A weekend in Michigan

I know you didn’t have any choice, but if you have been waiting all week for a blog post, thanks for your patience. I went to my 40^th high school class reunion last weekend and spent the week since catching up for being gone for 4 days.

Saturday morning, I went to the Kalamazoo Nature Center. I spent a lot of time there growing up, and it is no exaggeration to say it was a major influence on the direction of my life.

Many things have changed since I was last there in 1978. I can’t imagine why…. I’m not exactly sure where the parking lot used to be, but it now has a fancy entrance that I know wasn’t there before.

Entrance from the parking lot

The building formerly known as the Interpretive Center (the “Interp” to those in the know) is now the more standard Visitor Center. The Sun-Rain Room is mostly heart-leafed and split-leafed philodendrons with a few pathetic palms thrown in. I remember it with more species diversity, but who knows? Without someone to pamper the less-adapted species, it would be an easy thing for the philodendrons to overrun the place.

The Sun-Rain Room

The women at the front desk recommended the Beech Maple trail. I started there. The map showed a  number of short trails that led from that trail. As is often the case when I visit places from my youth, the trails were shorter than I remembered. Also, there were not as many beech as I remembered. The forest now seemed to be all maple and cherry. I walked down to the Kalamazoo River through a new tunnel under the railroad tracks. A boardwalk led to a platform overlooking the water.

Kalamazoo River overlook

The water clarity has improved considerably since the bad old days of the 70’s. The smell in those days of open dumping was appalling.

45 years ago, I could not have imagined this water would be so clear.

I returned to the Beech Maple trail until I got to the Raptor Ridge trail. Back in the day, there was no official trail. When we went to the gravel pit to look for fossils, we had to ford the stream and follow a narrow footpath. Now there is a bridge over the creek and the standard width 3’ trail. One thing remains the same—the gravel pit is covered with spotted knapweed. This is where I learned what knapweed was, although I suffered from persistent confusion between that and Canada star thistle until quite recently. Raptor Ridge was rated as “difficult”, and when I arrived at the top gasping for air, I was keenly aware of the fact that Illinois is a pretty flat place.

Former gravel pit still covered in knapweed

My next detour was Cooper’s Overlook, which hooked up with Habitat Haven. I found beech trees, although the giants I remember were gone. Did they fall or am I thinking of somewhere else?

Beech tree

Here is one that slipped down a slope and righted itself over time.

A beech tree that tilted and then righted itself--a triumph of phototropism

There were some fabulous tulip trees, easily recognizable by their extremely straight trunks. They were highly valued for ship masts back in the day.

A very straight tulip tree

I was pleased to see tulip saplings growing in the understory.

Tulip tree sapling

Habitat Haven opened into a marsh full of Joe-Pye-weed. Restoration was not as a big thing when I was a kid as it is now. A plaque explained that a dam had been removed from Trout Run (I don’t remember where it was dammed), creating 5 acres of restored wetland.

The restored Trout Run

A restored prairie bordered the wetland, with wild bergamot and yellow coneflowers. This is where I learned what bergamot was, that the flowers taste like oregano, and that all members of the mint family have square stems.

Wild bergamot (lavender) and yellow coneflower

This is a sassafras sapling showing the three forms of the leaf—mitten, mitten with two thumbs, and mitten with no thumbs. Guess where I learned that?

Sassafras sapling

I learned my butterflies at the Nature Center too. It is still rich in lepidoptera—black swallowtail, copper, blue, sulfur, cabbage. I saw one I didn’t recognize. I didn’t get a picture and can’t be sure, but what I remember of a broad yellow stripe from the middle of its body to the upper points of its wings suggests it was a giant swallowtail. Here’s a tiger swallowtail that was more cooperative.

Tiger swallowtail on Joe-Pye-weed

Here is a close up of Joe-Pye-weed and boneset.

Joe-Pye-weed (magenta) and boneset (white)

Joe-Pye-weed is part of the lesson on leaf arrangements. Alternate and opposite are a dime a dozen, but whorled (more than two leaves coming out of the same place on the stem) is hard to find If you haven’t got Joe-Pye-weed available.

Whorled leaves of Joe-Pye-weed

Boneset taught me the Doctrine of Signatures. Once upon a time, people believed that if a plant looked like some part of the body, it would be good for fixing ailments of that body part. (I suspect that a belief that God had created plants accordingly for the benefit of mankind was at the root of this.) Because the leaves of boneset are fused together at the stem, it was used to help broken bones heal. Better science proved this to be completely ineffective.

Fused leaves of boneset

As I looped back to the Visitor Center, I came upon a great horned owl and a red tailed hawk in cages. A sign said they were too injured to survive in the wild.

Great horned owl

Red tailed hawk

I spent nearly two hours exploring the main trails. I returned to my car to eat pizza and cherries before setting off for the Delano property, which has now been developed into a farm. 

Delano Farm welcome sign

One place I really wanted to see again was the Source. It is now called the “Source Pond” since it is the source of Trout Run. This was never clear to me in my youth. Going to the Source was an all-day adventure. I liked to do this on the last day of the two-week sessions. The kids stayed overnight that Thursday, and after a day at the source, they were good and tired. We carried our lunches and hiked on undeveloped trails through deep woods to a pond where all was peaceful. The property had only been in the possession of the Nature Center for a few years. Cattle had grazed it before that time, removing all the understory. Once we got to the pond, the campers could run free. No harping at them to stay on the trails. Back then, kids knew how to play when they got turned loose in the woods. Some even picked up sticks to play at sword fighting, and we didn’t worry one bit about someone losing an eye unless they got really rough.

One thing that impressed me throughout my trip was the height of the trees. Illinois is the Prairie State, although it would be more proper to call in the Savanna State. Scattered groves of trees grow broad, not high in the midst of grasslands. To be in the presence of such grand trees under a closed canopy filled me with the contentment of being really, truly home. These trees are my people. This is where I’m from, a child of the forest.

The forest of my youth

The forest around the Source is choked with saplings now. Not quite so good for playing. The pond still gave me a sense of peace and beauty, although with greater world experience, I can no longer say it is the most beautiful place I have ever been.

The Source Pond

It still has frogs.

Bullfrog in the Source Pond

There are also still huge grapevines everywhere. We used to play Tarzan on them. We didn’t wear helmets, either.

Grapevines everywhere

It was getting hot by the time I headed back. I wanted to see what they’d done with the Delano house. (It’s De-LANE-o, by the way, not DEL-a-no as in F. Roosevelt.) In my day, it was the Haunted House. Now it is restored and has a little garden behind it.

Restored Delano house

There are also animals.

Resident horse, cow, and goats

And a reproduction of the log cabin the Delanos built when they first moved to the area.

Reproduction of the Delano log cabin

I was sweaty, tired, and thirsty when I got back to my car. I had wisely put my water bottle in the cooler. I returned to my hotel room, took a shower, and went to visit our former neighbor Iny. It was good to see her. We had a nice talk.

Then there was the reunion itself. It was a blur of short conversations in a small, crowded, loud room. After shouting and people for over three hours, I was spent. In spite of the noise, it was good to reconnect with friends I hadn’t seen for 40 years. There was very little posturing and one-up-man-ship. We all seemed to be at peace with what we’d done with our lives. Retirement was a major topic of discussion. I was glad I went.

But the adventure wasn’t over! Stay tuned.