The Chamberlain Lake State Nature Preserve is an 82 acre state-owned nature preserve managed by the St. Joseph’s County parks department.  The state manages the wildlife.  The county takes care of the trail system.  The preserve is just a bit to the west of South Bend, Indiana.

The most obvious aspect of the park is the destruction left by an F3 tornado that swept through the preserve in 2001.  Most of the trees in the area were decimated by the vortex.  The land managers decided to take a hands-off approach to the preserve after the calamity.  So, visitors get a chance to see how a natural area recovers from a great trauma.

As a result, the preserve has a sort of forbidden quality.  Several large tree trunks remain standing despite their lack of leaves.  These create stark images.  The understory is very thick and filled with downed timber.  This is not the place for an off-trail jaunt.

The terrain is quite flat.  There is a bit of terrain change and the trail is not completely straight.  But most of the elevation change, if you can call it that, is due to the natural ebb of the land towards the lakefront.

I have to say that I was quite disappointed by the “lake.”  When I viewed it, the lake was merely an extended marsh.  All I could see were lily-pads and marsh vegetation.  I am sure that this creates good birding at the observation deck.  However, it wasn’t much of a scenic view.

All told, the nature preserve has maybe 2/3rds of a mile of unique trail.  The trail does not loop, so a complete hike in and out towards the lake is about a mile total.  There are a couple of spur trails, but the preserve is just not big enough to allow for much increase in hike length.

The preserve is not uninteresting.  Birders would probably love it.  And the tornadic mayhem makes for some interesting landscape.  But I would not recommend a special trip to view the preserve.

Here’s the official map:

http://www.sjcparks.org/maps/pdfmaps/mp04_maps/chamberlain.pdf

Here’s my virtual earth trail map.  Be sure to zoom in and see how the tornado here destroyed the forest.  It’s very cool.

http://maps.live.com/?v=2&cid=628A87FDBE3AF2A!314&encType=1

This is the preserve locator map:

http://www.sjcparks.org/maps/pdfmaps/clmap.pdf

It should come as no surprise to residents of Monroe County that the Holcim cement plant near Dundee is one of the county’s largest polluters.  Just follow the smokestacks, I say…

In a perfect world, of course, we’d have no smokestacks.  The world would be pollution-free.  No one would be born with asthma.  And no one would die of lung disease or cancer.

Of course, we live in an imperfect world.  We like the freedom to drive gas-burning cars.  And we like nicely-paved roads and driveways that places like Holcim help to create.

So, I thought that the Monroe Evening News did a good job in highlighting the possible repercussions of more stringent environmental regulations and the Dundee Holcim plant.

http://www.monroenews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070829/NEWS01/108290040/0/FRONTPAGE

 

By using the Ohio Turnpike and Indiana Tollway, the city of South Bend, IN is only about 2 hours from Adrian and 2.5 hours from Monroe.  I’m not sure that South Bend would rank highly in terms of great hiking spots, but it does boast a pretty nice system of trail in Potato Creek State Park.

The park is 3,840 acres and sits on rolling former farmland.  The centerpiece of the park is the man-made, 327-acre Worster Lake.  Visitors can rent boats and canoes at the park and it is not uncommon to see fishermen passing the hours lazily trolling the docile lake waters.

Potato Creek State Park also boasts picnic areas, a campground and several rentable cabins.  It is even possible to drive past an osprey nesting box.

There are many trails to explore in Potato Creek State Park.  The southwester quarter of the park has a 3.3 mile paved bicycle trail that passes through various park environments.  It is possible to rent bicycles at the park, but I’d recommend bringing your own.

The park has just about ten miles of hiking-only trails.  These are mostly found in the northeast quarter of the park.  The trails are easy.  Some are old, wide two-tracks.  Others are single-track routes across rolling hills and around marsh areas.

A new mountain biking trail now shares the hiking section of the park.  This new, 6.7 mile trail uses the same terrain as the hiking trails and intersects at various points.  I’d recommend picking up a mountain bike trail at the park office.  The mountain bike trail is open to hikers, so it can make for some additional hike routes and lengths.  And the mountain bike maps will help to ease the uncertainty at some distant trail intersection.

The southeast sections of the park boast almost seven and a half miles of horse trails.  In Michigan, these trails would be open to hikers.  And the park brochure does not explicitly ban hikers from these trails.  However, I was told by the park office that the bridle trails are not open to hiking.  If anyone has been told differently, please send me an email.

Hikers should also be aware that since the area is converted farmland, there are some old roadbeds that can make for interesting exploration.  And, of course, the park roads can help to connect disparate trails together for longer mileage.

So, unless my math fails me, Potato Creek has 25 to 30 miles of trail.  It’s not wilderness, by any means.  The park can be on the busy side at times.  But it is a pleasant park and worth the drive for a day or weekend away.

I scanned in a copy of the new mountain bike trail map:

http://extremesouthmichigan.blogspot.com/2007/08/potato-creek-state-park-in-mountain.html

Here’s the official park map:

http://www.in.gov/dnr/parklake/properties/maps/2007/potato_trail.pdf

This is the official park website:

http://www.in.gov/dnr/parklake/properties/park_potatocreek.html

Here’s a satellite view of the park.  If you zoom in, you can see all of the old roadways:

http://maps.live.com/?v=2&cid=628A87FDBE3AF2A!312&encType=1

I posted a couple of my older hiker reports on my secondary blog.  You can read them here:

http://extremesouthmichigan.blogspot.com/2007/09/potato-creek-state-park-hike-report.html

 

We are, of course, approaching the sixth anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attacks.  Much has happened since those dramatic days and it is still quite difficult to capture the ultimate meaning of the 911 attacks.

