Autumn ride

I skipped my usual Wednesday lap swim time and went for a bike ride instead. After two days of constant rain, the weather was bright and sunny--if cool.  I went over to the bike trail near Cedar Lake--it's a ride I used to do frequently.  I hoped to see the fall flower bloom.

Cedar Lake used to be called Cedar Slough, so I think it used to be a large wetland. It's in an industrial area, and the water hasn't always been very pristine. Still, I think the city would like to improve the area. The bike trail was one improvement.

It goes by some railroad tracks . . . .

Sadly, I was too late to see the fall flowers that grow along the trail: goldenrod, asters, thistle, tickseed.  But it was still an interesting ride.

There were lots of wooly bears--I saw 11 before I stopped counting!

They all seemed to be in a hurry to get somewhere. And for those of you who look to those caterpillars for winter weather predictions, the brown and black segments were all about equal, whatever that means.

Though I'd missed fall flowers, there were lots of ex-flowers--and they had their own beauty, I think.

These are  burdock pods, waiting to go home with some kid on their socks or mittens.

 Queen Anne's lace skeletons by the lake.

 Petal-less tickseed or rudbeckia remnants--just the centers are left.

Thistle down is all that's left of these thistles.

One remaining evening primrose is ready to unfurl.

And fall colors were nice--like these blood-red sumacs. I thought they were almost Draculanian.

Look at these nice colors!  Yes, that's poison ivy and sumac, right next to each other.

OK, it wasn't exactly what I'd hoped to see, and I am sorry to have missed the fall bloom.  But it was also kind of cool to find surprising and beautiful sights in mid-October.