After a full week of COVID lockdown we all really needed to get out. We decided to do a loop trail this week so we would not have to ride in each others cars. Today we are (re)joined by Robin, who has not been a guest hiker with us since our second ever hike last year! Beautiful sunny day, if a bit cold and breezy- wore my sunscreen today to avoid another red nose. Had to walk a bit on road before got to trail but there was a nice spit of land to explore jutting out into lake before trailhead. Trail itself was the muddiest to date, and largely unavoidable because it was surrounded by pricker bushes to keep you on the path. That was the worst part; the good part was that it was lots of fun to cross many streams by balancing on logs, rocks , whatever was there, or moving around to find a better crossing spot! We also came across many interesting sites (like run down picnic shelters) and animals- we saw an OWL perched up high (maybe a Barred, poor picture below) and the landscape was clearly shaped by BEAVERS in many places with at least two dam sites with houses! Never seen such bio-engineering so close up- exciting! Peepers were out again as well if we stayed quiet. We also passed by the most ever fellow hikers (or dog walkers) on trails- at 6 foot separation of course- must be everyone wanted to get out. Near the end of our hike we came across a dump site littered with old tires, glass bottles, metal buckets, etc- seemed like all the stuff was probably pretty old since tires were not radial with inner tubes strewn about and NO PLASTIC. This was our longest trail hike to date, and we added to it by completing the loop to get back to our starting spot. Everyone was happy to sit at end.
