OK, I’ll tell you right up front.  I wore my old boring plain white New Balance sneakers today.  They are cushy. Also, didn’t know what our walk would be like and didn’t want to get any of my new shoes dirty.

I have noticed the Mequon Nature Preserve when we’ve driven by for several years now.  There are so many places to take nice walks here that we simply had not gotten around to the nature preserve yet. My gut was not happy this morning so we waited until I felt confident to go out.  We didn’t get there until nearly 11:00.  There were a lot of cars in the parking lot and a good many people inside the education building.  As soon as we were through the doors, I realized that it was a church using the space for worship.  The service was over. Andy thought we had come upon a party and headed for the food table. He was intercepted by a very friendly man who introduced himself and invited us to return for the service next week. They must be accustomed to having hikers drop in.

I picked up a trail map from a stand near the door and we headed out. Oh, before we go, something interesting.  The mission of the Mequon Nature Preserve is to acquire the land and return one square mile of Ozaukee County to its pre-European state.  Wisconsin was forest.  Settlers cut down the trees for the wood to build houses, furniture, tools, and fires in the fireplaces and cook stoves.  They plowed the land for their crops and pastures. Now, they have a one-hundred-year plan to restore the land to its natural state.

 

I am not going to attempt to identify all these yellow daisy-like flowers.  It’s getting late.

 

All the yellow flowers, well most, were in the wetlands area. Then we followed the trails between corn fields to he observation tower.

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are still more trails to explore so we’ll go back.