The week after Memorial Day was beautiful. The weather was mild and sunny, and the rain
held off until we needed to leave. Thankfully,
eleven months prior I had decided to set my alarm for a specific time to alert
me to the fact that I needed to log into the Reserve America camping
reservation site to grab a (highly prized) campsite at Weborg loop; Peninsula
State Park, Fish Creek, WI. These twelve
specific State-run campsites are among the most highly coveted in all of Door
County. The reason is that they are more
intimately situated far away from the vast majority of the other sites, all
electric with their own toilet and shower facility, tout recently upgraded
electrical infrastructure, have incredible views of nearby Fish Creek, WI
across a beautiful bay, and are (wait for it…) privy to some of the park’s most
desirable bird watching ecosystem.
Our site (106) was chosen because it exposed a lovely
water-view and was on the “end” nearest the overflow parking lot. It was a wide open spot with the most
available clear, grass and dandelion landscape.
About the only drawback to the site only effects “tent” campers like
us. Unfortunately rules are rules and
“camping” (via RV or tent) must only occur on the designated areas. Well, the State-designated area for any tent
is at the end of the gravel drive in a non-descript “circular area” of more
gravel; that’s it. What that means is
that in order to have any smooth and soft area under your feet is to layer many
tarps down under the tent before you set it up.
The second pain is that you’ll need heavy duty tent stakes (like
landscaping nails) in order to anchor the tent corner loops through the
hard-packed gravel substrate. For your
information; tent kits don’t generally contain that industrial-grade style of
anchoring hardware…good luck.
Rule-followers that Barbara and I are; we complied even though our
camp-neighbors didn’t seem to get the same memo.
Firewood is another bugaboo (pun intended) as you are no
longer “allowed” by the State to transport any firewood INTO a State Park
unless you can certify that it was purchased (according to their website) ten
miles or less from that particular Park.
I state it that way, as a sign within the Park listed the (old) distance
of 25 miles…go figure. The rationale is
that pesky Emerald Ash Borer and what it can do to a stand of trees if it is
accidentally “imported” from one besieged woods to another unsuspecting glade
of fresh and vulnerable trees….Mmmwhahahaha…
Anyway, obtaining firewood was now quite “locally” monopolized and everyone must pay the price; regardless.
I was standing next to the end of the obligatory State Park
campsite-picnic table cooking bacon the first morning in camp when I had an idea. There was this old Coleman, white gas, single
burner contraption that my friend Dave Dombrowski gave me; and I thought I’d
see if it worked. Dave, a habitual
rummage-saler and scrounger; picked it up “cheap” somewhere and never used
it. He gave it and some other cool
camping stuff to Barbara and me during a visit to their home. Well, (I reasoned) it was kinda-sorta like
the Coleman lantern I had along on this trip; pump it up to add pressure to the
liquid gas so that it atomized at the point of flame contact. How hard could it be to resurrect the old
contraption? I “pumped it up” and turned the gas valve to
let the pressurized gas flow to the burner.
I held a stick lighter there and a small flame began to sputter. I watched and thought, “oh, this may actually
work as a small stove burner…,” when that sputtering flame began to build, and
build, and flow underneath the burner to the gas tank, and build…I shut off the
valve…it got bigger and bigger and bigger.
I panicked and grabbed the entire fire-engulfed thing and flung it to
the grass behind me. Just then I heard a
sweet but concerned female voice call out, “Are you OK?” Then, for whatever God-blessed reason, the
antique rummage-sale-deal / turned-conflagration, blessedly self-extinguished
as it tumbled along the lawn. Whew! I answered, “I am now,” in a sheepish but
grateful voice as I looked over to the tent window where Barbara stood watching
the exciting scene unfold.
One important factor that (in hindsight) I wish I’d been
briefed upon, was the fact that clouds of mosquitos had recently hatched and
were now hungrily awaiting fresh camper-grade hemoglobin. This interesting factoid of nature is one
that is not difficult to understand; birds eat lots of bugs = lots of bugs
bring lots of birds. The hard part of
that simple equation is that undesirable bugs also enjoy bothering humans and
pets while waiting being eagerly eaten by our desirable avian friends. Enter Deep Woods Off wipes…LOTS of them! Long pants and sweatshirts also help; but the
temps predicated (at least my hot persona) the wearing of shorts and short
sleeve shirts. No problem, as the
trade-off was the great outdoors and plentiful quantities and varieties of
birds…just don’t accidentally lick your fingers…yuuuck!
I have written before in this blog about Peninsula StatePark, so I won’t belabor and regale you with rehashed specificities regarding
the layout or amenities, as you can read about that yourself. What I will say is that we both thoroughly
enjoyed our time in camp for various reasons.
