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August 13, 2006 – Perot State Park,
Hikers –
Barb, Tom, Vicky, Dave, and Marsha.
Once we found the
trail head, since Barb wanted to try a new trail, all was well, for the other
hikers anyway. I, being the least fit
of them all, had a wee bit of a challenge going up Brady’s Bluff, but
the view from the top is well worth some shortness of breath and a little
heart-pounding. The first part of the
trail was moderate with just some average ups and downs, but once you get to
the top you better have your shoes tied tight because it’s a steep zigzag
back down. You come out near the park
headquarters then have to follow another trail along the river back to the
parking lot. By that time I had cooled
down and got my second wind. All in
all it was a good hike. Like I said
earlier, not being as avid a hiker as Barb or the others I had a hard time
with the last few feet of the bluff, but I made it! After the hike Barb, Tom and I went
canoeing too! I slept really good that
night!
Marsha
July 15, 2006 - Here's some pics from this last weekends
canoe camping trip. It was hot, but I had a great time! I went
with a group my friend coordinated thru a backpacking web site. We left
Friday from near Chatfield, and got back Sunday, a few miles past Lanesboro.
Barb
June 11, 2006 - Nerstrand Big Woods State Park
HIKERS: Amy C. (and her dog Emmit), Marsha, Rob, Barb, and Tom
The park ranger warned me that we may get lost because some of
the trails aren't marked well or even on the map. I assured her that we'd be fine, but as it turned out, she was
right! I got disoriented a few times, and the hike ended a little
sooner than I had hoped, but it was very enjoyable. I'm beginning to
think the club should be called "I hope you don't mind getting lost on
the trails" hiking club!
The weather was chilly enough to wear a fleece jacket when we
started, but we warmed up enough to tie them around our waists after a
while. The trees here were quite different from large old
trees at Frontenac. They were much smaller, and
the lush green leaves formed a canopy right over our heads,
shielding us from the occasional light rain that fell throughout the
afternoon. The rain made the scent from the woods much more intense,
almost "thick". Very pleasant.
We started out with a short gentle hike to the small
"
After the hanging our at the falls for a bit we headed up a
small hill, either on the Fawn Loop trail, or the White Oak Loop
trail... or maybe another trail altogether! Your guess is as good as
mine! Any ways we headed up a hill that made me wish I would have put
more effort into my weight loss attempts! Don't get me wrong, I
love hills, but they always make me whine! Eventually we crossed the
creek one more time before heading back to our vehicles.
Overall, the whole trail was absolutely beautiful and I highly
recommend it! The trails are very well maintained and scenic.
SPECIAL NOTE: The ranger had also mentioned that they
didn't have much problem with mosquito's here because there wasn't much
standing water around. BIG PLUS in my book!
May
7th, 2006 - Isinours
Hikers: Kay, Susan, Lisa, Amy M. (and her puppy, Kevin), Tom
and Barb
Hiking thru the pines at Isinours is like a trip "Up
North". The refreshing scent wafting thru the pine forest is
intoxicating at times! As you head out on the trail, it
immediately splits, letting you choose either a steep or a gradual hill,
basically looping back to the parking lot. We decided to take the
trail to the left, gradually working our way up the grade, zigging and
zagging at times. Part of the way up Lisa panicked when she realized
she left her camera on the hood of her Jeep, and so Tom, being the
gentleman that he is, trotted back down to get it, taking another route back
up the hillside, enjoying a solo hike for most of the day.
The trail leads thru areas of various pines and oaks planted
in the 50's and 60's, often in perfect rows. Personally, I
have a hard time picking out my favorite part of the trail. I love the
oak section because it reminds me of the oaks on the farm I grew up on,
but I also love the way I feel every time I walk thru the pine forest.
It seemed everyone felt the same way, commenting on every sensory
aspect underneath the tall trees, stopping to inhale the
scent, noticing the cushiony ground beneath our feet, listening
to the breeze shush thru the tree-tops, or watching the sun twinkle
thru the needles above our heads.
