Turtle Encounter

A funny thing happened on my walk home from the grocery store today. I was almost home walking west on Skyline Drive as it bends around Chester Creek. There is a long stretch of sidewalk with the road on one side and a fence protecting pedestrians from a cliff on the other. I saw a car go around another car that was driving very slowly with the flasher lights flashing. I wondered if this car had some unique mechanical problem where driving slow was the remedy. Before I could think that through I saw, before me, a turtle on the sidewalk. The turtle was just marching proudly down the center of the sidewalk toward me. The turtle's head was held high and the steps were wide and jaunty. I just had to smile. As we approached each other I stopped to admire the turtle. This was not a painted turtle nor a snapper. It wasn't a map turtle. It wasn't a softshell turtle. This was not a Minnesota turtle. Maybe it was a tortoise. Or was it someone's pet turtle? The woman driving the car with the flashers on pulled up. She was wearing a mask and talking on the phone. I deduced she was protecting the turtle which was good because this turtle still had another tenth of a mile before it could move off the sidewalk down the big hill to the creek. I didn't want to deprive her of saving this creature so I saluted the turtle and kept walking home with a smile on my face.

Yellow Swallow Tails

Today's hike was from Split Rock Lighthouse State Park to Iona Bay. Here you can see the pink rhyolite cliff that forms the pink beach at Iona Bay. 

Iona Bay's pink beach is said to be musical. If you listen closely you can hear the rocks make a tinkling noise as the waves move them around. I'd like to go and check that out someday.

I know the water is cold but it sure looks inviting to me at this moment. I saw quite a few yellow swallow tailed butterflies. Some of them played chicken with me. One of them actually won! I had to move my head back to avoid a butterfly/retiree collision.

Here I am almost back to Split Rock. If you look carefully you can see the light house sticking up beyond the trees in the center of this photo. Today I hiked 3.8 miles so that brings me up to 37.5 miles completed on the Superior Hiking Trail and only 296.5 left to go.

A Prayer For Travelers

Richtka Tomah wrote A Prayer for Travelers. This book had me so confused at first I kept going back to the beginning. The chapters are out of order. The first chapter is 31. Who does that? Eventually I figured out I was going back and forth in the life of a teenaged girl in Nevada named Cale and the chapter numbers indicated how old Cale would be. That took me a while to understand. Frankly I was annoyed by the unconventional chapter numbering system. But I liked Cale and her friend Penny. When Penny doesn't show up for work at their job at the diner Cale goes looking for her. Frankly I wish I had a friend like Cale. I don't think Penny deserves her. This author is skilled at character development and scenery description. Once I got past the chapter numbering I enjoyed the book.

Hiking a Detour

The Superior Hiking Trail is closed between Gooseberry State Park and Split Rock State Park. The detour takes the Gitchi -Gami trail. I hiked 3.2 miles of that Gitchi-Gami trail today between Gooseberry Falls State Park and the Iona Beach Scientific and Natural Area. The Gitchi-Gami trail is a paved, six feet wide trail upon which there are zero wood ticks and no mosquitoes either! Unfortunately the trail stays pretty close to Highway 61. Once in awhile there is some distance where you can't see the highway but I could still hear it. Now I have hiked 33.7 miles of the Superior Hiking Trail. The trail is 334 miles long including the spurs to the parking areas. I have only 300.3 miles left to go. 

In April I decided to challenge myself and hike 100 miles in May. This challenge was sponsored by the north country trail association. How hard could it be? I figured if I hiked 3 or 4 miles a day I could make it. Besides I wanted motivation to stay healthy now that the gym is closed and I can't go there. My motivation was high in April. On May 1st I hiked only one measly mile. The rain was coming down hard that day. Over the month I hiked more each day to make up for May 1st. By May 24th I surpassed the 100 mile mark. I met my goal a week early. In fact I hiked a total of 137.3 miles in May which averages out to 4.43 miles a day. Many of those miles have been on side walks or paved trails. I had a set back regarding the trail situation on May 27th when I hiked so many miles on the Superior Hiking Trail. I came home and threw my clothes in the laundry basket and thereby infested my dwelling with wood ticks. I would find them crawling up walls and across the floors. I guess the lining of those pants or the pockets of those pants were crawling with ticks. Frankly the wood tick scenario was creeping me out. It's been five days ago yet I found and killed 23 wood ticks today. As soon as I go a full day without finding a wood tick in the house I will go back and try the hiking trail again. Also, as soon as I get home I will put all my hiking clothes through the wash immediately and not reinfest my dwelling. I had some repellent with DEET but today I bought another brand with permethryn. If I use both I should have better luck. I have never had this many wood ticks at one time in my life. Also, when I go in my car which isn't all that often now the wood ticks who left my body in there crawl up on me. I pick them off and throw them out the sunroof. Paved trails can be beautiful too. Here are some photos to prove that point.

Tulips tilting north at Duluth rose garden.

Top of Gooseberry Falls below Highway 61.

Farther down the falls.

Farther down the Falls.

Farther down the falls. This path is a natural surface but very wide so I'm sure I'm not picking up any wood ticks.

Where the river meets Lake Superior. I put my hand in. The water was cold!

Beyond the cliff in front if me is where the Gooseberry river empties into Lake Superior.

The Language of Flowers

Vanessa Diffenbaugh wrote The Language of Flowers which is a novel that explores the foster care system in San Francisco, California. Victoria was abandoned as a baby. Her placements are never successful and she lives in 32 different places before she is emancipated at age 18. Naturally she has an attachment disorder and unable to trust anyone. Victoria does not succeed in school but she has a talent for flowers. She is a natural at flower arranging and is keenly interested in the meaning of flower gifts. Red roses represent love. Yellow roses indicate infidelity. Peony indicate anger and lupine mean imagination. Victoria gets a job at a flower shop. Customers ask her to prepare flowers and she selects the flowers to solve their problems. The childhood of Victoria is heart breaking but she is a captivating character.

Fight Of The Century

I read this book by a collection of writers and it wasn't about a boxing match between Joe Frasier and Mohammed Ali. This collection of essays is about the campaigns the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has taken to the Supreme Court. The ACLU is dedicated to liberty and justice for all. The ACLU fought for Nazi's to parade down a predominantly Jewish neighborhood of Skokie, Illinois in 1977. That was one of the most unpopular cases it took on. Even if what people say is abhorrent, the ACLU believes people have a right to free speech. My reading of Fight of the Century: Writers Reflect on 100 Years of Landmark ACLU Cases was, at times, slow and tedious, I am glad I persevered. This year is the 100th anniversary of the founding of the ACLU. I think our democracy would be much different without the existence of this non-profit agency.