Back on the Trail!

It was a long winter and there were many days when I'd drive past our hiking route and wish we were on it. We did visit once with the kids after a heavy snowfall. With snowboots on, we took a short walk but couldn't get very far. The littles ones had fun post-holing through the deep snow, but we turned around before everyone tired out. It was lovely to see the trail that time of year.
Spring is here finally so Dan and I decided to head back to the trail and start covering more ground. Yesterday was the first day in a long time where we both had the day off from work and nothing else planned. The temperature was good- 60 degrees- but we weren't sure about the rain. It rained all night before and again in the morning. By afternoon, it cleared enough that we felt we could probably get in a few miles. We got out the map to figure out which parts of the trail we still need to do. We knew we wanted to stick close to home this time and start back slowly, so we chose a short section nearby (just under 7 miles) and headed out. I was so excited to start hiking again, I was practically bouncing! What a great feeling to be back on the trail.

It was so nice to see everything blooming and coming back to life. I wish these pictures were scratch and sniff so you could know how good it smelled along the trail. Like fresh rain and green leaves. Ahhh....

Every hike is an adventure. We never know what we're going to see along the way.

A U.S. Coast Guard ship just passing by.

Rain clouds and sudden winds had us doing double time about halfway through. We know that if it starts raining, it's not as if we can just hop off the trail and drive home. Our car is still about 3 to 4 miles away. But we made it before any drops fell. Another good hike- hopefully I'll have more updates soon. Happy Spring!

As I mentioned in the last post, we are having to make adjustments to our route. Our original plan was to make it to the state line by our anniversary. Well yesterday was our anniversary and we are not there yet. We are still going, just trying to work the route a little differently so we can get there before the snow starts falling. And truth be told, the area we've been walking in for the last couple of hikes has been sadly lacking in scenery. I know, I know..flat boring land in the midwest should not have been a surprise. But still we've decided to alter the route a little so we can get back to hiking in the woods.

So we took our route a few miles south today (but still headed toward the state border) and found ourselves back on wooded trails. The tall red pines were gorgeous.

The forest floor was covered in pine needles and the air in the woods smelled like Christmas.

Instead of following the canal, we hiked out to this calm blue lake.

Our hike wasn't a long one today, but it was very different from our last few. The trail went up and down a lot of hills, making it challenging in a whole new way. We found this great spot for a rest and water break.

The lovely views, the sounds a pine forest makes as the tall trees sway in the wind, the twisting, winding trail...and a day in the woods with my husband...a perfect way to spend our anniversary.

Our last hike wasn't a hike at all. It was really just a nice walk. Short but sweet. I don't even think we covered a whole 3 miles. But I was still getting over the flu and we didn't have a sitter for the kids. So we just decided to make up a short section that we had skipped close to home.

Yep, we skipped a section. Unfortunately, we had to make the decision to skip a couple of short sections along the way in the interest of time and making our deadline. We don't like having to skip and plan to make up any parts of the trail we miss in the Spring, since we know we are probably missing something great. One of the two sections we skipped so far was almost all road walking. Admittedly we don't feel too guilty about that one. Walking on pavement for long stretches is not fun for the feet. Plus we just prefer staying on the wilderness trails as much as possible. If we are going to make it to the state line by our anniversary (which at this point we are realizing is probably not going to happen) or even before Winter hits hard, we are going to have to take a few shortcuts. But we will make up for it as soon as we can. It would be a shame to miss any of this wonderful trail.

My camera wasn't working properly the last time we walked so most of the pictures didn't turn out. But I thought this one was cool. This neat old building is across the canal and visible through the trees. Definitely haunted, don't you think?

Today's hike was a bit of a bummer. It was a windy and cloudy day that turned into a windy and rainy day. And the trail wasn't that great as far as scenery goes. But the point of this whole thing is not just to enjoy the outdoors and to challenge ourselves. It is also about enjoying time together and (other than a few blisters) that is what we took away from today's hike. The focus was less about the scenery and more about the company on the trail.

This was not a good trail for a rainy day hike. The sky was big and open, with no canopy of trees whatsoever. We were fortunate and amazed however that each time the skies opened up on us, we just happened to come upon a bridge to duck under before getting very wet.




We decided that since we were taking cover here anyway, we might as well sit down and enjoy our lunch of bananas and trail mix. As soon as we finished and started walking again, the skies cleared...for awhile anyway.


The highlights of this trail section were the interesting locks and bridges.
There were also quite a few underpasses and tunnels to travel through. Luckily they were all just tall enough for Dan to walk through without hitting his head.




Wildlife we spotted included this long snake, who raised it's head and hissed a forked,red tongue at us before slithering away into the grass. We also saw a couple of hawks and of course the graceful and surprisingly loud great blue herons that can be seen all the way up and down this canal. We were told by trail staff to be on the lookout for eagles as well since they were supposedly seen on the trail just this morning. But as Dan couldn't resist commenting, there were no sightings of Joe Walsh or Don Henley for us today.

Luckily I love a good, corny joke and my hiking parter always has one ready. So despite the fact that by the end of the hike it was pouring rain, we had smiles on our faces as we half jogged/half dragged ourselves the last mile to shelter. By the way, we are now about halfway to our destination. I really hope the weather improves, or at least doesn't get worse.

We had a really great hike today! It included all the elements of a fun and interesting trail. Changing landscape, great views, glimpses of wildlife, challenging obstacles, intoxicated cyclists....

