During our time in Scotland we were on the lookout for the Highland Cattle, affectionately called Hairy Coos. After a few days we were excited to spot several of them in a field.
A Hairy Coo
They are unique creatures, with shaggy coats and long horns, and they originated in the Scottish Highlands. They are friendly and cute. One of them ate grass from my hand.
Such a friendly face!
Harry Coos are very popular on goods in the Scottish Highlands…from tins and magnets to coasters and towels and shopping bags…they are fun!
Of course we saw sheep…they seemed to be everywhere! Thousands of them…but I didn’t grow tired of seeing them…
They usually were in settings that were pastoral and calming.
Sheep sharing the path along Hadrian’s wall.
And I always like to see horses in a field…
Horses enjoying the sunshine…
And cattle…
Silhouettes of cattle in a field along Hadrian’s Wall.
We missed the peak season for the bright purple heather on the hillsides. I saw photos of heather in their prime season and it looked stunning…just like when we see the fall color peak in Minnesota.
Heather grows all over the hills and rocks.
But we did see a lot of heather past peak, and it was still pretty. The picturesque Scottish Highlands are a perfect backdrop for the muted colors of the heather.
More than the average colorful hydrangea’s in many places…blues and pinks and deep purples.
Deep purple and pink hydrangeas
Flower pots and window boxes are a bright spot when the weather is overcast and dreary, which they say is a lot of the time.
Colorful hanging flower baskets.
A flower box with a crown on top.
Rosebay willowherb was another wildflower that was in bloom.
Rosebay Willowherb in the forefront, along Loch Ness.
We also saw many rainbows during our time in Scotland. This full rainbow was taken on our last day, before we boarded our flight home.
Scotland bids us farewell with a beautiful rainbow.
The other day we rode a new-to-us bike trail, beginning at the west end of the Spring Lake Park Reserve, near Hastings.
A monarch butterfly on butterfly weed. How appropriate.
This beautiful trail meanders along with a prairie on one side (complete with bison), and the Mississippi River on the other. It was hilly, but fun… and is now one of my new favorite trails.
Bison and baby bison (calves).
The prairie wild flowers were in full bloom, bountiful, and showing off. That was a perk, as was having the Mississippi River, on the other side of the trail.
Rudbeckia…or Black-eyed Susan.
But the biggest bonus, and surprise, was at the trailhead where we planned to eat our picnic lunch. There is a bison paddock there where eight bison were brought here to live in a very large, penned-in area.
Mother and babe…maybe…all adults together care for the young.
On this day, we were fortunate to see all eight of them, plus four calves, up close sitting right in front of us as we ate our lunch. Locals told us it was unusual to see them so close.
Up close…
The Bison are being reintroduced to this area where they once lived. They seem to draw a lot of interest. We were told when the project started last fall, they acquired eight females, and four of them were pregnant. Several signs offered different interesting facts about bison.
Standing, lying down, walking around…the bison were active.
The bison were all lying down when we first saw them. And then they would get up and move around. They were fun to watch. A couple hours later when we got back from our bike ride, all twelve were gone, and nowhere to be seen.
A bison calf.
The space where they are corralled is a vast prairie land where they can roam, and are often hidden from view. The beginning mile, or so, of the bike trail is along this paddock.
Cone flowers, black-eyed susans, fleabane…
Seeing the bison, and the river, and the wildflowers, created a great impression for our first ride on this trail. The temperatures had cooled off too, with low dew points. It was awesome.
Prairie Clover, with a beautiful butterfly I could not identify.
I took time on our way back to stop and take pictures of the gorgeous flowers. Often there were butterflies or bees on the flowers.
I didn’t identify this flower.
There were so many different species, and colors, shapes and sizes. I decided to take only a few pictures since I had to keep getting on and off my bike. 😉
A metal Bison sculpture seen along the bike trail. The yard was full of metal art. The artist was identified as Dale Lewis.
