a new hand-held camera on this trip, so some shots are blurrier than i wanted or color a bit off…the experiment goes on.)

a.

boulders and fern

smells of childhood

green silhouetted

b.

me and the columbine

on this streamed

quartzite perch

c.

here is the hollow

where

skunkcabbage reigns

sna poems #86: texas island woods

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texas island woods is a mature hardwood forest inhabiting an “island” upland surrounded by marsh and shrub swamp in jefferson county, wisconsin. access is via a causeway path, which i assume is man-made. this was my last hike of the day, and it had gotten really hot for the first time this year.

that wasn’t so bad, but the fact that the woods is surrounded by wetlands meant there was also a serious number of mosquitoes—while this is wisconsin and i should be prepared for them, it was early enough in the year that this was the first time i’d been swarmed. trying to take pictures, my hands were covered by 8-10 mosquitoes by the time i was able to close the (digital) shutter…

but a delightful wood with what appears to be a healthy under story, with lots of large-flowered trillium and mayapple. the highlight of the trip was getting close enough to the wood’s edge to see that it was in fact an “island” by the break in trees and water/marsh plants beyond (as above). this was the last sna to visit in jefferson county!

a.

here is the misstep, the weak-knee

it’s late in the day

among the shagbark and trillium

b.

mosquitoes cloud

and thorns tear

in this island wood

sna poems #85: jefferson tamarack swamp

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jefferson tamarack swamp holds the largest forested wetland in jefferson county. tamarack stands, sedge meadow, areas covered with sphagnum (not the spots i visited on my briefer walk), some uplands that are drier (where i walked). the dnr page for this sna notes that there is a large effigy mound on an oak island, but i was not able to search it out this time—one of the best reasons to come back!

got to share my visit with deer and cranes, as well as “weed” species underfoot that i had a particular affection for all of a sudden. they’re just creatures trying to survive too. 🙂

a.

campion and culms

for four-footed ruminants

over hills, under sun

b.

in the sedges

they’re stately—

but the bounding colt!

c.

dandelion and clover

are forbs as well

bearing the image of God

sna poems #84: faville prairie

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one of the largest low prairie remnants in wisconsin, faville prairie was once a part of the 2,500-acre crawfish prairie. shifted hydrology in the area has led to drier conditions in part with more woody species, and a wetter sedge area.

this was one of the sites whose preservation aldo leopold fought for, and it became a sna in 1952. it was a terrific stop, with several first-time id’s of forbs for me. thanks to the uw-madison arboretum for allowing me to walk this land, as visits are restricted.

a.

deer break/

wing blur/

there: spiderwort

b.

a southwind trembles the prairie

swirls of whorled lousewort

and clutches of hoary puccoon

c.

cranes and spotted frogs

phlox and shooting star,

all give a nod to aldo

sna poems #83: waterloo prairie

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waterloo prairie is a couple parcels of land along stony brook, one with a fen and many seepages, the other with a larger wet prairie meadow. i visited the latter, moving thru a small wood with wet, boggy patches thru-out to get out into the open.

as was the theme of the day, sandhill crane calls rattled back and forth over the meadow’s expanse.

.

ruddy partners

calling out

in the wet meadow

from prairie to edge

from edge to wood

wood to boggy patch

boggy patch detail

sna poems #82: chub lake oak savanna

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chub lake oak savanna is a 21-acre plot south of chub lake. large oaks and shagbark hickory dominate the area, but the regeneration of trees here has made a thicker canopy, which has led to overgrowth in the understory. parts looked like densely grown forest.

but it was a nice, secluded place for a walk and to enjoy the muddy lakeshore. partway thru i spotted an inchworm on my vest, and he ended up on my rough papers, which was a treat. more cranes.

a.

grassland lingering, languishing,

choked under too-tight canopy—

inchworm hitches a ride

b.

wing and proleg

beak and sheaf

calix flanking

sna poems #81: chub and mud lake riverine marsh

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chub and mud lake riverine marsh is very much what it sounds like. a higher stretch of land between the crawfish river and the marsh near the parking area allows for a small wood with a close, winding path. many anemones and mushrooms, again cranes all around (but here unseen).

