Searching for Spring: Parks can help ease late winter blues

Case Eagle Park, Burlington, Racine Co.

It’s that time again—the dregs of the year. The snows of winter have melted. The leaves and the wildflowers have yet to bud or bloom. The earth everywhere is brown and gray. Still cold. Groundhog lied again. The first of April arrives and the joke is on everyone who expects it to feel like spring.

Brown Deer Park, Brown Deer, Milwaukee Co.

In a song about the seasons John Denver included an instrumental bridge for a fifth season, late winter, early spring, to which he added parenthetically “when everyone goes to Mexico.” Spoken out of privilege, of course. Maybe everyone wishes they could go to Mexico. I know I do. But, since that isn’t an option, I’ve gone to a few local parks to see nature stripped bare. Here are a selection of images and the parks where I found them.

Brown Deer Park

This 363-acre park in the Village of Brown Deer is part of the Milwaukee County Park System. The northern half consists of several woodlots separated by grassy fields, along with a 5-acre lake. The southern half is a golf course, which is groomed in winter for skate style cross-country skiing. A second trail, maintained for classic-style skiing, winds around and through the woodlands. In warmer weather a disc golf course runs through some sections. The pond is stocked with panfish, trout and largemouth bass.

The Oak Leaf Trail runs along the north end of the park on the park road between Range Line Rd. on the east and Bradley Rd. on the west. The park has numerous amenities, including a boat house, athletic fields, playground, and restrooms.

Brown Deer Park location: 7835 N Green Bay Road, Brown Deer, WI 53209

For a Milwaukee County Parks map, click here.

Case Eagle Park

This 239-acre park features nature trails and a canoe launch on the Fox River, which runs through the park. The Seven Waters Trail, a Racine County bike trail also runs through the park. The 17-mile long, wheelchair accessible trail runs from Burlington to Muskego Lake and encourages the following activities: biking, cross-country skiing, inline skating and walking. It connects with the White River State Trail in Burlington.

Part of the Racine County Park System, the entrance is located off S. Rochester Street, which is also County Highway J. Access is also possible from N. Brown’s Lake Dr., which is also County Highway W. Amenities include baseball diamonds and a fenced dog park.

Sumac bobs

Case Eagle Park location: 310 S. Rochester St., Rochester, WI 53105

Honey Creek Wildlife Area

This 1,495-acre Wildlife Area is made up of four separate parcels in western Racine County and eastern Walworth County. Habitats include oak woodland, lowland woodland, shallow and deep marsh, and grassland. Waterways include Long Lake, Honey Creek, and Sugar Creek. Wildlife includes deer, turkey, waterfowl, pheasants and other small game.

The easternmost parcel includes the 83-acre Cherry Lake Sedge Meadow State Natural Area, which contains southern sedge meadow, fen, and northern wet forest communities. Of special interest are round-leaved sundew, shrubby cinquefoil, yellow twayblade, marsh St. Johns-wort, marsh fern, and sphagnum moss.

Honey Creek is featured in the Lake Michigan Region of the Great Wisconsin Birding and Nature Trail as a property with a mix of habitats that provides opportunities to see flycatchers, terns, great blue herons, American bitterns and Sandhill cranes.

According to the DNR website, additional recreational opportunities include canoeing, cross-country skiing, hiking, trapping, wild edibles/gathering and wildlife viewing. However, there are no designated trails.

For more information, go to Honey Creek Wildlife Area.
Three of the four parcels have parking areas. For locations and WDNR map, click here.

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Milwaukee's rivers get cleaned up

It was a chilly but bright morning and Milwaukee area residents turned out in force to clean up the three rivers. The annual River Clean Up occurs on the Saturday closest to Earth Day. It is sponsored by Milwaukee Riverkeeper, the Urban Ecology Center, among other organizations. I toured three of the sites many sites where crews were out picking up trash and other debris. Here is a brief photo essay of the morning's activity, which included a stranger than usual find in one of the rivers.

First stop: Honey Creek in Wauwatosa.

Lindsay and Mel pause for a pose.

Barcalounger, anyone?

A group of girls from St. Joan Antida High School lend a hand.

Next stop, the Menomonee Valley. Here volunteers stroll along the Hank Aaron State Trail near Miller Park.

Picking up trash on the riverbank near the Hank Aaron State Trail's Valley Passage.

Jeff, a staff member of the Menomonee Valley Branch of the Urban Ecology Center, tries to wrestle a large piece of sheet metal from the river.

An Urban Ecology Center team picks invasive garlic mustard in conjunction with the river clean up.

My third stop was the Kinnickinnic River, where some heavy lifting was going on.

Seriously heavy lifting!

Luckily Poseidon lent a hand. (His real name is Tim.)

Wes wins the annual prize for finding the strangest item in the river. This leather valise was discovered to contain articles of clothing, a pistol, and bricks. The bricks, presumably, were in there to make sure the stash of incriminating evidence stayed at the bottom of the river. Little did the perpetrators of whatever this implies know that the riverkeepers would discover it!

Someone called 911 and within minutes officers Pelczynski and Campos responded. They cautiously inspected the bag.

And retrieved the gun.

Close inspection revealed it to be a BB gun. The story of its disposal in the river, in the bag with the clothing, remains a mystery.

To see additional photos, go to my flickr page. 

First snow

To commemorate the season’s first snow, late as it is, I have a short photo essay shot yesterday, mostly while it was coming down around me. Lovely.

Not feeling particularly insightful today, I humbly offer a selection of haiku that I’ve written over the years on the themes of snow and winter. To me haiku is less about writing and more akin to a spiritual practice. There was a time when I wrote one a day, but I’ve lapsed lately.

Enjoy the snow!

Honey Creek Parkway, West Allis

leaving the road

my footprints

in unbroken snow

Honey Creek Parkway, West Allis

stopping in snowy woods

the stranger suddenly smiles

her dog licks my hand

Menomonee River at Hart Park, Wawatosa

morning mist

off the river

my breath rising

Hoyt Park, Wauwatosa

pulling off snowy boots

near the fire

my tingling toes

Menomonee River at Hart Park, Wauwatosa

on the verge of sleep

snowplow scraping, beeping

scraping, beeping

Honey Creek Parkway, West Allis

in the midst of blowing snow

a purple balloon

                           bouncing

Honey Creek Parkway, West Allis