Walk with Me to Wetmore Pond

It's only a 10-minute drive from Marquette and an easy 10-minute walk

down the trail.

Bluebead Lily berries will be eaten by chipmunks and birds.

A short ascent

and the Pond comes into view.

The Pond is a depression left by a glacier around 9,000 years ago.

That's Hogback Mountain on the horizon. (A rugged climb to the peak, I did it once and still remember the blisters on my feet.)

I'll be forever flabbergasted

that some trees can live out their long lives on the thinnest of soils.

A bog stretches to the treeline

and it will be an easy scramble down to the observation deck.

Now we can see the bog mat up close. It's floating! Water may be 10 feet deep under the mat in places and my feet are soon wet on the spongy surface.

The cool climate and acidity of the bog prevent plant decay and dead material accumulates, providing a substrate for Sphagnum Moss, Sweet Gale, Buckbean (a spring-blooming favorite), Leatherleaf, Sundew, and sedges.

This is Cotton Grass; not a grass at all, it's a pretty sexy sedge.

Had I eaten this Cranberry [ahem!], it would have been deliciously tart.

The Pitcher Plant population is thriving.

If you click to enlarge, you can see the downward-pointing hairs which will ensure that any insect unfortunate enough to enter the plant's pool will eventually drown and provide much-needed nutrients for the plant.

Enough biology. Let's savor the view.