Blunn Creek during the Day in Glorious March

“Our ability to perceive quality in nature begins, as in art, with the pretty. It expands through successive stages of the beautiful to values as yet uncaptured by language.”-Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac.

Since I went to Blunn Creek at night in February, I decided to capture how different the area is during the day in actual Spring weather. I decided to go after class every Wednesday around 5:00-530.

On my hike into Blunn Creek on March 5th, the sun was out, but it was very windy which made the weather perfect for this walk. On my walk through the various paths in the nature preserve, I spotted this odd looking graffiti, my friends and I disagree as to what it is, I believe it’s a cat wearing a birthday party hat. There were a few rabbits seen running around but there were few to no birds that I saw on my walk around the park.   

The weather on March 12th was much warmer, there were plenty of rabbits, cardinals, robins, and I even heard a woodpecker in the distance. This is a nice viewpoint on the main path where you are standing on the edge of a semi-steep cliff and get a nice view of the park’s treeline.

The weather on March 19th was identical to the previous weeks, dry with a light breeze and the perfect amount of sunshine. Same amount of wildlife was seen save the woodpecker. This photo was taken standing on a log in the middle of the creek part of Blunn Creek. The water is crystal clear in this part but about 80-90 yards downstream, the water stagnates, becomes murky, filled with mosquitoes as the water is unable to flow freely due to dams created by fallen debris and trash. 

 After leaving the creek, I decided to go to the Volcanic Outlook. This lookout point was naturally formed by volcanic rocks, and provides an excellent view of the Blunn Creek cacti and treeline with St. Edwards poking out in the back. On March 26th, my friend and I decided to go on the hike together and explore all the side roads we hadn’t seen yet. Following these side paths either led to houses, streets, or dead ends in the middle of the bush. We got lost more than a couple of times. The weather was a little bit colder walking in but once we made it to the treeline the temperature was perfect.  One of the paths stopped being a defined trail, and became a sort of cleared tunnel amongst the foliage. I took this picture to show how dense the brush gets and you are no longer on a path but are in complete wilderness.