For the past several years, I have scheduled a wildflower hike at Niquette Bay State Park on the last weekend in April since that is usually when the wildflowers peak. April seemed colder than usual this year, and a week before the scheduled date of the hike there were very few wildflowers to be seem. But, fortunately it warmed up just in time and we saw 15 varieties of wildflowers in bloom, with others just about ready to bloom.

We started the hike by going out the Ledges Trail, which always has the best selection of flowers, and looping back on the Allen Trail. At that point, a few participants had to leave the group. The rest of us did an out and back hike to the Island View Point, where we were rewarded with a few more flowers and a lovely view of Malletts Bay, the broad lake and the islands. Including a stop for lunch and another stop for the view, we were out about three hours.

Leader: Sheri Larsen; Participants: Jennifer Jany, Paul Paris, Maggie King, Jean Cannon, Debbie Page, Joan MacKenzie, Cathy Frank, Joe Frank, Jean Anderson, Julie Soquet, Dot Myer, Rich Larsen