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Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Working It on Houghton Falls Trail

The other day we drove a few miles down the road to the Houghton Falls Trail just outside of Washburn.  I found out about this trail on Bayfield County's page about hiking.


Obviously this trail can get quite wet due to the many raised areas, but at this time things are very dry...a little too dry if you know what I mean.  The good news there, mosquito population very low, the bad news is there was no waterfall in sight.


We were able to walk down into Echo Dells due to the lack of water, though you can tell that pools must obviously fill here at times.  


I was so busy with my camera that I forgot to check out the acoustics, so I guess we'll have to take their word for it about the echo. Maybe I should have had Wayne sing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star".  Oh, well, next time maybe.


I did spot a unique caterpillar on one of the trees as we walked the mile out to Lake Superior.  A quick internet search provided no answers so if anyone knows what it is let me know!


Though the trail provided no rushing water, it did eventually lead to Lake Superior.  A few folks were climbing down to a cove for swimming where the waterfall usually is located, but we just took in the view for a few minutes before heading back.


Those of you who are wondering how to find Indian Pipe at this time of year, make sure to look under some of the leafier plants as they can hide, especially before they reach their full height.


Monotropa Uniflora (Indian Pipe) is parasitic and its hosts are certain fungi.  Supposedly it's "scarce" but I've been seeing a lot of it everywhere I've been in Wisconsin over the last few weeks.  Maybe it's just a good year for fungi.


There were actually quite a few mushrooms along this trail, but this one was the cutest.

The wifi signal is awful here at our campground so I'm going to wrap this one up.  I know I've told you all about Wayne's crazy "work it" style of photography whenever I ask him to take a pic of me, here is yet another example of the madness.  I decided to put it here and follow Judy's blogging trend by posting it at...


THE END!
(Tomorrow I'll show you our kayak trip out to the sea caves, I promise!)

2 comments:

  1. Great hike! Couldn't find the caterpillar either.

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  2. I was wondering if you decided against the kayaking. Looking forward to seeing the sea caves. Glad the bugs are down for you:)

    ReplyDelete