Spring Walks

It has been very difficult to get myself to sit down and write this posting.  I do believe that the virus and sheltering in place is messing with my mind!  However, my mantra is “one foot in front of the other”.  Just do it!   One activity which John and I have been enjoy is hiking in the woods.  The St.Louis area offers quite a few parks and conservation areas that are still open for that purpose, and we have found some of them.   We also sometimes take our grandchildren, who always add fresh perspectives to our walks.  A favorite topic of discussion with them is in regard to the various different holes which we find in logs and trees.  Clarissa, our imaginative three- year- old, likes to think that there are pink mice in those cavities (she also believes that there are unicorns roaming the woods- have not found one yet).  Nathan, the oldest who is finishing kindergarten) likes to believe the holes in trees belongs to owl families.  He is also into finding wildflowers, different kinds of moss and ferns also fascinate him, as well as lichen.

This past week, when we were at Babler State Park, we discovered that the may apples have bloomed.  Nathan insisted that we had to take a picture of them.  There were large patches of them along the trail.

We have seen trillium both at Rockwood Reservation as well as at Babler StatePark. 

 And also have spotted Virginia bluebells and many phlox in bloom.  Spring beauty is pictured below.

This is also a great time of the year for seeing blooming red bud trees and dogwood.  Babler park has a many of the latter, that is the prime place to see them this time of the year. 

Last week John and I also visited St.Stanislaus reservation in Hazelwood.  The Charbonniere Bluff there is the highest point on the lower Missouri river.  John and I hiked up it, I must confess that it was a bit steep in some spots, requiring me to sit and slide on the return trip down.

Just before leaving the park we came upon an informational sign enlightening us on the fact that the French word “charboniere” means “coal seam”.    Apparently in 1804 Lewis and Clark noticed the seam on their way through the area after leaving Wood River, Illinois.  And to think that after all the years living in the St.Louis area, I always was under the impression that the word charboniere was in reference to one of the early French inhabitants of Missouri!  

My final word here is just to get out and walk in the woods. If that is too boring, look for flowers, moss and ferns.  Taking pictures of them helps to identify them once you are home-  but an app for that purpose would get the answer for you quicker!