This trail is one we will ride again and again, I’m sure. It will be interesting to see how often we see the bison herd, and to see how the landscape changes throughout the seasons.
Other bison seen along the trail… Metal sculptures: Dale Lewis
So fun to see…The bison were all gathered in this one corner of the paddock, near the trailhead.
Spring ephemerals: wildflowers that bloom for only a few days in the spring.
Last week I took a couple jaunts out to Nerstrand Big Woods State Park, one of my favorite parks in the area. Springtime in Nerstand always shows off its wildflowers before the trees leaf out. In spring the sunshine can reach and nourish the plants. We had an especially cold, windy and dreary April, so it seemed the many varieties of wildflowers decided to all pop up at once in May. It was spectacular.
Marsh marigold (yellow) in the background.
I was able to participate in a wildflower walk with the new park naturalist at Nerstrand. As our group walked along the path towards Hidden Falls, he identified many different plants.
Lots of water flowing over Hidden Falls at Nerstrand Big Woods State Park.
Trillium
Jack-in-the-Pulpit
It was a good refresher course for me…each year I like to wander through the park and try to identify the spring flowers. I forget some over the year, and like to be reminded of their names.
False rue anemone.
Meadow Rue
The rare – grown only a few places in Minnesota and nowhere else in the world – the dwarf trout lily, was in bloom. It is always special to see that tiny, kernel of rice-size flower.
Photo taken in 2021. I used my finger to show perspective.
It was a sunny, glorious day as we hiked the trail. Not so windy, as it has been, and is, as I write this post.
Blue skies and spring greens.
A favorite: Spring Beauty
Bellwort
Soon the tree leaves will cover the forest floor in shade, and the beautiful spring flowers will go dormant and wait until next spring to resurrect once again.
Over the past few days our activities, unintentionally, took us to three major rivers.
Our first hike was at Ft. Snelling State Park. Gary and I have a long, but brief, history with this park. When we first met in 1976, Gary was in the habit of hiking in this park. At that time, he had taken an awesome photo of the Mendota Bridge from a unique perspective and had it printed and framed in a 8X10 format. He gave me a copy when we first met. And, then he took me to this unique park in the heart of the city.
Current view of the Mendota Bridge from Ft. Snelling State Park.
I don’t remember the trail but I remember the hike because we walked to the confluence of the mighty Mississippi River and the Minnesota River. This was years ago. There were a few times we stopped at the park since then, after we had children, to visit the beach area. And we’ve been to the historic Ft. Snelling itself, which is interesting, but we didn’t hike on Pike Island again until this day, 45 years later. (It’s kind of hard to wrap my head around that).
The confluence of the Mississippi (on left) and Minnesota rivers.
On Pike Island, one side of the trail leads you along the Mississippi River. You approach a point, with a sandy beach, which is the confluence of two major rivers: Mississippi and Minnesota. Then you turn and walk back on the other side of the island, along the Minnesota River. It’s a 3.7-mile loop.
The wildflower: Trillium, found at Ft. Snelling State Park.
It was interesting to be at Ft. Snelling state park a few days after my jaunt in Nerstrand Big Woods where I saw multitude of wildflowers. There were very few wildflowers on Pike island, although I did see a trillium, which I hadn’t seen at Nerstrand.
There were, however, many huge trees on the island, and many of them had hollow spots. It was an interesting trail.
Just a couple days later we were at Interstate State Park, near Taylors Falls. Again, drastically different from both Fort Snelling and Nerstrand Big Woods state parks. This park offered many glacier formations and a scenic view of the St. Croix River. We hiked along the St. Croix River for a couple of miles. The sandstone cliffs tend to make this area of the river very scenic.
The St. Croix River.
Another view of the beautiful St. Croix River from Interstate State Park.
