Despite the questionable weather, Stepan and I did manage to make it to a couple of parks that had some lovely hiking trails.
The first was the Dolph Natural Area on the west side of Ann Arbor. We stopped there on Friday before heading off to East Lansing. The area includes the only two natural lakes in the area and the hiking trail takes you around both of them. The birdsong was incredible...it almost made me wish I had the patience to be a birder. We did see heron, swan, and one bird that was completely black except for a startingly bright splash of yellow on/around the wings.
On Saturday, before the rains hit town, we went hiking at Meridian Riverfront Park. It didn't seam like as much was in bloom, though that could be due to the cold weather and cloudy conditions, but the birdsong was just a wonderful here as it was in Ann Arbor. This trails we looped on here were probably less than 3 miles long. Parks of these trails were paved and included informational plaques about the "palpable silence" of the woods in winter time (Stepan found the poetic prose of the plaques kinda hokey). One section of the trail wound through a stand of incredibly tall pine trees...it smelled heavenly and with the pine needles cushioning our steps the silence was indeed palpable.
My words do these hikes scant justice. One day soon, one of us will post our pictures from this weekend. No telling when that will happen though...holding your breath for it wouldn't be advisable!
Posted by jfer at May 4, 2004 9:53 PM