Trail passes flowers beneath quartzite bluff

Wild oats blooms beneath Powers Bluff.

Potawatomi Nature Trail map.
Click map for larger version.

Hikers can explore the edge of a forested bluff rich with wildflowers at Wisconsin’s Powers Bluff Maple Woods State Natural Area.

The 1.05-miles Potawatomi Nature Trail loops through the state natural area and part of the adjacent Powers Bluff County Park & Winter Recreation Area. Both public areas protect 1472-foot tall Powers Bluff, Wood County’s highest point.

To reach the trailhead, from Wisconsin Rapids take Wis. Hwy. 73 northwest. Turn right/north onto Wis. Hwy. 186. In Arpin, go left/west onto Pine Road then left/south onto County Road E. Next, turn right/west onto Bluff Drive then right/north onto Park Road. Take the next right/east and park in the lot.

Head north on the trail. In 0.05 miles, you’ll pass a campsite.

Powers Bluff
The trail next heads around Powers Bluff’s eastern base. Rising 300 feet above the surrounding plain, the bluff is made of erosion-resistant quartzite, similar to that found in nearby Rib Mountain and the Baraboo Hills. The quartzite is about 1.6 billion years old.

Pink quartzite pebbles and boulders broken off the bluff can be found up to 12.5 miles away from it. A glacier moving over it during a recent ice age stripped off and broke down some of the quartzite then carried it south.

At 0.25 miles, the trail curls east and then heads south.

In addition to looking down at the quartzite sparkling on the ground, be sure to look up. Sugar maples and yellow birch dominate the forest, making for a beautiful sight in autumn. Some of the sugar maple is quite old and because of that very large, both in trunk diameter and height. Also covering the bluff’s slopes is bitternut hickory, ash trees and basswood.

Spring wildflowers
The trail at 0.43 miles feet joins the ski route used in winter. Continue southeast. You’ll soon enter the state natural area.

A number of spring wildflowers usually bloom here around the second week of April. Among them are wild oats, bloodroot, Dutchman’s breeches, white trout lilies, spring beauties, wood anemone, red columbine, blue cohosh, violets.

Wild oats blooms from March to June. Each stem begins as green in color but its upper part can turn reddish-purplish when flowering. The flower consists of six pale straw colored tepals – a combined petal and sepal – that are bell-shaped, about an inch long, and droops. One flower appears per stem. Wild oats are found across much of Wisconsin except the eastern and southern edges.

Another of the first of the wildflowers to bloom here in spring is bloodroot. Sometimes it pops up from soil that has just thawed. It sports a large white flower, about 1.5 inches wide, with 8-10 petals and a yellow center. The red orange juice in its stem has been used over the centuries as a dye and an insect repellent. It grows all across Wisconsin.

Trout-lily, mayflowers
Dutchman’s breeches is plentiful here as well. It blooms in April. Its white to yellowish flower is a four-parted heart- or triangular-shaped spur that is about 5/8 of an inch long. It flourishes on slopes, needs the shade of trees like sugar maple, basswood and red oak, and grows throughout most of Wisconsin.

White trout-lily blooms April-May. On each stalk is a hanging yellow flower, about an inch wide, with three petals and three petal-like sepals that curve backward. It can grow all across Wisconsin but typically is found in the southern two-thirds of the state.

Carolina spring-beauty blooms from April to June. Each of its half-inch wide flowers consists of five white petals with pink-purple veins. It’s very common in New England, the Appalachians, and the Upper Peninsula. In Wisconsin, it grows mostly in the northeast, on the north side of a line from Bayfield to Door counties.

The wood anemone, also known as the mayflower, blooms in spring here too. It bears a single white flower, about an inch wide, with five petal-like sepals rising above the leaves. Wood anemones with flowers are older than those without; sometimes the plant doesn’t flower until it reaches five years old. It grows throughout Wisconsin.

Trillium and columbine
An incredible array of large-flowered trillium bloom here in mid-May. Among the state’s prettiest wildflowers, its blossom consists of three white, wavy petals that are two- to four-inches wide. The flower turns pink with age. Ants carry their seeds to underground homes but strangely enough don’t eat them, allowing the wildflower to spread. The large-flowered trillium is found all across the state and is a protected species.

Standing out in May and June is red columbine. The striking blossom has yellow petals with red spur and sepals. It is about one- to two-inches long and nods on a stem above the leaves. Nectar sits in the spur’s round end, attracting butterflies, ruby-throated hummingbirds, and bumblebees. During early summer, the caterpillars of Columbine Duskywing feed on the leaves, which are fern-like and grouped in threes.

The wood violet is Wisconsin’s state flower. Ranging in color from deep violet to lavender, the flower consists of five distinct petals with three veined lower petals, and measures about an inch wide. The flowers usually grow on their own stalk and stay beneath the plant’s heart-shaped leaves. The latter is high in vitamins A and C, and should you ever be lost in the woods with no food, know that they can be eaten raw.