As we entered Interstate state park there was an information sign that read, “Looking for Taylors Falls? There is none.” Although Taylor Falls is the name of the town, there are no falls there. However, the sign told of the nearest falls 10 miles away in Osceola Wisconsin, so we ventured there to explore. We had been to Interstate many times over the years and knew there were no falls in Taylors Falls, but we did not know about the Cascade Falls in Osceola.
Cascade Falls in Osceola, Wisconsin.
They were very pretty…full, wide and cascading. We walked down flights of stairs provided by the city of Osceola, to the falls and then proceeded to hike a quarter mile away to the St. Croix river to see the river from another perspective other than Interstate park. The falls and surrounding area was a fun discovery.
Years ago my friend and I went on several wildflower walks with a naturalist and learned the names of wildflowers. I still recognize many of the flowers, and remember some of names, but have forgotten many too. None-the-less, I love walking through the woods, looking at the spring wildflowers.
Buttercup
I qualify these walks as walks, not hikes, because it’s a slow, meandering pace. On this day, I took a lot of photos of the flowers in hopes of identifying the ones I didn’t remember, from my books at home. I think I identified most of these correctly. It was definitely a fun exercise.
Marsh Marigolds
Marsh marigold up close.
One of the flowers I’m always thrilled to see is the dwarf trout lily. I know a spot where one, yes – one, blooms and I look for it every year. Sometimes I miss seeing it in bloom, but I didn’t miss out this year. Dwarf trout lilies only bloom in three counties of Minnesota, and no where else on earth. That’s fascinating to me.
The dwarf trout lily…kind of hidden in this photo…bottom third, left of center…tiny bloom.
Putting my finger near the dwarf trout lily bloom, for perspective.
However, the white trout lily is prolific…and carpets the ground many places throughout the park.
White Trout Lily
The white trout lilies one of two wildflowers that was a ground cover in this park
My all time favorite wildflower is Spring Beauty. I love the delicate pink flowers.
Spring Beauty
Wild Blue Phlox
Some wildflower names seem sensible, others are odd and not very “flowery’…There is one called bloodroot, but I didn’t see it…I believe it’s done blooming.
Toothwort
Jack-in-the-Pulpit
According to lists from the park office there are many wildflowers in the park that, of course, bloom in different seasons. I have always focused on spring flowers.
Dutchman’s Breeches
Dutchman’s Breeches up close.
“There is poetry among the wildflowers.” (Rachel Irene Stevenson) I enjoyed the poetry of the wildflowers this day.
May Apples
The may apple bud..underneath the foliage…this is ready to bloom into a white flower. You have to look underneath the leaves to find the bloom.
A carpet of rue anemone covered several areas of the ground in the park.
Another quote: “Wildflowers aren’t meant to be cut & tamed. They’re meant to be loved & admired.” (Anthony T. Hincks) I do love and admire the wildflowers.
Bellwort
Purple Violet and White Anemone
Nerstrand Big Woods State Park is a wonderful place to look for wildflowers. I believe it’s one of the best parks, near Northfield, to see so many spring wildflowers in bloom. It sure showed off it’s finery the day I went for a wildflower walk there.
We took a day trip to Beaver Creek Valley State Park to go for a hike. It is a ways away but it felt good to head out of town. The day was sunny, but cool. There were a few folks out and about but not many.
Spring greens!
An abundance of watercress in the creek.
There were a lot of wildflowers in bloom in the park. I had my wildflower book handy but it is always difficult to identify flowers because it takes awhile to look them up and figure them out, plus it’s hard to keep stopping every few feet! I usually end up just enjoying viewing them.
This white flower, which I believe is an anemone, carpeted the forest floors. It was in many areas of the park.
At one time, several years ago, my friend and I took a lot of wildflower hikes, with and without naturalists, and could identify more flowers than I remember now.
Spring wildflowers are a wonderful sight!
Plus so many other natural wonders…
Surprised to see mushrooms too.
Interesting lichen and moss on this dead tree limb.
A simple, clever log bench.
