Mission Creek

Last night I went on a hike with a newly formed group called Arrowhead Native Plants. I might join this group. We started our nature hike in Fond du Lac at the Superior Hiking Trail trailhead. I found this location easily because I have hiked this section of the trail last year. An ecologist from the DNR was our expert. He took us into this board walk area with a monoculture of ostrich ferns. This area is like a fairy land. I could expect to see fairies or leprechauns or gnomes in here.

He told us the history of the area. Mission Creek is named after a mission that was here once. The area along the Saint Louis River was a highway for native people traveling to or from the Lake Superior area to the Mississippi River area. He said in the 1920's this area had a huge ski jumping contest. He saw a photo of hundreds of cars parked in this area to attend the contest. Now all signs of the ski jump are gone but Spirit Mountain is about 10 miles away. The floods of 2011 washed all this area out. The flow of Mission Creek was changed. The city has restored the creek by adding boulders and creating a meandering flow. The plant in the foreground is Canada tick trefoil. He also said when Highway 23 was constructed the state transportation department moved Native remains to the top of the ridge. He said MN DOT did not learn the lesson. The MN DOT project to restore the bridge over Mission Creek is put on hold due to another disturbance of Native burial grounds.

This is false sunflower. One petal is missing. Did someone start to play "Love me, love me not?"

This is vervain.

This is not a plant. A young mother brought her two preschool aged boys along. One of the boys showed me this monarch caterpillar he found so I asked if I could take a picture. We had about 20 people in our group. The native plant group looked to be made up of millennials but the visitors were older like me except for the mom and her two boys. 

This is a non-native plant called milk vetch. No one knows how it got here. Maybe it was on the tires of some construction equipment when the creek was restored. Only native species were planted here on purpose after the flood in 2011.

Exposed sandstone such as this is rare in this area. Sandstone was once mined. The dark brown stone of the old Central High School in Duluth came from this area.

Here is some round leaf dog wood. Also, the dog in the picture is a mixture of Australian sheep dog and other animals. She is a rescued farm dog and her name is Tilly. Tilly is a good dog.

We found six different ferns on the walk. This one is oak fern.

Beech fern. We found a couple ripe thimble berries. He said thimble berries are found around lake Superior, on the west coast in the state of Washington, and in Alaska. I asked why thimble berries grow in isolated pockets. He said one theory is thimble berries grew only around the edges of glaciers. That makes sense to me.

This is white lettuce. It does not look edible. All these plants are growing in clay soil which are common below Lake Superior. The clay was once the bottom of Lake Superior when Lake Superior was formed by the melting of a glacier and was a much larger lake. The clay has pockets of sand and gravel mixed in. When the creeks cut into the clay mudslides are formed. Mudslides are a natural feature in this area but they are made worse by climate change.

This is foul manna grass plus Tilly the dog and the feet of Tilly's owners. Tilly is a good dog.

This is jewel weed which is also known as touch me not.

We hiked higher on the ridge and we're now into a mesic forest. Here is some false Solomon seal.

This turkey tail fungus is trying to hard to fruit. The green leaves of this plant are in the way but the fungus is determined!

Indian pipe fungus! Cool. We started this hike at 6 and how it is 7:30 and the sun is low on the horizon. Everybody turns around to walk back to the parking lot. I really wish I had brought my walking sticks with me. The walking sticks are right there in my car!

This is nanny berry shrub. Dang, this was a fun night. I should really join this group.