Menomonee River Parkway: Close encounters in an April snowstorm

You may think last week's snowstorms were an unseasonable fluke or a sign of the changing climate. You may have felt cheated of spring on the cusp of Earth Day. You may have grumbled about having to shovel out so late in the year. I know I did. However...

It was beautiful! (Look closely at the center of the photo to see the two deer.)

I'm not sorry it's melting away now. All I'm saying is when the climate gives you lemons, make lemonade. In this case, go out and enjoy the snow. I know I did.

One lovely, snowy evening I went to one of my favorite haunts along the Menomonee River Parkway just north of North Avenue. I didn't expect to see the deer, but I saw them, in spades. Both sides of the river. A few of them, as you can see, got up close and personal. (I was not using a telephoto lens.)

They seemed surprisingly tame, curious...and hungry. When I didn't offer them anything to eat they returned to rooting in the snow.

The deer were not the only wildlife blindsided by the blizzard. Numerous ducks swam about on the river, ducking for cover.

Most of the snow had melted by the weekend. On Saturday I joined the hundreds of volunteers for the annual river clean up sponsored by Milwaukee Riverkeeper. While I didn't actually do any cleaning up, I did take a bunch of photos, which you can see on Flickr.

Nashotah Park: A lovely winter day in April!!

The snow was soft, heavy and surprisingly deep the third day after an unseasonable blizzard in April. But the wide trails over hills and through woodlands were well-trodden and tracked by skis by the time I got there. All the same I had the place nearly to myself on a lovely midweek morning. I say lovely because it was—if you forgot for a moment it being April. Sunny and warm for February.

Like every single person I’ve spoken to since it snowed, I felt betrayed by the weather. I didn’t go out to enjoy it for two days. My loss. I’m glad I broke the spell and ventured out to Waukesha County to explore a park new to me. The snow made an already beautiful place even more enchanting.

Nashotah Park is 444 acres nestled within a glacial terrain of rolling hills, woodlands, wetlands, and grasslands. There are two large natural lakes, an oak forest and an oak savanna. There are wide open fields, a cedar glade (I’m told—I didn’t find it), and broad expanses of marsh. 

I did see a solitary hiker on a portion of the 10-kilometer trail system, which has multiple loops. 

Later, around noon, towards the end of my walk, several skiers zipped by, proving the popularity of the park for cross-country skiing, even after an unexpected spring snowfall. Although they hadn’t been groomed this late in the season, the trails are groomed in winter for both classic and skate style cross-country skiing. There is even a separate trail for snowshoeing, according to the Wisconsin Trail Guide website. 

The Waukesha County Parks website states, “Due to the variety of landscapes, Nashotah Park has an outstanding array of songbirds.” And I saw some, including this pair of male Eastern bluebirds, looking rather cold in the circumstances. I was also surprised to see a couple of great blue herons fly by over the oak canopy—although I suppose it shouldbe warm enough for them by now! The redwing blackbirds were making a ruckus in the snow-dusted cattails, too.

Don’t let the snow get you down! I know we’re all hoping for balmier conditions and spring flowers to bloom. But, hey! It’s lovely out there in the parks.

This is one of an ongoing series of stories about parks that I have undertaken as part of a long-term project called A Wealth of Nature. Anyone familiar with my Urban Wilderness blog will find little to differentiate the new series, for it is entirely consistent with my previous work. However, in an effort to be more comprehensive I am deliberately exploring parks all around Southeast Wisconsin that are new to me.

A website for the project is underway. Meanwhile, I have just created a new Instagram account (@awealthofnature) and Facebook page, which I invite you to like and follow. A Wealth of Nature is a project of Preserve Our Parks, on the board of which I serve.

Photo Essay: Urban Candlelight Hike 2018

Excitement had been building for weeks for the second annual Urban Candlelight, which was held last Saturday, Feb. 3. After last year’s surprisingly successful inaugural event drew an estimated 2,500 people on an especially frigid night, expectations were high among the organizers. And those expectations were exceeded.

People began appearing on the Hank Aaron State Trail in Three Bridges Park before dark and the official start time of 5:30 pm. Light snow during the day had frosted the trail with a fresh white sheen. Before long the few early birds were joined by dozens and then hundreds. And they kept coming all evening. I don’t think I’ve seen the trail as crowded at any time of the year.