On a side note, we took many family-driving vacations when the kids were younger, and we camped and hiked in many national parks. Upon arrival at the visitor’s center in a park, I always bought a book of wildflowers found in that particular park, then I tried to identify some flowers on our hikes. It was fun and a nice souvenir of our trips.
I had the opportunity to go to Colorado for a week to help take care of my two adorable two grandchildren who live there. Their mother went to her sister’s wedding while my son and their two children stayed behind. So I gladly offered my assistance.
On top of the world.
While there, my son and grandkids and I took a day trip to Rocky Mountain National Park. Our son’s new home in Colorado is about an hour from the park. My husband and I visited the park when we drove out to Colorado in late April so this was my second trip to the park within six months.
The beginning of the Old Fall River Road, and the beginning of snow (late April).
In April, the Old Fall River Road was closed to vehicles. It is only open for traffic July through September so Gary and I decided to hike along the popular, historic road to Chasm Falls, a couple miles up the road.
Old Fall River Road – hairpin turn in late April.
As we started hiking… it started snowing… so we had a peaceful hike up and back down the hairpin-curved road, with snow-globe style snowflakes gently falling.
The beginning of the Old Fall River Road in RMNP, in August.
In August, the Old Fall River Road is open to traffic so my son slowly drove along the winding, nine-mile dirt road to the Alpine Visitor Center, one of the highest points you can drive to in the park.
I love this photo of Ezra…he is color coordinated with the colors surrounding him in nature. Photo by TB.
We parked the car at the Alpine Center and continued hiking up a trail to the top – 12,005’.
Climbing up the trail to 12,005′.
It was a beautiful day and the vistas were fantastic, at the top and all the way up the mountain.
My son near the sign designating the altitudle.
We drove down the mountain on the Trail Ridge Road since the Old Fall River Road is one-way only.
A postcard I bought in the center.
The Trail Ridge Road is a wonderful smooth, paved road that crosses through the park. We stopped for a picnic supper part way down and continued to enjoy the beauty surrounding us.
A colorful wildflower in bloom, the Indian Paintbrush.
During both visits to the park, in April and in August, we saw elk.
Elk in August (RMNP).Elk in late April (RMNP).
I’m grateful I was able to be in RMNP with my son and my grandchildren. I’m grateful to have a senior pass that gets me, and the passengers in the vehicle I’m in, free admittance to national parks. I’m grateful we have so many national parks in the US to explore.
Last week, after the rains and before the string of beautiful sunny days, a friend and I went for a hike in Nerstrand Big Woods State Park.
It was green. It was lush. It was muddy.
First we walked down the steps to take a look at Hidden falls which was very full and gorgeous. The sound of the water falling over the rock bed is mesmerizing.
Hidden Falls was full and flowing.
Next we decided to cross the river which required carefully stepping on wet blocks, with water flowing over them, to get to the other side. We held our breath as we slowly stepped on each block.
The very muddy path.
Once safely across, we started down the trail only to find lots and lots of mud. We had to navigate each step forward. Thankfully we had hiking poles, and thankfully neither one of us fell in the slippery mud.
Wild Geranium.Yellow Violets
The muddy trails did not take away from our observations. On this cloudy day, in addition to seeing the beautiful overflowing falls, we saw several spring wildflowers…
False Rue Anemone.
A Scarlet Tanager.
and the best sighting of all…a Scarlet Tanager, a stunning, red bird.
Nerstrand is a wonderful park. This park is poetry to me. I have been going to this park even before we moved to the area 25 years ago and it holds a special place in my heart. I have many good memories of hiking, skiing, and camping…family times, winter picnics, summer picnics…and much more.
Mushrooms and moss.
For me, Nerstrand is a wonderful place to get away, yet be so close to nature, to God, and so close to home!
I’ve always preferred a picnic rather than going out to eat on Mother’s day…I don’t like the crowds. This year Mother’s Day was colder than usual so we ate at home but went to Nerstrand-Big Woods State Park to hike and look at the wildflowers, which I always love to do in the spring.
