Island Adventures

Close view of Herb Robert flowers. Photo by Roy Lukes.

Shortly after I had finished my work at The Ridges Sanctuary in August of 1990, Charlotte and I began teaching our own nature classes. One of our favorites was “Island Adventures,” our all-day outings to Washington and Rock Islands to study and thrill to the outstanding biodiversity of nature there.

These adventures have been among our most eagerly anticipated annual events since our first trip there together in the summer of 1972, and for me since my first visit in the summer of 1964.

During our most recent one-day experience on Washington Island on June 18 we presented the keynote talk and nature program at the wonderful Trueblood Performing Arts Center for the 3rd annual Washington Island Canoe and Kayak Race, Expedition and Symposium. It was great to be on hand to witness kayaker Kevin Leroy crossing the finish line after paddling around the entire Washington Island in 3 hours, 29 minutes, 32 seconds! What skill, stamina and strength that well-conditioned athlete displayed!

While Leroy could probably utilize a kayak to get to the islands, most everyone else needs to catch a ride on one of the two ferries that travel to and from the islands. The Cornell family has been active with the popular Karfi Ferry since its beginning. Today Jeff Cornell is the very capable and personable Karfi captain and transports visitors between Washington and Rock Islands (paradise found!). Before him his parents ran the ferry and before them, his grandparents. (By the way, bicycles are not allowed on Rock Island, only hiking.) Every year the Karfi begins making daily runs on Memorial Day Weekend. From June 24 through Sept. 5, the ferry makes trips on the hour, from 10 am until 4 pm, then Sept. 6 through October 10 runs at 10 am, 1 pm and 4 pm daily.

Red-berried Elder shrubs and a carpet of Herb Robert at Rock Island’s north shore. Photo by Roy Lukes.

Our earliest trip to Rock Island last summer was with our friends, Paul and Leona, on July 13. Bald Eagles, Ospreys, and White Pelicans entertained us royally during our trip over, which was followed by a hike to the Potawatomi Lighthouse where we ate our packed lunch. One of our favorite little botanical paradises in Wisconsin involves the continuous changing natural gardens near the long and well-built wooden stairs below the lighthouse, all the way down to the rugged beach at the northern tip of the island. Grotesquely shaped Arbor Vitae Trees and many mosses, lichens, wildflowers and ferns adorn the face of the steep Niagara Escarpment.

What we refer to as the Methuselah of Door County Arbor Vitae Trees (Eastern White Cedar) grows out of the escarpment near the base of the stairwell. What a beauty that huge old monarch is but unfortunately, due to how it leans out over the water at an angle, it is next to impossible to measure for record status. Scenically and botanically, we feel this stretch of wild beach ranks among the finest in the Midwest. A carpet of wildflowers, Red-berried Elder and especially Herb Robert, decorates the rocky beach at the very base of the Niagara Escarpment. What appears to be a very delicate plant, Herb Robert actually has to be extremely hardy in order to survive the terrific storms, high seas and winter ice build-up that lace that part of the shore.

Herb Robert is one of four species of Wild Geraniums in the state and perhaps was named after Robert, Duke of Normandy, around the 9th century. Some books refer to it as Robert’s Geranium. The name of Crane’s-Bill is also used in describing a few of the Wild Geraniums, including Herb Robert, based on the unusual pointed shape of the seed pod, like the head and beak of a crane. I’m especially fond of this wildflower, which prefers moist shores and woods, limy soil, and often appears to grow right out of the Niagara Dolostone, which most people in the county simply call Limestone.

Another native plant, the Allegheny Vine or Mountain Fringe, Adlumia fungosa (ad-LEW-me-a fun-GO-sa) not nearly as common and abundant as Herb Robert, has been the pleasant surprise for us during our last two visits to Rock Island. The first and last time I had seen it, growing as a single plant, was near the front of the South Toft Point State Natural Area around 45 years ago. Our friends, Paul and Leona, and Charlotte and I had turned southeastward after leaving the Potawatomi Lighthouse and headed along the nature-rich wild trail no more than a few hundred feet when we found that rare plant, actually many of them. A huge hardwood tree had been overturned by the wind and was lying on its side, and the nine or ten-foot wide flat root mass, including some soil, was tipped upward at a 90 degree angle to the ground.

Allegheny Vine flowers. Photo by Roy Lukes.

The large mass of Allegheny Vine foliage, delicate like its relatives, the Dutchman’s Breeches, Squirrel Corn, and Bleeding Heart, was growing at the very top of the root mass and many of the thin delicate vines and blossoms trailed downward eight-to-ten feet nearly all the way to the ground. This beautiful biennial plant, which is of special concern and seldom seen in Wisconsin today, blooms from late June into late September and is partial to a damp climate, forest openings, humus-rich soil, and often wet rocky slopes. It does prefer full sun or partial shade, precisely the conditions where we discovered it growing and prospering.

The shape of its delicate soft pink blossoms somewhat resembles those of its close relatives, the Golden Corydalis (co-RID-a-liss) and the Pale Corydalis, wildflowers which grow sparingly near the Lake Michigan side in Door County.

What’s so ideal about each of the three or four different colonies of the Allegheny Vine we found along that trail, which all grow on the tops of the stumps of tree tip-overs, is that as biennials many of the very tiny, shiny, black new seeds are produced each year. This ensures that a wonderful crop of small first-year plants virtually blankets the tops of each of the up-turned stumps. Next year these small plants will develop into their wonderful long vining habit and produce the charming little clusters of exquisite blossoms.

Plan your trip soon to those “Island Gems of Door County,” Washington and Rock. You’re in for a treat of a lifetime. Be sure to search for one of the rarest wild plants you may have ever encountered, the Allegheny Vine.