More Fall Colors in Carpenter Lake Nature Preserve - My Actifit Report Card: November 1 2026

Hey Actifitters,

Like I mentioned, I wanted to drive West yesterday, all the way to Lake Michigan. But 3+ hours drive each way, that means you have to start very early if you want to really enjoy it, and I realized it was just too much. So instead, we got up late and settled on Carpenter Lake Nature Preserve for our daily walk. Great small neighborhood park and the biggest advantage is that it's less than 15 minutes away from home. And that means we can start in the afternoon only and spend as long as we want there before sundown. The weather was mostly grey anyways, so no pressure for the sunset. So, we left Le Chat resting on the dog bed and drove to the park.

As soon as we arrived there, with the parking lot almost full, it was clear many people had the same idea. Plus, it looked as though everybody and their mother were out there 'shooting content'. To me, it's mostly lame internet videos that I never watched and never will, but to each their own. But all these wannabe influencers scare away the local wildlife and we didn't see a single deer for instance. At least, since there are so many squirrels and they don't care about people, we saw many of them.

The main reason we were there was the fall foliage anyways, and as soon as we started walking along the small path, here it was!

So beautiful!

Of course, we quickly went to the water, that's always our first stop there.

They also have teepees there, although theirs are not as isolated as ours, they're right in the middle.

Above the platform, on this tree stump, Kaia always has to pose, she can't escape it! There was a group of people below, a couple of photographers with professional equipment taking photos of a teenager. That was funny, they looked at Kaia and told the teenager something along the lines of: 'Look at the German Shepherd, it's posing too and it listens much better than you...' To be fair, that's not always the case, but she did good this time.

We took the small pathway so we could go closer to the lake again.

The views from the small dam at the end of the park are great in all season, but in the Fall, it's really something else.

It looks so different once we get past the dam though and to that small clearing behind the park.

It's a very small loop anyways and we were back in the forest very quickly.

That offers a few different views over the water.

And finally the last part of the trail before the entrance.

Of course, we couldn't skip the Boulder garden! There was a little less kids than when we got there, so it was perfect.

Kaia had to pose one last time. By that time, she was done with it, so she reluctantly stayed there on that big rock, but you can see she's ready to go!

One last one, and we were gone anyways.

Well, I was disappointed we couldn't pull off the road trip to Lake Michigan, but Carpenter Lake was a great fallback. We really enjoyed the fall colors and with the season almost over, that was perfect.
As always, thanks for stopping by and see you tomorrow.
This report was published via Actifit app (Android | iOS). Check out the original version here on actifit.io

01/11/2026

8342

Walking,Daily Activity