This report is written by Lorraine Anderson (lorraine@bwca.cc). She is part of a group of three seniors that have been looking at wildflowers in Cook County, Minnesota. They have gone out almost every Wednesday for over 20 years and love it, even in the winter. But of course there aren't any flowers in the winter!!

It was a beautiful, warm sunny day. The trees have not budded yet but the popple twigs seem to be changing color. The lakes are still frozen and there are even some ice floats on Lake Superior, which is unusual.
We went on Devil Track Road, right on Ball Club and found a new, wonderful road off to the left and took it. There were electric lines strung and we found a gate quite a ways in saying that it was the entrance to Thoreson's gravel pit. Then back to Ball Club Road and found a wonderful stand of Bearberry. At the next small road off to the right we spied a moose. We watched it and it watched us. What an unbelievably large animal it is to travel through our heavy woods. Then to Junco River parking lot and down the trail to Junco Lake. We found a number of plants that were evergreen, including - Pipsissewa, Strawberry, Bunchberry and Linnea. Then to Trestle Pine Road where we saw some more evergreen plants: Running Club Moss, and Goldthread. We saw the old railroad trestle and a beautiful hillside with a few small stalks of red berries that were seeds for the Wild Lily-of-the-Valley. Strange, but it was a surprise to see so many flowers that keep their green leaves all winter.
We ate at Two Island campground and had a wiener roast and cooked marshmallows. That was a nice way to end a perfect day.