Hello Brave Readers! If I do not inspire you to look for a nature trail near you so you can go there with your camera (preferrably NOT the one on your phone because that will tempt you away from nature with the bings and clicks and bells and buzz's which do not belong to the bees; so please, put that phone on silent and locate it deep within the bowels of your backpack so you are not tempted to give into the addiction to it whilst thou are supposed to be immersed in the smells, sounds, feels, and sights of NATURE!). . . If I do not inspire you to do that, I have failed in my primary objective here.

That said I feel kind of bad about my hiking time this year so far; but not too bad. I'll explain. Usually in a season I shoot for hiking (nature walking really) and shooting nature photos from anywhere from 75 to 100 miles. That has been my historical amount of time being on nature trails. Since I have got back into kayaking after a near-death accident in one years and years ago my hiking and nature photography time has been usurped or redirected perhaps is the better word to kayaking and kayak fishing. More and more kayak fishing. That is why I do not feel too badly about the shift. It is still time in nature and on some of my trips I combine the two together. So that's the state of things now nearing the end of November. I will get some hiking and snow shoeing in this winter to hopefully make up for that somewhat.

As it stands I have only been on 5 hiking / nature photo adventures this year: Kensington Metropark, Oak Openings Nature Preserve in Ohio, The Switchback Trail near Little Lake Brevoort in the Upper Peninsula and a trail within the Daniel Boone National Forest leading out from the Bee Rock Campground in Kentucky, and Columbus County Park in Columbus, Michigan.

Kensington Metropark, located in Milford, Michigan, is by far the best set of nature trails with the best nature photography opportunities; at least as it relates to birds and birding that I have discovered in Southeast Michigan and I have been to many many many trails in this area. The birds there have become quite acliminated to human's presence within their turf. There are sandhill cranes there. In years past while I was shooting photos there me and another photographer I was with had to step off of the trail to let a mother crane and her little offpring walk right past us on THEIR trail. He and I were amazed by this, our long camera lenses not being able to focus on them because of their too close proximity. There are many wild turkey there that you will likely also see throughout the year. There is a rather large great blue heron rookery as well. There are asorted woodpeckers there as well: from common downy woodpeckers to the pilleated woodpecker as well as red-bellied and I have also photographed red-headed woodpeckers there in the past. Birds such as black-capped chickadees, tufted titmouse and even downy woodpeckers will land on your outstretched hand to take seed. Usually when I go for a walk there I will put in anywhere from 5 - 8 miles behind the nature center. There are plenty of trails there to fill the whole day if you like and are able. They are somewhat hilly at points and are always well maintained and are well marked. More from Adventures to Kensington Metropark Here.

Oak Openings Nature Preserve, located West of Toledo Ohio is another great place to spend a whole day hiking nature trails. The North Country National Scenic Trail also passes through this nature preserve which is an added bonus. It is a popularaly frequented preserve so I would recommend going on weekdays (that holds true with Kensington above and basically all the trails in my opinion to avoid the crowds and hopefully see and photo more nature). There is a mountain bike trail section in this park and located at it is a coffeeshop and a food stand. When I went this summer an acoustic musician was playing which made for a great break from nature walking and photoshooting. That is a benefit of going on the weekend I suppose that I should mention.

Daniel Boone National Forest. It was only a 1/2 day out on the trail that led out of the Bee Rock Campground. There was not much wildlife to be seen. None actually. But the landscape was good. It was a trail that led up hills to a viewing summit. The trail when up and up and then lead into a very cool rock cave but from that point the trail was not well marked and not seeing much wildlife at all it was best just to head back to the campsite.

Columbus County Park in Columbus Township, Michigan is a county park with hiking and horse trails and also disc golf. The trails are nice and at one point you can walk across the river/creek to another set of trails. I have done that a couple of times in the past. The rocks hurt the bare feets but it is worth it for the adventure. The disc golf has proved to really be a nuisance to me though. Management of the park has decided it a good idea to put disc golf goals right in the nature trails and even mowed parts of the prairie area to install new disc golf goals. In my opinion, they should have not done this. There is plenty of land on that property to devote to disc golf without putting it into the nature trails and especially without mowing through pairie areas to add to it. Aldo Leopold would be beside himself if he saw that going on! While I was passing through a guy was tramping into the pairie area complaining about getting his new nike shoes dirty and another was coming out of the river. . . both looking for their discs that they misdirected into nature. Nice! Some more photos from Columbus County Park from over the years.

Switchback Trail at Little Lake Brevoortin the Upper Peninsula. I hit this trail on the morning before I was going to head home from the UP from the 3 days of kayak fishing. It is a nice trail up high on a hill adjacent to the lake. A couple who was camping at the camp that I met and spoke to and had some wine with said they had seen me fishing when they were walking along the trail and lamented not taking my photo as I was as they said it would have been a good one. I was bummed too! I didn't see much wildlife but it was an enjoyable walk despite almost falling on my tail into a mucky swampy mess at the beginning of the trail. The couple I met had warned me about the wood boardwalk not being very safe and sure enough as I started into the trail it was wet with morning dew and that with the moss or algae growing on the soaked and weathered boards made them like an ice rink. How I did not end up in the mess camera and all was absolutely beyond me. You bet after that close call I walked a lot slower along the boards!

I put four photos up from each adventure. Hope you enjoy! Of course I'm curious of which if any stand out most to you or that you like best (or least) for whatever reason.