We looped out and back around to the overlook, taking a break
on the picnic table we lugged back to it's spot near the
shelter. The overlook has 3 fire-rings for campers willing
to pack their gear up to this spot, and it was very apparent it had been
well used recently. Someone had even created a new fire pit area
almost under the eaves of the shelter... hmm... I wonder if they even noticed
they had created a fire hazard?! They also left shards of glass and
several half burned cans behind. Obviously they never heard of the
"Leave-no-trace" philosophy!
Susan and Kay appeared to enjoy soaking up the sun while
hanging out near the shelter, and had quite a laugh as Kevin (Amy's puppy)
made a break from his new backpack-carrier, realizing after the fact
that he was still attached to
it. We all laughed hysterically as he ran circles around the
campsites with the pack swinging wildly behind him!
At the bottom of the hill, we said our good-byes, with Amy
(and Kevin) hopping on her bike to make the 6 mile trek back into town, and
Susan and Kay leaving too. Even after hiking almost 2 hours with
her loaded down pack, Lisa decided to hike back up the steepest
part of the trail as part of her conditioning routine to prepare for her
upcoming trips, so Barb and her headed back up once again, meeting up with
Tom on our way down.
The sun was shining and the wild flowers were
everywhere... You couldn't ask for a more beautiful day!
Barb
April
30, 2006- Frontenac State Park
Hikers: Lisa, Linda, Dave, Barb, Tom, Tyler, and Ted
It was amazing! After 2 days of rain (which my family
and I motor home-camped in, by-the-way... Oh yeah, and Lisa tent-camped
too... Brave!), the weather miraculously cleared up for our hike! I
wore my rain poncho anyways... Just in case! We had a few very
light sprinkles, and some wind, which shook the rain off the leaves over our
heads.
We met in the picnic area at 1:30. For those of you
who have been there before, you've got to admit that the view overlooking
On this area of the trail along the bluff, the moss
was thick on some rocks and trees, and you could see small caves in the
rock wall. The new forest growth was several shades of
brilliant green, with the recent rain making the colors even deeper
hues. We saw several species of wildflowers, mostly white and light
yellow. One looked like a white bleeding heart... is this possible?
I should have brought a book to help identify the plants! Lisa was to
far ahead of me to ask, with her, Dave, and Linda setting a pretty good
pace. I was dawdling a bit, checking out the scenery.
Dave led us past the bluffs and back into some areas inland,
where we hiked along ravines and meadows. Some areas had recently been
burned to remove invasive species, such as Buckthorn, and were already
sprouting up green shoots of prairie grasses and other native plants. I
was amazed that the trees in the burn area survived and already had new
leaves on them, even with blackened trunks. We saw mostly beautiful
old oak trees, many very large, and quite a few birch. I think
there were elm trees too, but the leaves weren't out enough for me to be
sure. About halfway into the hike, we stopped at another overlook,
this time viewing across the valley on the other side of the
bluff. Seeing spring from this vantage point is awesome!
Everything is budding and blossoming and so fresh!
After almost 2hours of hiking, we ended the hike following a
path thru rolling hilltop meadows. This trail had markers for cross
country skiing and some snowmobile paths. I think I'll be coming back
here for some skiing next year!
Barb
April
22-23, 2006 - Wildflower hike at Forestville/Mystery Cave State Park….
With nice weather and spring wildflowers starting to burst
from the ground everywhere, Lisa decided a wildflower hike Sunday at
Forestville/Mystery Cave State Park located between Preston and
Camping Saturday night were Dave, Lisa, Barb and Tom (sure,
she can make the camp out, but NOT the hike???!? LOL) Also stopping by to
visit were Mary and Martha, and then we wondered when the rest of the
disciples would show up. Ranger Tom of Preston must have gotten sick of
hearing people ask for Lisa’s campsite, cuz he came at 10 p.m. and
“busted” us for some obvious drinks, being loud (what about the
belligerent dog next campsite??) and for Mary and Martha to leave because
visiting hours had ended. Phhhht! Well, then we all quieted down. Oh yeah,
and don’t ask THIS BUNCH what Cinco de Mayo means! Something tells me
they don’t know how to count to 10 in Spanish! (“
Before the campfire amusements, Dave and Lisa and Barb and Tom
did hikes to Big Springs… except you couldn’t quite get to the
“payoff” of the big, wonderful bluff at the end due to Canfield
Creek being too high, deep and fast to cross unless wanting to get wet.