But during my recent visit to the South Bend, IN area, I saw one of the better memorials related to that day.  The memorial is located in St. Patrick’s County Park, just to the south of the Michigan-Indiana border, near Business Route US-31.

In a quiet corner of the park, near a grove of trees planted especially for the memorial is a sculpture created by an artist named Robert Kuntz.  Mr. Kuntz erected two steel pillars with branches that protrude from the top.

At the base of the steel pillars is a section of I-beam from the actual World Trade Center buildings in New York City.  It is possible to see the impact of the attacks in the bended steel.

The artist tastefully records his presence with a creative flourish at the base of the memorial.

It’s really quite a moving sculpture.  And, again, it’s one of the better 911 memorials that I have seen.

Here’s the official park site:

http://www.sjcparks.org/stpats.html

Southeast Michigan and northwest Ohio boast several important military battles from the annals of history.  The Battle of Fallen Timbers opened the “West” to settlement.  The Battles of the River Raisin became War of 1812 rallying points.  And the Battle of Lake Erie wiped the British fleet from the southern Great Lakes.

However, there were several less glorious battles in our history.  One ignominious battle occurred at a place called Phillip’s Corners.  This battle took place during the “Toledo War” in which residents in the territories of Ohio and Michigan fought over a strip of land that included Toledo.  Here’s the wikipedia entry on the Toledo War:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toledo_War

As I was driving home from a conference at South Bend on Monday, I stopped and took a picture of the Ohio State Historical signpost that notes the Battle of Phillip’s Corners.  It is located at the intersection of Ohio state route 109 and US-20 in Fulton County, Ohio.  Happy Reading!

 

Our little corner of the world is great for some things.  We have lots of lakes, dense, green forests and easy-paddling rivers.  We lack other great things.  This area does not have high mountains nor much whitewater.

The City of South Bend, however, has taken it upon itself to make up some of the whitewater void.  About twenty years ago, the city converted an old mill run into an artificial whitewater course.

The run branches from the St. Joseph River in downtown South Bend.  It is roughly bordered by Niles Avenue, Jefferson Boulevard and St. Joseph Street.  At times the run passes by man-made obstacles.

At other times, underwater structures make for artificial waterfalls.

In still other locations, protruding walls create challenging whitewater features.

The course is so good that it once hosted the U.S. Olympic whitewater kayaking trials.  And if Chicago wins its bid to host the Summer Olympics, this course would be sure to get some consideration as an Olympic venue.

While expert kayakers have much of the fun on this course, the City allows for whitewater rafting tours on summer weekends.  Check the links below for more details.

The course also makes for an interesting city walk.  There aren’t many midwestern cities in which one can hear the crash of waves like in downtown South Bend.  And from my visit, it appears that the course has helped to create a festive atmosphere in the neighborhood.

Here’s a Google map that shows the East Race whitewater course:

http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=41.679499,-86.245798&spn=0.003542,0.007231&t=h&z=17&om=1

This is the official City of South Bend site related to the course:

http://www.sbpark.org/parks/erace.htm

This site shows some nice pictures of the East Race:

http://www.sbpark.org/parks/eracephotos.htm

This is a YouTube video that another visitor filmed of a kayaker on a section of the East Race:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZeuphk7Ptg

The Detroit News has a great area of its website that focuses on local history.  The focus of one article is the now defunct Detroit News Hiking Club.  Apparently, between the 1930s and 1950s, the Detroit News encouraged local residents to go for hikes in area parks.  The first hike drew 1,600 participants.

Dozens of clubs formed.  Participants helped to plant trees in places like Waterloo Recreation Area.  And many marriages resulted.  By the early 1970s only one group remained.  The article is worth a read:

http://info.detnews.com/history/story/index.cfm?id=135&category=life

 

A couple of months ago, I posted about West County Park near Dundee.  But I think that one aspect of the park merits another post.  It has to do with the status of the road that leads to the park.

The park is located on Rightmire Road, just to the east of Dundee.  Rightmire is a short gravel road that connects on both ends to the much busier Stowell Road.  It was built kind of like the pit lane on a NASCAR track.  Drivers could turn off of Stowell and follow the River Raisin for a bit and then pop back onto Stowell a bit farther down.

Once the park was established, however, the county placed a barrier about a third of the way down the road.  Automobile traffic can still use most of the road.  However, drivers can no longer use the road as a through-route.

This is a beautiful planning decision for several reasons:

In terms of transportation, there was no real need for a through-route on Rightmire.  Travelers looking to get to Dundee faster would always have been better off taking Stowell.  So, there was no loss in terms of traffic movement.

The area homeowners benefit because they get a less-used road and, presumably, some quieter nights to catch some shut-eye.

Hikers benefit greatly because traffic flows on the road are now pretty much limited to the handful of area homeowners and the small numbers of park visitors.

Closing Rightmire to through traffic has essentially doubled the size of the park for hikers.  It was a great decision.

This kind of planning probably could happen elsewhere in the county and region.  I’d bet that there are other scenic routes that could be limited to local traffic in this way.  It sure is cheaper than building a new paved bike trail in areas with scarce resources.

Lunar eclipses lack the drama of their solar brethren, but they are still pretty cool.  This second total lunar eclipse of the year will take place this Tuesday morning.  It’ll start prior to 5AM and totality will occur just before 6AM.  Then, of course, sunlight will eventually obscure the view.  Click below for more details:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/sns-ap-lunar-eclipse,0,53098.story

I know that it’s still August, but the Chicago Tribune devoted its entire Travel section in today’s edition to midwestern fall color tours.  Links to all the articles are on the page below:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/travel/chi-mw_fall_rc_pmaug26,0,942913.story