Photo essay: Winter fun in area parks!

Minooka County Park, Waukesha

Did you get out to enjoy the snow over the weekend? Lots of folks did. Everywhere I went I found people out sledding, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, jogging, walking dogs and even cycling in the snow. After our repeated freeze-thaw cycles of January it seemed as though there was finally enough snow to enjoy winter for a change. Here are some photos.

Hundreds of people of all ages were snowboarding and sledding on the long slope down to the lake behind the  Whitnall Park clubhouse. 

Hoyt Park, Wauwatosa

Family snowshoeing at Retzer Nature Center, Waukesha

Hiking the Pike River trail at Petrifying Springs Park, Kenosha

Hoyt Park, Wauwatosa

Fox River Parkway, Waukesha

Groomed cross-country trail at Whitnall Park, Franklin

Skiers looking for a trail, Retzer Nature Center

Hoyt Park, Wauwatosa

Minooka Park, Waukesha

Hoyt Park, Wauwatosa

Retzer Nature Center, Waukesha

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.

Seymour Simon Preserve: Encounters in the Chicago Wilderness

On a Sunday afternoon recently I drove down from Milwaukee to pick up my wife at O’Hare. Her flight was due to arrive in the late afternoon when traffic tends to pile up as travelers return to Chicago from their weekend in Wisconsin. I’ve been in this position before. I like to avoid potential backups on the Interstate by going early and taking the time to stroll in one of the Forest Preserves along the Des Plaines River near the airport.

I happened upon a sign for the Seymour Simon Preserve and pulled into the nearly full parking lot next to a large open field. Large groups of people were using the shelters provided there. I found the Des Plaines River Trail and headed south along the river. Maybe it was the heat—somewhere between 80 and 90, depending on whether you were in shade or sun—but the trail was uncharacteristically busy that day. So was the river itself. I saw canoers and kayakers going upstream and down.

Here is a short photo essay from my stroll that afternoon. As you will see, wildlife is represented, but most of my encounters were of the human variety.

Santas Rampage from Tosa to Riverfront

 If you haven't heard yet about the annual Santa Rampage please allow me to introduce you to it. On the first weekend in December hundreds of cyclists dress in Santa costumes and ride through the streets of Milwaukee. This year the rampage began in Wauwatosa and traveled down North Avenue until they reached the Milwaukee River and their final destination at Lakefront Brewery -- and a big red party!

I drove ahead and caught the action in Kadish Park where most of them coasted single file down the bluff on the bike path. If you want to know more about the event check out the Wisconsin Bike Fed website, where you'll find a wealth of information. Enjoy the pix!

 

North Bank Trail nears completion in Menomonee Valley

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I discovered the new North Bank Trail by chance last week. Clearly I haven’t been spending as much time in the Menomonee Valley as I did when I was artist in residence there. Although slated to be completed in the fall, the project appears to be pretty far along already.

Formerly one of the “wildest” sections of river in the Menomonee Valley, the riverbank had been severely eroded and the river’s edge virtually inaccessible. The most striking feature of the new North Bank is the re-contoured slope and burlap-encased terraces.

Situated across the river from Three Bridges Park, the new trail begins at the 33^rd Court bridge and connects the existing park bike trail with the Hank Aaron State Trail in Stormwater Park.

The North Bank is not officially part of a named park. The Redevelopment Authority of the City of Milwaukee owns the land (as well as Three Bridges Park). In addition to providing the trail link, the project serves two other purposes: bank stabilization is intended to limit erosion and keep soil from sloughing into the river.

It also provides public access to the water via two stone staircases that anchor each end of the trail.

Previously, cyclists who crossed the bridge from the park onto 33rd Court were forced to continue past Rexnord, Palermo’s, and Ahern and to share the roads with semis and thousands of those companies’ employees. The new trail enables riders to stay off the streets and along the river—a much more enjoyable ride. 

The $1.4 million project is funded by grants from an alphabet soup of agencies, including WisDOT, CMAQ, EPA, GLRI, MMSD, and the Fund for Lake Michigan, as well as some matching funds from the City of Milwaukee. I was surprised to find that the pavement terminates in Stormwater Park where it meets the existing gravel of the Hank Aaron Trail. I learned that some of the grant funds require the asphalt and that the existing trail is not part of this project. The pavement may be extended in the future when additional funds are available.

Of course the newly stabilized bank looks unnatural—I’ve already heard that comment after posting an image on Facebook. It is one of the great paradoxes of our time (which has been dubbed the Anthropocene era because of human influence on the earth’s “natural” processes) that natural areas require human intervention in order to provide a satisfying experience of nature. This is particularly true in urban areas where there is the need is greatest.

If you need proof of the healing effect of time on such a managed landscape just go across the bridge to the park. When it opened three years ago it looked just as unnatural—and five years ago it looked far worse!