Early Sunday Barb and Tom rolled away in the ole RV, so Barb
could go antiquing with her mom. To waste time till the 1 p.m. hike, Dave and
Lisa took a
Then the fearless duo went to the parking lot near Historic
Forestville and waited for the hiking crew to show up, an adventure in
itself. Linda had forgotten directions, but finally hit the right parking
lot. Donna hit every parking lot on the way and her hiking invitation was
turned down three times, I believe. (“Are you here to hike?”
“NO, I am loitering!” was one answer.) Finally, she, too, found
us. Then local girl Amy had called, but Lisa couldn’t get a cell phone
signal. She was standing by the road as Amy finally drove in, intent on her
cell phone. Amy had taken one wrong turn and proved, like Barb before her,
local yokels CAN get lost!
Then the five hikers totally changed the hiking plan since
Dave thought it would be a good idea to do the trails near the horse
campground before it opened for the year and trails were minus road apples.
So we headed across the recently burned prairie (and part of the old town of
Along the way, we stopped every so often to look at flowers,
aided by Donna, her two wildflower books and an intriguing ability to read
the book and continue hiking along at a good clip. Near as we could tell, we
spotted bloodroot, Dutchman's Breeches, white dogtooth violet (also known as
a trout lily, yep, found it on that flower identification web site), rue
anemone, bluebells, spring beauties, violets, May apple, marsh marigolds and
probably hepatica, too. I posted the odd green plant on a web site and was
told it was some type of fern, perhaps a fiddlehead. If you go to this web
site and click on the fiddlehead fern, you’ll see the green, berry-like
things in my photo apparently unfurl to become leaves, http://digitalscenic.com/gallery5.htm Pretty cool!
We also found out waaaay more about the May Apple than we ever
wanted to know and couldn’t believe we heard being uttered from Donna!
It was
probably around 3 to 3.5 miles, which we took at a good pace, unless slamming
on our brakes for flowers. All in all, a wonderful day, great people, great
hike!
Lisa
April
1, 2006 - Vinegar Ridge State
Donna, Linda, Tom, Barb, Lisa and Dave (and Ed camped
with us)
I can't believe I've never hiked here before, especially
since it's only 30 minutes from my house! I think Vinegar Ridge
will become a "regular" for me now (meaning a hike I'll do as
often as I can). It's beautiful!
Most of us drove in around 10am, but Lisa and Ed had
camped the previous night. The weather was great for the hike... No
rain, and surprisingly, no mud (except in the parking lot).
The trail from the parking lot led us down to the paved bike
path, which we walked along for a mile or so. A friend of mine had
asked me to keep my eyes peeled for "Woodcock splash", to
help us find locations where we could possibly view the mating dance or
"flight" of the Woodcock at dusk. I kept looking and looking,
but I didn't find anything! And on top of that, everyone made fun
of me! Did you set me up for an April fools joke Gunnar??? But,
while looking for the infamous "splash", we saw lots and lots of
scat and owl pellets (I think?) with fur and bone in them. Linda
now thinks I have a fascination with scat... Really I don't! I
swear!
Before continuing on the hiking trail, we dropped our packs
for awhile, and veered off the trail to check out a canoe-in campsite,
and walked out across a long bridge on the bike trail. We
didn't see any turtles, but maybe we could when the weather is
warmer. Donna voiced a desire to come back in the summer to
see what the area looks like when it's green, and several others replied
"Absolutely!" Lisa posed for pics with a troll in a
tree near the bridge, and I posed on the outdoor biffy. (Even I didn't
understand that one?!) Eventually, we wandered back to our packs, and
shimmied back into them before heading up the gigantic hill.