part of a 7,000-acre wetland in the crawfish and beaver dam river floodplain, there was certainly much more to explore here, but i had to be on my way to the southern shore of chub lake. (great name, by the way.)

a.

rayed and spiraled caps

stand and wave below

attorcop* strands

—

*from attorcoppe, Old English word for “spider”

b.

radio is silent

as marshsteps start—

what do we do to each other?

trail mates

sna poems #80: waterloo quartzite outcrops

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waterloo quartzite outcrops is a pair of sites with precambrian red quartzite and paleozoic conglomerate rock outcroppings. the northern site i visited is a clay loam island amidst wetlands along the crawfish river. the quatzite was apparently a manadnock (bare exposed rock uncovered by erosion) in the precambrian. this was my first visit in dodge county for this project, and a beautiful, foggy morning.

first i climbed the rise and saw my first mayapple blooming and a nice oak wood. on my way back to the river and amidst canada anemone, wild geranium, and virginia waterleaf stands, i came upon some of the outcroppings in secluded clearings. fabulous.

i caught sight of the first outcrop after spotting some stately mushrooms. i like when that happens. 🙂

a.

traces of stone

under crane flight

geraniums in bloom

b.

mayapple’s first blossom

high on the ridge where stock

and stone bide together

c.

not mine to know

who’s splashing away

down in the hollow

d.

a slow and mossy eruption

of brecciated quartz

smothered by soil and time

sna poems #79: crooked lake wetlands

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crooked lake is a seepage lake surrounded by a diverse wetland complex all about (including open bogs, my favorite aside from fens…), forest, cedar lake, and other unnamed lakes—all settled amidst the interlobate morainal hills of the northern kettle moraine. crooked lake’s outlet forms a tributary of the east branch of the milwaukee river, which flows right down the hill from my place in milwaukee on its way out to lake michigan.

fantastic walk with perfect spring weather under glorious skies, and many spring ephemerals—some emerging, some at full tilt, and others already on their way out for the year. saw our first stand of bellwort, which i’ve been looking for since last march, so it was a sheer delight to lay in the soil and spend some time with them.

this was the last state natural area to explore in sheboygan county. good to have another county covered, but, as we say in wisconsin: forward!

a.

liverwort dying back

on each and every hillside

the lake only from afar

b.

streakt & frilling threeness

skirts trunk & frogcall

mayapple waiting to bloom

c.

legging it past kettle bog

and eureka! you’ve found me—bellwort

riding above the muck

since i haven’t stated this here in a while: this “state natural area poems” project began last year when lockdown happened in wisconsin, in order to have something to do with my kids as well as to keep us grounded in our local and regional habitats.

it started with the idea of visiting a state natural area (the preserves with the highest protections in wisconsin), going for a walk, taking a picture, and writing a three-liner about whatever we encountered there. and the original area was milwaukee county and adjacent counties. it’s now mushroomed into the main series and two sub-series, way more counties, and usually many more than one photo and one poem per site. the natural world just gives too much for such meager making!

i’ll keep going until we run out of sites to visit (not likely) or breath leaves the body.

peace to you and yours.

sna poems, supplementum #22: indian mounds and trail park

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indian mounds and trail park lies on a slope overlooking lake koshkonong in jefferson county. the rock river flows thru the lake and it once looked like a meadow because of all the wild rice and other wetland plants that grew in it.

the mounds here were built somewhere between ca. 200 BCE to 1200 CE by the woodland peoples. some of the mounds are “conical,” while others, like those above and below, are effigy mounds in the shape of birds, and still others in the shape of water spirits.

it was a perfect spring day for a hike with family, and so many spring ephemerals and other flowers were out on display: mayapple, cut-leaved toothwort, virginia bluebells, and the first of the jack-in-the-pulpit, et al. i’d been looking to find cut-leaved toothwort since last spring, so this was a particularly exciting stop.

.

among the mounds, sun

breaking in. cut-leaved toothwort

low petal shower