First I should say the weather was the biggest contributor to our delightful walk. We couldn't have asked for better. We were getting tired of walking in the cold and the rain. But today was a gorgeous 70 degrees with just enough sunshine to make the water sparkle and the trees light up, but not too much to make us sweat (much). So hooray for a good weather day!

I also took a lot of pictures today, so I will have to try to pick some of the better ones to share here. Here we go:

The landscape on this section of trail changes dramatically every couple of miles. It would go from this beautifully wooded trail...




















....to open trail lined by fall color and stunning bluffs.




















Towards the end as we got closer to town, we even saw some lovely farm scenes like this one.

Other than the horses, the animals we spotted today included another blue heron, a couple of bluejays, a woodpecker, a toad, and a snake. Oh, and the ladybugs! We didn't just see them, we wore them throughout most of the hike. At any given time I could look up and see 7 or 8 of them on the back of Dan's shirt. And then I'd look down and see 10 more climbing up my legs.

We came to another "Trail Closed" sign about halfway through the hike, but this one was a little more serious than the last one. The trail was definitely closed due to trail washout, but was not entirely inaccessible. We were warned by some folks we met earlier on the trail about the washout but we assumed it would be like the last one- something we could easily navigate our way around and continue on without interrupting our hike. But it turned out this section was closed for about a mile, maybe two. It was no longer being maintained so it was a narrow, muddy, overgrown path. We took our chances going through the gates meant to keep us out, not really having a choice other than maybe turning around and trying to find a way to the nearest road. It turned out to be the best section of trail and I'm really glad we took it. There were quite a few washouts along the way, but someone had come along and laid several scrap wood footbridges to get across. The wood was soft and spongy but it held us and we were glad for whomever took the time to do this. The biggest washout had us making our way down and across a stream. It provided fun challenges for us and a pretty change in the landscape. It almost made me wish for more closed, washed-out sections of trail! When we got through that part, we met a lone hiker that we had seen once before several miles back on the trail. He told us he wimped out and got his car to go around the washout. "Good for you two for going through it!" he said. I hope he changed his mind and decided to go ahead and hike it too.

Oh, the intoxicated cyclists? Those would be our new friends, area locals Carson and John. They were the ones who warned us about the washed out trail up ahead. They were doing a little biking on the trail and a whole lot of drinking. The asked us about our trail journey and were really excited about when we told them what we've been doing. At one point, I think John was considering joining us on the rest of our hike. (Dan thinks maybe he was just trying to get away from his much drunker friend.) In the end, they offered us some beer and a ride on their bikes (both of which we declined) and a bit of trail history and advice. John told me not to forget him and said," don't forget you met someone who is really envious of what you're doing!" We won't forget you John, I promise!

Back on the Trail
The cold temperatures and the light drizzle didn't keep us off the trail today. I admit I had to convince Dan to hike though. He didn't like the idea of being cold and wet all day, but I was (mostly) confident that we wouldn't get very wet and we'd be able to keep ourselves warm. We decided to cover only a little over 8 miles, less than we originally planned just in case a storm opened up on us. So we waited for the skies to clear up a bit and headed for the trailhead.

About 1 1/2 miles into the trail, we came up to this sign. The trail had completely collapsed and we could not get across to the other side by way of the main trail. But we quickly found a way, going down and back up around the side of the trail and kept going.

The only other challenge was the light rain that kept on and off for the first 3 or 4 miles. We walked with our hoods up and our heads down most of that way. It made it tough to enjoy the scenery but we tried not to let it get the best of our walk. Mostly we were worried that the rain might get serious enough to get us really wet. The air was still fairly cold so that would not be a good thing. Luckily the trees provided a good canopy and the drops that hit us were mostly light and intermittent. But we didn't stop. Because of the temperature and the rain, we knew we wouldn't be able to take any breaks today or we would just risk getting colder and wetter. Actually that was challenge number three. Hiking all the way without a chance to rest for a moment made for very tired legs and feet at the end.


Finally the sun came out and just in time to enjoy a break in the scenery and pull out the camera. After walking along miles of trail that pretty much looks exactly the same, we spotted something interesting in the distance and came upon this cool wooden bridge. It was definitely picture-worthy.

We also spotted 1 great blue heron (immediately after I remarked to Dan how we hadn't seen any herons yet) and 1 lone deer and about 4 or 5 wild turkeys. Unfortunately I didn't get any photos of the wildlife but I did find a large feather left behind by one of the turkeys.

Sadly the sunshine only lasted about about 1/2 mile, then disappeared again and a big black cloud loomed overhead. We started picking up the pace, counting off trail markers out loud, and zipping our jackets back up and putting gloves back on. A few more miles and the trail started opening up out of the woods and into the next town. We started seeing other people and hearing the noise of a residential area. Heading through town and crossing the busy street (at a jog, which was not fun on sore tired legs) then the last stretch of trail and that was it. Whew! Done for today.

Here's a few shots from the start of our hike:

Our first challenge on the trail: 6'4" Dan had to make his way under this 6'0" bridge. :-) The water on the right is the canal we will be following for the next 60 miles.

A pretty little creek on the other side of the canal.

Locktenders house. The back steps made a good place for a water break and a short rest.

Tiny wildflowers along the trail.

5 miles into our hike. This is about the time it started raining. Despite the raindrops, we continued on another 4 miles then called it a day. We had a great time and can't wait to get back on the trail!