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- Apr 25, 2007
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Went for a quick hike Sunday afternoon/evening at one of the local lakes. The area around Lincoln NE here is known as the "salt valley." The watershed of the area is quite saline, and drains into the aptly-named Salt Creek. It's basically a big, very low-sloped bowl with the Salt Creek as its one exit. In the spring this means that a lot of areas are marshy, especially near lakes and creeks. I decided to brave the muck and do a little hiking. This time of year is good for exploring the wetlands here as the mosquitoes are still barely coming out. There were thousands of larvae in a couple pools though, so they will very soon be out in force.
Anyway, started by walking through a native-grass prairie and then slipped into the groves along the Oak Creek. This is what most of the low-lying former creek channels looked like:
A little wider view
Walking along the creek, you duck in and out of groves, clearings, and small meadows or pastures of varied kinds of grasses, usually brome or mixed native grasses. In places that aren't wet only seasonally, there are cattail-filled wet spots.
This winter was extremely hard on game. This was one of well over ten fairly fresh deer skeletons I found on my relatively short hike along the creek itself. This one may not look terribly fresh, but its hide was floating a few feet away.
I had never hiked up to this little hidden pond before. Lots of waterfowl were hanging out here, although they left when I came crashing through. Pretty stagnant pond, not really all that nice of a place. Lots of saplings around it that would be useful for shelters and other camp projects.
I recently learned the value of using punk wood as a coal source for firestarting. In higher spots along the creek, there was... a crapton of this stuff. It's freaking everywhere here. Fuzz it up a bit, make some scrapings, and light her up. I find it worked best with a little flash tinder such as thistle or milkweed fluff when lighting with a firesteel, but this stuff smolders very well and would make a great way to heat up some stubborn grass or other tinder that was slightly damp.
No shortage. Nope.
Eventually following the creek leads to some campgrounds. At that point I hopped over to the road that runs parallel to the creek and headed back to my car.
Anyway, started by walking through a native-grass prairie and then slipped into the groves along the Oak Creek. This is what most of the low-lying former creek channels looked like:
A little wider view
Walking along the creek, you duck in and out of groves, clearings, and small meadows or pastures of varied kinds of grasses, usually brome or mixed native grasses. In places that aren't wet only seasonally, there are cattail-filled wet spots.
This winter was extremely hard on game. This was one of well over ten fairly fresh deer skeletons I found on my relatively short hike along the creek itself. This one may not look terribly fresh, but its hide was floating a few feet away.
I had never hiked up to this little hidden pond before. Lots of waterfowl were hanging out here, although they left when I came crashing through. Pretty stagnant pond, not really all that nice of a place. Lots of saplings around it that would be useful for shelters and other camp projects.
I recently learned the value of using punk wood as a coal source for firestarting. In higher spots along the creek, there was... a crapton of this stuff. It's freaking everywhere here. Fuzz it up a bit, make some scrapings, and light her up. I find it worked best with a little flash tinder such as thistle or milkweed fluff when lighting with a firesteel, but this stuff smolders very well and would make a great way to heat up some stubborn grass or other tinder that was slightly damp.
No shortage. Nope.
Eventually following the creek leads to some campgrounds. At that point I hopped over to the road that runs parallel to the creek and headed back to my car.