Almost as if planned, snow began to fall again as the event got underway. The falling snow coated hats, softened the landscape and made everything feel magical. The overcast sky glowed from city lights surrounding the park. It never got truly dark!

The event attracted people of all stripes. There were many families pushing strollers, as well as a few wheelchairs. I even saw a few bicycles in the snow.  Lots of dogs on leashes. Children ran up the hills and slid down the steep slopes on their snow pants. Marshmallows were roasted over bonfires. Selfies were taken everywhere along the trails.

Many of the hikers were visiting Three Bridges Park for the first time. They learned, among other things, that the park stretches from the Mitchell Park Domes on the east to the Menomonee Valley branch of the Urban Ecology Center on the west. 

I haven’t yet heard an official estimate but those I spoke to were certain, as I was, that it would prove higher and likely substantially higher than last year. We do know that 1,100 adults pre-registered online even though registration was not required. And that number did not include all the children--or dogs!

Thanks to the sponsoring organizations, Friends of the Hank Aaron State Trail, Menomonee Valley Partners and the Urban Ecology Center, for the effort involved in making this event so successful.

The conditions made photographing the event challenging, especially the blowing snow and so many of my images may seem a bit more impressionistic than usual. The lighting was particularly strange and not only because it was dark. The color of the overcast sky kept changing with whatever lights were nearby.

The crowds were so thick, as well as the falling snow, that I had no hope of running into anyone I knew. But I did. Several times. It was great to see y'all there!

 

This year's hike became a family affair when my wife, Lynn, brought our granddaughter, also named Lynn. 

Full disclosure: I am on the board of the Friends of the Hank Aaron State Trail.

Photo essay: Milwaukee River Greenway in white

Riverside Park

Another gloomy winter day made lovely by gently falling snow. The landscapes of the Greenway look faded, like sepia-toned etchings discovered in a disused trunk. The starkness of the season, paradoxically, increases the sense of wildness while simultaneously making it hard to ignore the urban in the urban wilderness.

Shelter 1, Riverside Park

 

Winter tapestry, Rotary Centennial Arboretum

 

Renegade cyclist, Riverside Park

 

Shelter 2, Riverside Park

 

Gordon and Riverside Parks from Locust Street Bridge

 

Riverside Pumping Station

 

Shelter 3, Cambridge Woods

 

Tunnel to nowhere, Cambridge Woods

Bluff trail, Cambridge Woods

 

Grafitti, Cambridge Woods

 

The river, Cambridge Woods

 

Red sandstone cairn, Riverside Park

First snow in Menomonee River Parkway: A photo essay

But for the snow it would have been a gloomy day. But the first snowfall is almost always joyous—especially if it falls on a Friday night or Saturday morning, as it did yesterday. Fortunately, I didn’t have to venture far from home to enjoy it. I headed for one of my favorite haunts along the Menomonee River Parkway.

Somber skies and solitude at Schlitz Audubon Nature Center

View of the lake from the bluff-top observation tower

Snow lingers on north-facing slopes and the shadowy parts of the forest. Out in the open the meadows and prairies are mostly bare and brown. It is that time of the year when the land is lusterless. If you pay close attention, there are small signs of spring here and there. Pussy willow catkins have fuzzed out and there are a few more bird calls than I've been hearing on my winter walks. But, especially on this overcast day, the mood is somber.

Pussy willow catkins

On this moody Saturday morning at the cusp of spring there are a half-dozen or so cars in the parking lot of the Schlitz Audubon Nature Center. But the great room of the main building is quieter than usual. As I walk the trails I see surprisingly few people. I am having a blast, however. I love the solitude. And the monochromatic landscape offers up enough photographic opportunities to satisfy my appetite. Here is what I found.

A log tepee within sight of the main building.

The tracks of a pair of geese leading into a large puddle of melting snow.

As if herding together, intermingled tracks of geese, humans and a couple of other creatures.

Birches in one of the ravines.

Ice shrinking to the edges of the ponds and wetlands.

Shriveled leaves still clinging to branches, looking so out of place that I was reminded of the Cornelia Parker sculpture of suspended chunks of chalk at the Milwaukee Art Museum.

Many dead trunks and limbs that have provided a feast for the woodpeckers.

Flattened reeds, like a natural tapestry, between the bluff and the beach.

Sand embedded in curiously shaped ice formations at the base of beachfront shrubbery.

A single fellow traveler enjoying the solitude of the urban wilderness.