One such enjoyable time came on one early morning, when Barbara and I
accidentally wandered into a “Nature Walk” that was about to start near the
Weborg Marsh trail. A small group of
four women (three of which appeared to have on “official-looking” uniforms)
stood talking near the roadway as we approached. Two of the officials finished up their brief
nature-walk primer to the third (youngest of the three) and the four of us
(now) wandered east into the woods on a small grass and weed path led by that
one remaining official State Park representative. Her name is Katie and she explained to
Barbara, me and the third nature-walk attendee that she was “new” and would do
her best to impart some basic forest and avian knowledge. She did fine. Was she as knowledgeable as I am with
birds? No, but I am 52 years old and
have been birding since 2003. The few
feathered facts she did know were more than enough for a casual camper to be
fascinated with. I did learn some plant
and species information such as, what “Bloodroot” looks like and that a pretty,
purple, smallish flower was called a “Dwarf-like Iris.” I also remember something about a “Canada
May-something-or-other” and that there are several types of Solomon’s seal
varieties depending on the bloom; but she’d have to get her book to know which
one. I think I also know what Poison Ivy
looks like compared to another plant which looks like Poison Ivy. At least I hope I can tell the difference. The tour lasted about 45 minutes and ended
with all four of us chatting in the roadway next to our campsite. Overall; Katie was youthfully delightful and
energetically adequate as a tour guide in her wide-eyed “newness.”
Water in the bay on one of many sunny mornings sparkled like
a million diamonds with the slight breeze encouraging it. Bird watching (particularly warbler-watching)
was amazing by late-May standards in Wisconsin.
I was fortunate to see many FOYs during the few days we camped. The two of us (and sometimes Opie) saw birds
while hiking and biking. At one point; we
even took a side trip into “town” (about six blocks) to a small hardly-used
Town Park, to walk (with Opie) along the serpentine trail that extended out the
back of the grounds. On another day-trip
we rode our bikes up a paved road in the State Park to the very peak of
altitude to look from Sven’s Bluff, out onto Green Bay and the islands that can
be seen from there. I heard an
unfamiliar bird sound. Tracking it down
eventually yielded a lovely Mourning warbler that was in
the woods opposite the overlook.
Black-throated green warblers could also be heard high in the quickly
leaf-advancing tree-tops. The forest
floor here was (in large patches) almost completely covered with Lily of the
Valley and the beautifully cloying scent of them (my favorite scented flower)
filled the air as we rode. Trillium
dotted the landscape and in certain areas had already turned to the signature
pink shade as they had aged. Garlic
mustard seemed to be handled in most areas of the Park; however they still had
large swaths to eradicate. Poison had
been sprayed on some sections and marked accordingly alongside the paved road
as bicyclists of varying prowess and intelligence (the groups without any helmets)
rode both their personal and rented machines.
Wood frogs and toads began to strike up their cacophonous
marshland band just as the sun began to set along the Sunset Trail. Spring peepers joined in and crickets happily
added their voice to nature’s evening chorus.
The air was cool enough for us to run the electric “milkhouse heater”
that Thomas Devereaux (my father) had gifted to us the fall before. We were glad to have had it packed along for
this spring trip. Each night after a
time in front of the campfire sipping adult beverages; we climbed aboard the
S.S. Air-Mattress and attempted to overcome the permanent (gravel-provided)
downhill list. This meant dragging
yourself incrementally uphill throughout your night to keep from falling off
and or/being uncovered by the sheets.
Opie didn’t help either as he is always (middle-up) in-between us, as
his place of preferential sleeping/security position. Either way; through exhaustion or necessity,
one finally does eventually drift off to sleep regardless of the unending
natural noise, or pitch of the mattress.
Ahhh...all the creature comforts of home…and we paid good money to live
like this for a time.
Here's our birding species list for the four days:
- Least flycatcher
- Eastern kingbird
- American redstart
- Black-capped chickadee
- Black and white warbler
- Red-winged blackbird
- Baltimore oriole
- Common yellowthroat
- Yellow warbler
- American white pelican
- American robin
- Blue jay
- Red-breasted nuthatch
- American crow
- Common grackle
- Northern cardinal
- Eastern phoebe
- Herring gull
- Northern flicker
- Mourning dove
- Common merganser
- American goldfinch
- Red-eyed vireo
- Cedar waxwing
- Song sparrow
- Gray catbird
- Turkey vulture
- Northern rough-winged swallow
- Great egret
- Chestnut-sided warbler
- Blackburnian warbler
- Ovenbird
- Indigo bunting
- Black-throated Green warbler
- Common loon
- Great-crested flycatcher
- Double-crested cormorant
- Common nighthawk
- Chimney swift
- Chipping sparrow
- Canada goose
- Eastern wood pewee
- Killdeer
- Least flycatcher
- Scarlet tanager
- Wild turkey
- Ruffed grouse
- Barn swallow
- Bald eagle
- Hairy woodpecker
- Ring-billed gull
- Alder flycatcher
- Red-bellied woodpecker
- Common tern
- White-breasted nuthatch
- Pileated woodpecker
- Solitary sandpiper
- Mourning warbler
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