Greenway 15, the 15-week celebration of the Milwaukee River Greenway, is well underway. I had the privilege of hosting Week 3 and have been attending some of the events hosted by other organizations as well. If you haven’t checked it out yet, I encourage you to visit the Greenway 15 website to see what events are coming up. The celebration runs through Oct 17.
Among other things, I led no fewer than four hikes during my week as host. (It was a lot! I don’t think I’ll try that again soon, to be honest. But I and the people who participated all had a great time.) The featured photo above is one of two Urban Wilderness Explorers groups I organized through Meetup.com.
One of the events I attended, which you won’t see any photos of because it wasn’t allowed, was the Optimist Theater production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream – The Lover’s Tale. It was sponsored by Friends of Lincoln Park during their week sponsoring Greenway 15.
I present a selection of recent photos of the goings-on:
Two of my guided hikes began here at the Milwaukee Rotary Centennial Arboretum, including the one above.
The second of my Urban Wilderness Explorers hikes did a loop along both sides of the river between Capitol Drive and Port Washington Road. They are posing in front of one of three sculptures by Tom Queoff, which he made from remnants of the now-demolished Estabrook Dam. See below.
This sculpture of a sturgeon is mounted atop one of the “shark’s teeth” that once protected the Estabrook Dam.
This sculpture of a turtle was constructed from boulders recovered from the demolition of the dam.
The third sculpture was created out of one of the actual dam gates. All three can be found on the west side of the river near the Estabrook Falls, about halfway between Capitol and Port Washington.
The magic of mushrooms and their speedy growth was revealed when, just by chance, two of my hikes went past these pheasant back shelf mushrooms just three days apart. A coincidental time-lapse.
A group of young adventure campers boating on the river just off Turtle Park.
Pollinator and pollinated in Turtle Park.
Another of my hikes was made up of mostly teenage members of Groundwork MKE’s Green Team.
The “Westabrook Trail” opposite Estabrook Park on the west side near Port Washington Road.
Hammocking along the Milwaukee River, a less strenuous way of enjoying the Greenway!
Grey-headed coneflowers and bee balm in the arboretum.
Milwaukee’s well-known Ko-Thi Dance Company held a free dance workshop for the public in Lincoln Park, above and below.
Thanks to a passerby, I did get one rare shot that includes me in the picture.
This is Joanna Demas, stewardship director of River Revitalization Foundation, being interviewed in front of the RRF office in Turtle Park. The Channel 58 CBS News team was there to interview both of us about the new Greenway book (read all about it here). To see and hear the interview go to the Channel 58 website.
I was also interviewed in a kayak! This is Megan Marshall of Spectrum News 1. To see that interview go to their website.
Amid all the excitement of Greenway 15, one of the most remarkable things about this beautiful place is how peaceful it can be in the urban wilderness.
Additional photos of Milwaukee River Greenway on Flickr.
Eddee Daniel is a board member of Preserve Our Parks and currently serves as Artist in Residence in the Milwaukee River Greenway for River Revitalization Foundation.
