All photos by Jonathan Schechter

This Trail of the Turtle Spirit blog is meant to accompany the Lakeville Swamp hiking

 column now on line and appearing in  the February 20th  print edition of

The Oakland Press www.theoaklandpress.com 

The Lakeville Swamp is a Michigan Nature Association Sanctuary

www.michigannature.org

The trailhead is located on the west side of Rochester Road just south of

 Lakeville Road  in Oakland County, Michigan 

This natural growth on a trailside beech trail reminds me of a Loggerhead Sea Turtle,

thus the name I used for the trail: Trail of the Turtle Spirit

The stream is a magnet for wildlife and an 'artery' for the life of the swamp.

Watercress is already greening up as spring flirts with winter!

The tunneling, leaping trail of a white-footed mouse.

Small boardwalks guide hikers through the swamp