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.