From Wikipedia: An American Badger

Rifle River is a great state recreation. It’s relatively large and very scenic with camping and some great trails for running. If you don’t mind the occasional sand, the trails are fun for mountain biking as well.

And it’s only a 2.5 hour drive from the Metro Detroit area.

Unfortunately the flies were bad yesterday in many spots. It really made me pickup my running pace to try and “drop” the flies.

Any one who hikes, runs or bikes trails is familiar with the sounds of scurrying critters. Normally in Michigan this has been deer, chipmunks, squirrels, or the occasional skunk. I have been fortunate to see a couple porcupines at times. Last week I came across a small possum at night that stared me down and refused to yield the trail.

But yesterday at Rifle River I came across a badger about 5 feet off the trail. His fur was more brownish than the Wikipedia photo on the right, but his face markings were unmistakable.

Oddly enough, he wasn’t fierce or apparently too worried about me as he slowly waddled away. It made me wonder what the University of Wisconsin was thinking when choosing mascots.

I should mention that a half marathon will be run on these trails September 13th. It’s the Ken Willard Memorial River Trail Half Marathon. The registration form notes the challenging hill and I will back them up on that. You can register for the event on-line.