November 4, 2022

Fall Colors

It has been over a month since the last update so I will try to summarize some of what happened in October. It has been a fall with huge variations in temperature so far. The fall colors were beautiful with maple trees with bright red and orange leaves. The trees in my yard in Fairfax are maples and were beautiful . I didn't get any pictures of maples at Fort Ridgely but the second picture shows bright red sumac leaves and lots of yellow leaves of other trees looking up at the hillside from just off county road 21.

Fairfax trees

Hillside just off county road 21

The views of the trees were magnificent from overlooks in the park. Both of these were from airplane hill.

Beautiful fall view from airplane hill

Another beautiful fall view from airplane hill

Early in the month when these pictures were taken, there were still flowers blooming and even a few butterflies. Dandelions were not the only flowers.

Painted lady butterfly

Orange sulfur butterfly on a dandelion

There were still various asters blooming as the trees started to lose their leaves. In the middle of the month we had several days that got down in the low 20's at night and froze most of the flowers and contributed to the trees losing their leaves. Now at the end of the month there are only a few plants that withstood the frost and still have some green. It helped the crops dry in the fields. The lack of rain did the same both for crops and many plants at the park are very brown and dried out. These two views show how not many leaves are still on the trees.

The leaves are on the ground and crackle as you walk along any path. Bluejays, squirrels and deer hear you coming long before you see them. Many insects and animals are finding places under the leaves to burrow in and spend the winter. Here are a few pictures of the leaves on the paths and among the trees.

Leaves are often in the air as they fall to the ground. They also flutter in the wind and almost seem like butterflies. The wind sends them also soaring through the air, forming piles and drifts in the strangest places. Our neighbor's leaves are sent to our yard and if the wind shifts ours are sent to their yards. The big winds of fall send corn leaves flying across the highways. I even had a tumbleweed roll across the road ahead of me the other day.

Colors of landscapes in the park have changed. The greens and yellows of fall have changed to browns and grays. It sure has been nice to be able to be out walking in short sleeves with the warm weather the last few weeks of October after the killing frosts of mid October. A few grasshoppers still jump on the paths in the prairie. Many familiar plants take on a very different look as seeds mature and the plants dry up for winter. They are beautiful in their own unique ways.

Red rosehips on a prairie rose.

Puffy virgin's bower (a wild clematis) seeds growing near the creek

Purple black raspberry canes with brown leaves falling off

Green Virginia waterleaf plants by a log

Red brown dock in amongst Canadian goldenrod and a few other drying plants

Cow parsnips seeds (many have fallen off)

Red sumac seed bunches entwined with grape vine

Stiff goldenrod seeds near Chalet parking lot

One purple surviving New England aster bloom

Becky looking down at the prairie near the chalet

A new plant that I had never noticed is bristly greenbrier. I noticed the purple small flowers at the beginning of October when only a few asters were blooming. Its vines with bristles on it had leaves that still had green in them after the hard frosts of the middle of October. Zoom in on picture to see the bristles on the vines.

Bristly greenbrier with late flowers (early October)

Bristly greenbrier vine after hard frosts

Birds of Fall

Many birds have already flown south for the winter. Like some Minnesotans that can afford to be 'snowbirds', they don't tolerate the cold temperatures of a Minnesota winter. Robins are still all over the park. Some winters, groups of robins stay all winter in the park. Though the creek is very low, due to one of the driest Octobers on record (less than 1/2 inch of rain all month), robins are down by it and enjoying it. I have seen lots of cedar waxwings in the park in the last week or so. There must be a good food source in the park to delay their trip south. I know they like juniper berries. There are also ones that will be here all winter like chickadees and woodpeckers.

Robins by the almost dry creek.

Cedar waxwing (notice the yellow wingtips)

Black capped chickadee with leaf in its beak.

Downy woodpecker pecking on a branch

Bathroom Progress

The nice weather has made it easy for construction on the bathroom to progress quickly. Layers of the blocks in the walls have gotten taller each day we come out. Yesterday I saw that some electrical lines have been laid down to the box in the campground. They are not connected yet. Something has been done in the sanitation drainfield area too.

Bathroom walls going up

New electrical line dug into power box in campground.

I sent this update to Joanne and she added the following. I will put in a few more pictures of what she is talking about.

“Progress on the new shower building is moving quickly. As Bix noted, block walls are growing higher by the day. Septic tanks have been installed and the septic line from the building to the tanks has been bored. The septic field has been installed in the hill above the campground. Although it is a bit of an eyesore right now, the septic field will be seeded next spring and the above-ground pipes will be painted and camouflaged so they won’t be seen from the chalet overlook. The water line from the new well to the shower building has been bored. At this point we expect the shower building to be open to the public by the end of next June.

“The electrical conduit that Bix shows in a photo is part of a project to relocate one of our campground transformers. During the floods of 2014 and 2019, floodwaters reached up the sides of the transformer by site 25. This is obviously a big safety hazard, so it was decided to relocate the transformer to higher ground. That relocation should take place before the end of the year.

“Recent visitors may have also noted another building addition at the park’s upper picnic area. At long last, the new vault toilet near the stone picnic shelter has finally been installed. As part of that project, the walkway and parking area in front of the vault was improved, with a focus on accessibility.

“Park staff have just mowed the sledding hills, in anticipation of another great sledding season. The chalet lower level, with bathrooms and fireplace, will be open to the public on weekends throughout the winter. The upper level can be rented out year-round and has another fireplace and kitchenette. Trails will stay open for winter hiking, snowshoeing and snowmobiling. The park is a magical place in the winter, with the beauty and stillness that only nature can bring. Be sure to set aside a few days this season for a visit to Fort Ridgely.”