John and I visited the Indiana Dunes today in a very dense fog and as always it was very much worth the trip! There were very few visitors, and no wind, no entrance fee. Visibility was so low that when we went over the skyway, only the bridge structure itself was visible! It was really a comfortable temperature though, as CNDKmen readers have heard before, with the right clothing on, it was super pleasant for a walk. We walked east along the beach to the far trail.
We passed by quite a few round twig balls on the beach that look like spherical bird nests. I looked them up later and they are called “larch balls.” They form when larch trees in Michigan drop their needles and the needles wash into the lake. The surf action of the lake against a shore forms the needles into balls.
Larch trees drop needles? Yes! The larch or tamarack tree is a rare evergreen that drops its needles in winter. We have quite a few larch trees around our neighborhood!
I read that there was a lore about the larch balls that said you can put your sins into one and leave the ball + sins on the beach and walk away cleansed. The flip side of that process is that it is essentially littering and it leaves behind a sin-filled larch ball that could be dangerous for another person walking by to handle, a person who maybe didn’t know about this lore before picking it up! If you notice I seem to be filled with sins that are not my own, it was the larch ball.
At the end of the beach we turned in for the forest part of the walk. Many downed trees were covered with quite amazing looking fungi.
We then turned back toward the beach, this time on a cut-through trail that took us up to the top of a dune ridge – where the mist was very dramatic!
We liked seeing these droplets hanging from berries too. Photo by John, who may start a new career as a wildlife photographer any day now!
And back home in time to do a long overdue clean-out of the spice rack! No photos but the winner of the “oldest spice” award was some tarragon leaves from 2001! And that’s right, tarragon leaves are not even a spice.
Fascinating findings on your walk at the Indiana Dunes! I would be tempted to bring home a larch ball, but about the last thing a person needs is something full of other people’s sins! Beautiful fungi, too! The Dunes look lovely in the fog.
What a lovely way to spend the holidays. Looks magical in Indiana. I love the larch sin ball !!