At 0.62 miles, the hiking and ski trails separate. Go left/southeast.

Summer flowers
Spring isn’t the only time to see wildflowers along the trail. During summer, blue cohosh blooms here.

Often blooming near white trout-lily is the blue cohosh, a 1-3-foot high bush. A cluster of yellow-green flowers with six petals sits atop the plant, which grows throughout Wisconsin. Don’t eat its blue berries, which are poisonous.

Also keep an eye out for the endangered goblin moonwort, a fern. Its shiny yellow-green leaves are extremely small. its fertile frond is an erect spike. The fern prefers old growth or mature second-growth forests. It usually is easiest to spot from mid-July to mid-August.

At 0.8 miles, the trail reaches the park road you drove in on. Cross the road.

Forest animals
Scampering under trees and among the wildflowers are a number of forest animals. You’ll very likely see gray squirrels, chipmunks, and white-tailed deer.

The trail arrives back at the road just crossed around 0.95 miles. Cross it. In quick order, you’ll come to the ski trail as well. Continue straight/northwest.

Powers Bluff was long inhabited by Potawatomi Indians. A group lived there until the 1930s. They called it Tah-qua-kik.

At 1.05 miles, the trail comes circle at the parking lot.

Forest trail leads to spring wildflower haven

Bloodroot is one of the first wildflowers to bloom in Fox
Maple Woods.

Fox Maple Woods Trail topo map.
Click map for larger version.

Day hikers can explore a wildflower-filled Wisconsin forest that looks almost like how Euro-American settlers saw the area when they arrived here.

The 1.1-mile round trip Fox Maple Woods heads through a 41-acre deciduous forest full of large, old-growth sugar maple, basswood and hemlock. That makes for an open forest floor, perfect for ferns and wildflowers, especially spring ephemerals, that thrive in the shade.

To reach the trailhead, from Florence take Wis. Hwy. 70 west. In about 10.5 miles, look for a trailhead on the road’s right/north side. Pull in and park off the side of the road.

The trail heads north into the Fox Maple Woods State Natural Area. Besides the fantasyland-sized trees, there’s a multitude of wildflowers with skipper butterflies and bumblebees darting between them.

Spring flowers
Among the first of the wildflowers to bloom here in spring is bloodroot. Sometimes it pops up from soil that has just thawed. It sports a large white flower, about 1.5 inches wide, with 8-10 petals and a yellow center. The red -orange juice in its stem has been used over the centuries as a dye and an insect repellent. It grows all across Wisconsin.

Dutchman’s-breeches blooms in April. Its white to yellowish flower is a four-parted heart- or triangular-shaped spur that is about 5/8 of an inch long. It flourishes on slopes, needs the shade of trees like sugar maple, basswood and red oak, and grows throughout most of Wisconsin.

Carolina spring-beauty blooms from April to June. Each of its half-inch wide flowers
consists of five white petals with pink-purple veins. It’s very common in New England, the Appalachians, and the Upper Peninsula. In Wisconsin, it grows mostly in the northeast, on the north side of a line from Bayfield to Door counties.

The yellow dog-tooth violet – also known as yellow trout lily – is a striking but common flower that blooms during spring. On each stalk is a hanging yellow flower, about an inch wide, with three petals and three petal-like sepals that curve backward. If you spot this plant but no flower in spring, don’t be surprised if you still see no flower the next year; it sometimes needs up to seven years to mature enough to flower. It is found in a majority of Wisconsin counties but more commonly in the southern half of the state.

Summer flowers
Nearly identical to the yellow dog-tooth violet is the white trout-lily. It also blooms April-May. On each stalk is a hanging white flower, about an inch wide, with three petals and three petal-like sepals that curve backward. It can be found across Wisconsin but typically is found in the southern two-thirds of the state.

Often blooming near it is the blue cohosh, a 1-3-foot high bush. A cluster of yellow-green flowers with six petals sits atop the plant, which grows throughout Wisconsin. Don’t eat its blue berries, which are poisonous.

Blooming from spring into summer is the nodding trillium. The flower is a whorl of three wavy white petals that droops beneath the plant’s leaves. Don’t pick any part of this plant as the leaves then may not be able to produce enough sugar and starch for a bloom to appear the following year. It’s one of seven trillium species that grows throughout Wisconsin.

The rose twisted-stalk offers pink bell-shaped flowers that are only a third of an inch long. They bloom each spring and summer. Don’t eat its red berries, though, as they can cause diarrhea. The flower grows only in the northern two-thirds of the state.

Sedge meadow
In addition to the wildflowers and old forest hardwoods, yellow birch with white pines occasionally grow throughout the stand. Scattered white cedar and Canada yew have found niches as well.

