Riding out the back door: May 2014

After a slow start to my mountain biking season, May has turned out to be a pretty good month. I’ve been getting out two or even three times a week all month, mostly on the trails out my back door. I’ve logged a couple rides on the Luther Forest trails (three actually), but haven’t hit Spier Falls or SMBA yet (that should change this week).

May is a pretty dramatic time to be in the woods. My rides have gone from gray and chilly in the early part of the month to almost summer-like this past weekend. Compare the photo below, taken this past weekend, with the short video clip directly below it, taken just three weeks earlier:

I’ll admit to being something of a nature nerd. A big part of the enjoyment I get from my rides out the back door is just being out in the woods. At this time of year there are lots of flashes of color to catch your eye:

Marsh marigolds

Fiddleheads

Violets

One of the larger ponds along my ride

Same pond, a week later and much greener

I don’t usually ride the marked trails of the Wilton Wildlife Preserve and Park, but two of their trailheads are less than a mile from home, so I guess that counts as out-the-backdoor too. The blue lupine there is just coming into bloom, so I took a ride through to check it out on a damp morning when there would be few hikers and the sandy trails would be damp and packed for better riding.

The lupine just started blooming in the last week or so

Lupine on the WWPP trails

Lupine and grasses

Quite a bit of WWPP’s trail mileage (here's a map) passes through areas that have been restored as habitat for the endangered Karner blue butterfly. These are open, savannah-like areas of pitch pine and oak, grasses, blue lupine and other wild flowers. Blue lupine is the sole food source for the butterflies, and it grows in abundance in these areas.

It's always cool to see lupine - or any other wildflower - growing wild, but the huge expanses of it at WWPP are truly spectacular. The lupine should be in bloom for the next month or so, so a ride (or run) through WWPP’s trails is highly recommended.