We were surprised when we arrived mid-afternoon at Nerstrand. The cars were packed in, and overflow parking meant cars were parked outside the park! This is good…I love seeing families getting out to enjoy the outdoors and discover Minnesota’s beautiful state parks.
We walked a familiar trail and did find the spot where the unique-to-the-Nerstrand-area dwarf trout lily blooms, but they were not blooming yet. There were lots of other wild flowers in bloom though: bellworts, Dutchman’s breeches, spring beauty, anemones, trout lilies everywhere and marsh marigold, to name a few I recognized. It was beautiful, and the trees were budding out in spring greens.
Into the woods.
Additional bonuses: I saw my first hummingbird at our feeder on our deck today.
Maybe I should name the mourning dove. I say good morning to her every day.
Our mourning dove continues to sit in her nest on her eggs, and near Pond #2 in our neighborhood are several Canadian Geese and their goslings.
Norway ~ Your Way was the name of the tour group we went with to Norway in 2007. An American partnered with a native Norwegian naturalist as a guide and he has organized one hiking trip through Norway every year for over twenty years. Ours was a group of about thirty. We traveled by bus for segments of the trip but mostly by our own legs, hiking from mountain lodge to mountain lodge. The good news was when we were not riding the bus it was carrying our luggage.
Hiking lodge to lodge.
Norway is unbelievably beautiful, and indescribable. Ask anyone who has been there. We often wondered why my grandfather, at the age of 17, left this beautiful country to come to America. I know it was for economic reasons but it must have been hard. Thankfully we have contact with many relatives still living in Norway and we have built relationships with them. I love my Norwegian heritage, and my Norwegian relatives!
The hills are alive in Norway.
Because of the astounding beauty all around it’s hard to single out one memorable hike from this trip.
Our first hike was a six mile day hike near Geilo, northwest of Olso, to get our hiking legs in place. On the second day we started our lodge-to-lodge journey. We saw reindeer and mountain sheep while hiking and came upon pools from streams of melted snow and I took off my hiking boots to put my feet in the water. It was cold, but it felt good on the feet.
Sharing the trails.
Every day, after a wonderful European (in this case – Norwegian) breakfast, we would make our lunches from the breakfast buffet and fill our water bottles. We also filled our coffee thermos’ for a morning coffee break, finding a place to sit on the trail and soak in the breathtaking views. We hiked between six to ten miles a day.
Stopping for a coffee break.
Sometimes it was difficult due to steep climbs, rocky paths and some snowy patches. We crossed many streams and one very challenging waterfall where we had to help each other across.
Beautiful waterfalls to cross.
The scenery was spectacular with dozens of waterfalls, lush vegetation, and lots of wildflowers. This area we hiked lodge-to-lodge is known as the Grand Canyon of Norway. After our treks to the lodges we took several day hikes: we took a train up a mountain and hiked back down, another day the bus dropped us off so we could hike a back-country road to a small village on the sea. It was so picturesque and I remember stopping to smell a lot of roses!
A hiker’s hut.
We had a “free” day so we went on our own, without the group, and hiked a couple hours up a steep, defined trail and discovered a small mountain hut…a hiker’s cabin we learned…a one-room hut with a sod roof with a small Norwegian flag displayed outside, a pot belly stove inside with a small bed and table. There were emergency supplies if a hiker was in need of them. It was such a fun discovery. We signed a journal on the table inside and filled our water bottles in the clear mountain stream outside the hut.
A Fjord near the village of Mundal. I had this picture enlarged and framed and it is hanging in my kitchen.
The overall trip included so much more than hiking… we took a boat ride through a fjord, we shopped in Bergen, toured a Stav Church, and learned about Norwegian culture.
An added bonus for us…we extended our stay and spent time with my Norwegian relatives and had many more exciting adventures!
