Deb Simons and her hubby, Ron, took advantage of the ATV trails being open now...they headed up to what we all called “the tracks” for a springtime walk. The trails are what used to be the railroad tracks back in the days when the trains still came this far north. Deb said some of the trails are mud, but it was a beautiful day for a walk in the woods... the day they were there, the bugs hadn’t come out yet, but the past few days they’ve been quite active. Deb said it feels like it has been forever since they could get up there for a walk and it will be fun to be able to take a ride on their side by side now again, too. One thing they noticed is in the 5th photo, the many trees that were down or bent over. They figured it’s from all the heavy snowstorms we had, the trees just couldn’t hold up anymore under the weight of the heavy snows. I don’t think they’ll be able to come back from that, either.

We get a treat to be able to hear the water running in the video Deb took of Hamill Creek. Make sure you turn your volume UP. She said Ron would like to go down there with his fishing pole, but unfortunately there’s really not a good way to get down to the creek in this spot. Guess he’ll have to find a different fishing hole.

Have you ever heard the saying..."once in a blue moon"? Well, there will be a "Blue Moon" on the night of May 30–31, 2026, the Moon will rise as a Micro Blue Moon — a rare combination of two events happening at once. It's a "Blue Moon" because it's the second full moon in a single calendar month (the first was the Flower Moon on May 1). And it's a "Micromoon" because the Moon will be at apogee — its farthest point from Earth for all of 2026.

But here's the part most people get wrong: it won't actually look blue. And despite the excitement, it'll be the SMALLEST full moon of the year — about 7% smaller than an average full moon and up to 14% smaller than a supermoon.

Click here for a video explaining about this rare event in the night sky: Blue Moon Coming!

Trail #3, my favorite snowmobile trail.

Janie, I also like that trail but, unfortunately,
only snowmobiles can go all the way to Gay. The
she's can not. If we go up towards Mohawk,we can go
to Gay that way. I wish they'd come up with a
shorter route. We do like going up to the harbors
that way, though.

We haven't taken the sxs out yet, but have been up
there walking quite a few times. It's so peaceful
up there. But the trees that were split in half or
just fell down from that Thanksgiving storm is
unbelievable. That snow was so heavy that it did a
lot of damage to the trees all over UP here.

Deb...outstanding pics..all of them.

I remember, when YOUNG...a bunch of us walked up
Hamill Creek to the falls. Then up that and we
walked down Calumet Hill...

Cool info on the moon!

And another cool quote:

I swear I will not dishonor my soul with hatred,
but offer myself humbly as a guardian of nature, as
a healer of misery, as a messenger of wonder, as an
architect of peace.

Diane Ackerman

Comfort food for the eyes!
Nice job, Deb.

Deb, these are some great trail photos and video!
Looks like a perfect spring hike, thanks for sharing.
And I was wondering if there might still be some
deep shady spots in the woods with lingering
snow? You answered that question too lol!
Too bad about the lack of creek access for fishing,
but I’m sure you’ll find another spot UP there.
Sometimes you find what looks like a neat place,
and just “can’t seem to get there” from where you
are. Not worth a trip to the ER (or worse)!
Thanks Mary for the moon info too :)

Hi
I'm tickled by the idea that you can only use a trail
if there's snow; more often snow blocks a road.

Glad Deb and Ron had a nice hike.

Mary & company, I've been looking at some websites
but there's not a clear story as to why we call it a
blue moon. Here is what I found:
"The moon is blue" once meant "that's impossible".
Then, after some volcanic eruptions, the moon
actually did appear blue...but this was rare. So
"Once in a blue moon" came to mean rare. And I gather
two full moons in a month is somewhat rare.

Hi again
Donna, I don't know where you are getting your quotes
but they are thought-provoking. Today's quote would
require hard work.

Thanks, Cindy. Actually, you can get to that creek
from the road in town. But it's pretty overgrown
and we're not sure if it's private property or not.

Nice research, Kathryn. Thanks.