There’s a also a sedge meadow covering a 5-acre depression. Not as many flowers grow there, though, and reaching it requires crossing the forest floor, so staying on the trail and avoiding it is best.

In about 0.25 miles, the trail exits the state natural area, but you are still on public land as the Whisker Lake Wilderness Area surrounds it. The route continues through a maple-basswood forest with more flowers ahead.

At about 0.55 miles, the trail arrives at a point farther west on Hwy. 70. Rather than walk the busy state highway in a loop, retrace your steps back to your vehicle.

Trail explores southern Wisconsin prairie

The compass plant usually is the tallest wildflower
on the prairie.

Ice Age National Scenic Trail - Scuppernong
Prairie segment topo map. Click map
for larger version.

Day hikers can enjoy wildflowers common to the prairies of southern Wisconsin on a segment of the Ice Age National Scenic Trail.

The 1.3-mile round trip touches the Scuppernong Prairie State Natural Area in the Kettle Moraine State Forest’s Southern Unit. The natural area protects 173 acres of prairie in Waukesha County. Though some of the wildflowers here grow in the central part of Wisconsin, almost none of them can be in the Northwoods, and most are limited to just the southern third of the state.

To reach the trailhead, from Eagle, take Wis. Hwy. 59 – aka Kettle Moraine Scenic Drive – west. Turn right/north onto County Road N. When the road curves west, watch for the pullout on the road’s right/north side. Park there.

The Ice Age National Scenic Trail crosses the road. Take the route going north.

Initially, the trail skirts the border between the prairie and a woodlands then passes between the latter and a tree plantation. The trees mostly are burr oaks, so the area looks a lot like it would have before Euro-American settlement.

Around 0.23 miles, the trail curves west and enters the prairie, which sits on the east side of the 3000-acre Scuppernong Marsh. The large, open site offers excellent habitat for a variety of birds and butterflies more common in grasslands than Wisconsin’s maple-basswood forests.

After passing through another small wooded area, the trail curls north. At 0.46 miles, it crosses a boardwalk over the a wetlands. Stretching to the west is the Scuppernong Prairie State Natural Area.

Spring wildflowers
A variety of grasses cover the prairie, including big blue-stem, blue-eyed grass, blue-joint grass, Indian grass, needle grass, and prairie drop-seed. Growing amid them are a number of wildflowers.

Among the first to bloom there in spring is prairie smoke. A member of the rose family, its pink to mauve-colored bell-shaped flowers with a feathery plume droop, making for a fantastic display. When the plume waves in the wind, it looks like smoke, hence its name. The flower grows in the southern two-thirds of the state.

The shooting is another common prairie spring wildflower. Growing between 10-20 inches tall, up to five flowers can appear per stalk. Each flower has fived backward-curved purple petals rising out of a yellow center. Euro-American settlers called them “prairie pointers.” They mainly are found in the southeastern part of the state.

Cream wild indigo blooms from May to June. The white to yellow, five-parted flower is about three-quarters to an inch in size. The plant itself grows from 10 inches to nearly 2.5-feet tall. It is found primarily in a line south of Burnett to Milwaukee counties

During spring and summer, the lead-plant blooms. A 1- to 3-foot high shrub, it boasts a spiky cluster of small blue-purple flowers. Its roots dig deep into the ground, up to 10 feet, and the plant can live for centuries. The lead-plant can be grows across southern half of the state. It so named because when lead ore deposits were found, the plant grew on the dry soils overlaying them, but there is no relationship between the location of lead ore and where the plants grow.

The tall prairie blazing-star also blooms in summer. Growing 2-5 feet tall, it offers a spiky purple cluster of flowers. The spike can grow up to 18 inches tall and is loved by deer and butterflies. It grows in the southern third of the state.

Summer to fall wildflowers
The compass plant blooms in summer and fall. Each flower can have as many 25 yellow petals with the whole blossom up to 3-inches wide. Usually the tallest wildflower on the prairie, it usually grows between 5-10 feet high. It’s a favorite of finches, who love their seeds, and common across southern third of state.

Blooming July to September is Virginia mountain mint. White flowers crown the plant, which can grow up to three feet high. Though hardly the showiest flower on the prairie, it is sweetly aromatic. They’re common in the state’s southern two-thirds and are found mostly in the southeastern part and a few spots north of that.

From late summer to early fall, the prairie dock yields a bright yellow flower that can be up to 2.5 inches across and consists of 15-30 ray florets. Each flower sits atop a stalk that can rise up to 10 feet tall from the plant’s leafy portion. Its taproot can reach 12 feet down.

The boardwalk is a short 100 feet, and from there enters a woodlands at the edge of the state natural area.

Upon reaching Wilton Road, at 0.65 miles, turn back and retrace your steps back to the parking lot.