Hiking The Prairie Trail

My day began w-a-a-a-y to early. Early enough I had time to kill before driving out in the country for some sunrise photos.

At first I thought that thin white squiggle was some kind of crazy jet trail - until I realized it was sunlight on the edge of a cloud.

The heat and humidity combined for the hazy photos, but there was a nice breeze and it was lovely to be out so early.

A couple hours later and Stix and I were ready to hike the prairie path. This is a selfie of the three of us heading up the hill.

Between the tailwaters of Green Valley Lake....

......and the headwaters of Summit Lake, there is an area to park to begin at the south end of the trail. (North side of 150th St. 1/2 mile west of Green Valley Road.)

The only marker I saw. 4.5 miles from what? Where? Lots of ragweed and a bit of pinkweed.

For some reason, I thought this trail was a flat expanse across the top of the ridge. Instead it was up one hill and down another, which is why I said I 'hiked' the prairie trail instead of 'walked'. And it's a heckuva lot easier for me to go uphill than it is down. From here it wasn't much further to the end of this segment at the south (dam) end of Green Valley Lake/Park.

Here's looking south from the north end - starting back. I'm guessing it is a half mile from one end to the other.

Now, some of my sights:

First -- FAUNA

Turkey Vultures or Turkey Buzzards depending on your preference of what to call them or the region you're from.
(Taken from quite a distance with zoom lens.)

While trying to get group photo of the buzzards flying over this farm pond, I captured a Heron without realizing it. I can't tell, does it have something in its beak?

Our state bird - the American Goldfinch. Note their favorite food, thistleseed, at bottom of picture.

There is a pale yellow, Clouded Sulphur, butterfly at the lower left of this photo. It almost matches the emerging goldenrod flower it's feeding upon.

WARNING -Some people may find the following picture disturbing.

This poor little Snapping Turtle was in the wrong place at the wrong time. It was near where I parked my car. I just hope I wasn't the one who ran over it. 😢

On a happier note - and to make up for the previous horror story --
-- here is a live Painted Turtle.

I call this: The Turtle and the Tire.








And Now - FLORA

Dark leaves and pale seeds of a vine which I think is Asclepias, aka, honeyvine milkweed.

I'm always happy to see hedge balls growing. Also known as hedge apples and monkey brains - though I never called them that - they are the fruit of the Osage Orange tree.

I love the dark garnet color on this Elderberry bush even though the birds have feasted on almost all the berries.

Some leaves of the Sumac have already turned red.

While others are still deep green, a perfect backdrop for the much darker, dried blood, red of the Sumac drupes or berry clusters.

The final picture of flora and my favorite in this category - a montage of flowers, seed pods and leaves. There is the white Queen Anne's Lace and the yellow Birdsfoot Trefoil, but it was the pretty purple leaves that caught my eye.

That's it. The end of the trail. Even though I was out early and did not walk fast, the humidity was enough to make me glad to be back at the car, though I'm certain Stix could have gone on and on had I been willing.

It was another lovely walk/photo shoot in the great outdoors.