The Grunwald Family Christmas Tree 2017

Today Sierra, Noelle, Grandpa and myself made the short drive out of town, just across the Littlefork River, to pick up this year's family Christmas Tree. It's a farm run by the Saunders Family. You just pull into their driveway, cut down your tree and then pay for it. We wandered among the trees for a bit,

then picked out a really nice looking spruce.

I cut it down and then we hauled it back to the car.

We used to tie-down straps to secure it to the roof

while Grandpa went and paid. It was a fun day with family!

Voyageurs National Park: Hiking a Frozen Daley Brook

Today I wanted to get out of the house and enjoy the outdoors, so despite cold temperatures and snow on the ground, I headed over towards the Ash River section of Voyageurs National Park. My goal was to hike to the Hike to Health rubbing post on the west section of the Kab-Ash Trail. I have hiked the entire Kab-Ash Trail previously, but I had forgotten to bring the passport book last time.

It was an uneventful drive to the trailhead. I saw 2 bald eagles on the way. I parked the car and quickly hit the trail. I had brought my microspikes, but was too lazy to put them on. I just wanted to get moving. I made fast time to the rubbing post, got my rubbing,

and decided to move on to the interesting bridge that crosses Daley Brook. Once I got to the bridge, the ice on Daley Brook looked pretty solid and so I thought it might be interesting to hike on the frozen ice surface.

I soon passed another branch of the brook

that I knew led to a section of the Kab-Ash Trail that crossed a the branch on a snowmobile bridge. I would make that my return route. For now I was headed north towards Kabetogama Lake. I passed a snow covered beaver lodge

and then signs of wolf got thick. There were a few piles of fur-filled scat frozen to the ice.

There were also tracks; lots of tracks.

This place must be a veritable wolf highway at times. I continued to a sharp bend in the brook and then the ice started to look a little bit sketchy and so I turned around and started to make my way back.

I passed some interesting refrozen holes in the ice

and then followed the other branch of Daley Brook

back to the Kab-Ash Trail for the return hike back to the car.

Manka Trails Snowshoe/Walking Trail

I had an extra day off today for Veterans' Day and so Noelle, Sierra and I took advantage by heading over to the local Manka Trail for a walk in the snow. There is a groomed and lighted ski trail loop, along with a walking trail, which is what we traveled on today.

Sierra wanted to wear her snowshoes and seemed exited to hit the trail.

However, it seems like her energy quickly wanes in the snow and soon enough she was lying in the snow and begging to be carried.

We took off her snowshoes and I carried them. Still, Sierra needed some extra motivation. We buried her in snow for a bit

and then ended up playing hide-and-seek as we went along the trail.

The promise of hot chocolate was the last bit of motivation needed to get Sierra moving to the end of the trail.

Maurice River Bluffs Preserve

Today Mom and Dad gave Noelle and I the use of their car and so we took full advantage and headed out on a beautiful fall day for some adventure! We were headed to Millville, New Jersey and the Nature Conservancy managed Maurice (pronounced Morris) River Bluffs Preserve.

It was a short drive to the preserve. We hit the trail immediately after our arrival. We would basically hike every trail in the preserve by making a right turn at all trail intersections. We headed into the forest and found some interesting looking fungi.

Then we headed through a meadow and picnic area to our first overlook of the Maurice River.

We admired the view through the trees and then continued on, soon arriving at the ruins of an old stone house.

We then continued on a section of trail that appeared to be an old road

to an area where there was a dock that led out onto the river. We went out on the dock and looked around.

It appeared to be pretty good eagle habitat, but we didn't see any eagles. We would hear an eagle call later on in our hike though.

The next sections of trail we hiked passed close to the bank of the river offering some great views out across the water.

Near one overlook grew a tree with what appeared to be a section of railroad trail sticking out of it.

We came to another old road that led down to the river.

We admired the view from an illegal campsite there

and noticed some old, rusty rings embedded in the rock.

Were they vestiges of logging from long ago? Nearby was a set of large concrete basins.

Later on we would find concrete supports. These discoveries made me curious about past use of these lands. After reaching a flowing water spigot,

the trail curved around and started to lead us back to the parking area.

Our adventure for the day was not done yet though. I had done some research and found what looked to be a great place for lunch. We made the drive over to Vineland and Outlaw's Burger Barn. The food at Outlaw's did not disappoint. I got the En Fuego with turkey and it was great. Noelle got the Barn Burger. We both agreed that we would go back to Outlaw's. After lunch at Outlaw's, we headed to downtown Millville to kill some time. We weren't all that impressed with Millville. There was a nice walk along the river, but some shady characters hanging around. Finally, it was time to head out to the last stop of our day out the Glasstown Brewing Company at the airport in Millville. We sampled some delicious beers at Glasstown. We both enjoyed the Big Breakfast Coffee Maple Porter. We got a few ales to go and headed back to Mom and Dad's.

Higbee Beach Wildlife Management Area

Today we finally got a chance to visit the infamous Higbee Beach. I say infamous, because up until a few years ago it was known as the "nude beach." Not any longer though. Today its better known as a great place to do some birding. And so, even though we would be arriving much too late to see some good birds, we brought our binoculars along; just in case. It was a short walk to the beach on a sandy trail.

Noelle and I left Sierra with Pop Pop and Ta Ta to run around,

while we headed into the scrubby forest to walk and look for birds.

Unfortunately, we didn't see much in the forest. Still, it was nice to get out and walk.

Eventually we made a our way out to the beach

and walked the beach past some interesting looking maritime forest,

back to the rest of the family. We spent some time together enjoying the sand and wondering what the mysterious half-submerged object was just offshore.

Soon enough the Cape May - Lewes Ferry came in

and I walked over to the jetty to watch it come into port.

Then we headed out after a glorious morning.

Cape May National Wildlife Refuge: 2 Mile Beach Unit

It was a cool but sunny morning and Noelle, Sierra, Mom and I decided to take advantage by heading out for a walk at the Two Mile Beach Unit of Cape May National Wildlife Refuge. We made the short drive from my parents' house and headed out for our walk. We brought our binoculars along, just in case we spied some interesting birds.

From the parking lot we walked a short path through the dunes

to the beach and passed some pretty pink flowers in bloom along the way.

Then we retraced our steps and found another, longer trail. The longer trail also led to the beach,

but along the way we saw some goldenrod in bloom with lots of insects on it.

We retraced our steps back to the car where we ate a snack. Then we headed out on a boardwalk

that led to a wetland area.

We saw lots of aquatic birds swimming around in the waters of the wetland and got to use our binoculars a bit. Then we headed back

to yet another trail. This trail followed an old road through the dunes.

We passed several butterflies along the way,

including a beautiful common buckeye

and a monarch.

We passed an off-limits area used by the Coast Guard

and then hit the beach.

The beach is closed at certain times of the year to protect piping plovers, but its open right now and so we decided to walk the beach back to the car.

We saw lots of gulls on the beach,

but not much in the way of other birds. There were also some interesting shells. We found 2 whelks,

some razor clams,

jingle shells, and lots of others. It was a great way to spend a fall morning. After our walk we headed over to Wawa to get some lunch; hoagies and Tastykakes.