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| Little Menomonee River Parkway |
As I post this photo essay the weather has suddenly turned cold and nasty again. Yes, it's still that kind of spring. But you would be forgiven if over the past weekend you thought we'd skip that and go straight to being nice and warm, sun shining and flowers blooming. Because it was, if only briefly.
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| Little Menomonee River Parkway |
My weekend began at dawn (top) in one of my favorite places along the Menomonee River Parkway, near where it ends at the county line. I went looking for migrating geese, which I've found there in abundance in the past. No luck with that this time. But the dawn itself was worth the time.
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| Little Menomonee River Parkway |
Later, I explored the Donges Bay Gorge Natural Area, which was new to me. I never would have found it on my own, either. I came across it on the
Ozaukee Washington Land Trust website and I stopped to check it out on my way to an event at the Lynden Sculpture Garden, which is nearby.
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| Donges Bay Gorge Natural Area |
It's not only hard to find without a map or directions, but when I got there I discovered that they don't expect a crowd. The dirt parking lot has room for only three cars.
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| Donges Bay Gorge Natural Area |
It also isn't a very large natural area. The trail, called "Wendy's Trail" for reasons that are not revealed on the signage, runs along the rim of the "gorge," which is similar to many of the other ravines that can be found all along the shores of Lake Michigan. Wendy didn't like to hike down into the ravine, apparently, for the trail doesn't go there. After a short walk I reached the bluff overlooking the lake, where Wendy sits down on one of two benches provided for her.
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| Donges Bay Gorge Natural Area |
It was lovely, though. The scent of pine and solitude, along with surprisingly warm sunshine, were reason enough to go there.
On Sunday, I returned to another of my favorite urban wilderness haunts, the Milwaukee River Greenway.
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| West Bank Trail, Milwaukee River Greenway |
The scenery is still largely devoid of leaves...
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| West Bank Trail, Milwaukee River Greenway |
...but they're on the way.
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| Bank stabilization, Pleasant Valley Park, Milwaukee River Greenway |
The Milwaukee River Greenway is a series of mostly named public parks, although some of the names are unfamiliar to all but the initiated. Take this one, Pleasant Valley Park, aka Blatz Park. Its "valley" is another one of those ravines, only this one leads to the river instead of the lake. When the river was in fact a lake, backed up behind the North Avenue dam, this park was an exotic resort. Steam boats pulled up at a dock here and crowds of passengers poured out to partake of its beer garden. You would never imagine this if you go there now. (Read all about "the forgotten Milwaukee River park" in
Milwaukee Notebook.)
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| Causeway to nowhere, Pleasant Valley Park, Milwaukee River Greenway |
Until recently, when the steep slope of one side of the "valley" was denuded of trees in order to save it, the most notable and quirkiest thing about this ravine was the pedestrian causeway that crosses it for no discernible reason. Now, the view from the causeway of the bank stabilization effort draws one's attention, as would a person who had shaved one half of his head and left the other in a tangled mat of unkempt hair. "But it will grow back" is probably the polite thing to say.
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| West Bank Trail, Milwaukee River Greenway |
What I can't figure out here is whether or not the beaver was in on the joke or if the joke was on the beaver. I'm trying to imagine the moment when the beaver had just gotten far enough through the trunk that the remaining fibers started to tear apart. How far, I wonder, does a beaver back off at that point? It couldn't possibly have guessed that, instead of crashing straight down over the edge of the river, as it normally would, the whole tree would suddenly catch in the crook of another tree and spring up like a mouse trap. I had to ask myself, did the beaver lose a tooth? Or its head!
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| West Bank Trail, Milwaukee River Greenway |
I hope you enjoyed your weekend as much as I did. And may spring return soon!
To see more photos of the Milwaukee River Greenway, go to my
Flickr album.
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