A hot day was predicted for our second day of hiking on the Salt Fork trip, so we decided to (hopefully) find more shade by hiking in the woods. We also wanted safer parking since we still had PTSD from the previous day’s towing crisis. With some trepidation we returned to trek the southern side of Clendening Lake, hoping that after three years it would not be as cluttered with fallen trees and brambles as when we previously hiked the norther section of the lake… of course we were wrong! The hike started off without any problems, as we meandered a little way off from the lake along a trail that seemed more like an overgrown service road. It was mostly shady and lush with the sounds of fish splashing in the shallows around the lake’s edge- we weren’t close enough to see exactly what was happening- but the fish were active in many spots! Not too buggy so fish probably not feeding either. Pretty soon we came upon a yellow-striped post pointing out the beginning of private property with hunting restrictions and we assumed the BT association had received permission to pass-through. It remained a pleasant and interesting hike, as we passed a large rusting iron band, possibly from a wagon wheel, the “soul” of a kid’s shoe, and a decaying metal rowboat that was nowhere close to the lake- not sure how it got there. There were signs along the way that past tornado damage and tree deadfalls had been cleared and cleaned up, so we expected continued good hiking with minor bushwhacking.
Somewhere more than halfway into our route the REAL hike began! First was THE CLIMB- a series of switchbacks that took us from lake level to a high overlooking ridge- I think the combination of us hiking the day before and being out of shape regardless made this more arduous than it should have been. THEN THE DEADFALLS BEGAN- with large trees and tree clusters- some of which you could go over/under and others that you had to go around. At least there were few brambles to pick through, but the extra energy that was spent on detours turned all our legs to jelly. I was winded and physically spent multiple times and needed a break. April unfortunately fell stepping over a fallen tree and banged her right shin, which immediately swelled up. She wrapped it with a bandana, took some Advil and hiked on, thinking we were nearly done. This was a false hope as there were more hills and deadfalls yet to overcome. Somehow, she did it and managed to get to the car. I think we are all done with the Clendening Lake experience!
At the car we assessed April’s injuries- her shin was scratched and bruised and swelled up! We iced it immediately at camp and that reduced some of the swelling. At night we took advantage of the free showers and regained some of our spent energy. We decided to cancel our hike the next day so I could take her to a nearby Urgent Care in Cambridge- the X-ray was thankfully negative so her discharge instructions were to take it easy. Although still very sore, April could walk on her injured leg and we spent our last the day visiting all the different parts of SF State Park. That evening we found a popular burger joint and cute ice cream hangout to celebrate our (somewhat shaky) return to the BT!