Did I mention that it was kinda big??? For most of it, we took it
at a casual pace, pausing to rest occasionally. Of course, Dave and Tom
made it look easy! During one of our "catch-your-breath"
breaks, we noticed some reddish gel-like fungi growing on a branch. It
felt like rubber! What was that?! Anyone know? We also got
a kick (no pun intended) out of found a rock that had broken off the
hillside that looked like bigfoots foot, toes and all! Weird!
Several people mentioned the lack of obvious signs of
deer, such as tracks, etc. Hmmmm... Why would that be?
There was also alot of bright green "new-growth" pine on top
of the ridge. Don't deer usually devour this? Where are the
deer?
Anyways, once on top, we hiked to an overlook and we each
dined on a fine meal of trail food, such as trail mix, dried fruit,
etc. That is, all of us except Lisa who had a
fancy salad! (show off!) I have to say, though, that
relaxing on top the ridge, with good company, a
gentle wind blowing, the sun shining, and a view of the surrounding
peaks and hills of the area was pretty nice!
After awhile, we headed back down to the parking lot and said
goodbye to Donna and Linda (around 3pm?). No matter how hard we tried,
they could not be coaxed into backpacking overnight with the rest of
us... Maybe another time?
As the afternoon wore on, the rest of us hiked a little
more, then set up camp in our own little area, pitching tents, rolling out
sleeping mats and bags, gathering firewood, and making the place our
home away from home. Ed joined us later, after doing a 42 mile
bike ride and backpacking in on top of that! Man he's fit! We all
took advantage of a little down time that evening, relaxing by the
fire. The beverages, the meals, the company, the music, the laughter,
... all good..... very good...
During the night, thunder could be heard rolling off in a
not-to-faraway distance, but the rain held off until the last of us got out
of bed in the morning (that was me, by the way...). I had barely
uttered the words, "Wow, we really lucked out! No rain!" when
it started to come down. Oops! Oh well, we packed up and
hightailed it to the vehicles as quickly as we could. We stopped at a
local restaurant for breakfast, and then headed on our way.
Here's a link to Lisa's photos:
Barb
March 4, 2006 -
Hikers: Kari and Anna, Scott, Sheila, Vicky, Dave,
Amy, Tom, Barb, Tyler, and Ted
Beautiful weather... mid to upper 30's. The ground was a
little muddy in spots, snowy in others, even though there wasn't very much
snow left. We started off late due to my getting lost in my own
backyard! I can't believe I got so confused! Using my trusty
atlas which shows all the roads on it, I took what I thought was a short cut,
coming into the park from the east. Somehow, I ended up driving all the
way around the south side of the park and coming in from the west! I
felt bad about making people wait! At least I wasn't the only one
late... A couple others phoned to say they were running
late too.
After getting lost, I was a little
nervous about reading a map to follow a trail. I think
others were a little concerned to! But as we took off, I got my
bearings and off we went. We walked the road to the old store,
crossing a bridge over a river with "Hundreds" of fish (suckers)
just laying in the shallow water. It was quite a neat thing to
see! Amy, Sheila, and Barb set the pace in front. Everyone
introduced themselves and started visiting right away, comparing hiking
boots, talking trails, etc. as we headed up the trail behind the store.
The hill went on for a long time, but it wasn't steep at all, and was
completely do-able, even for Kari carrying Anna in a backpack carrier.
She had plenty of offers to help her with her load of precious cargo, but
Kari assured everyone that she was fine. Wow! I'm
impressed!
The trail wound around to the top of a hill, and we took the
spur out to an overlook with a nice platform to view the valley from.
Looking across the valley, the bridge across the river stood our
boldly in the sea of bare gray-brown trees along the hillsides.
There was no color at all except for sporadic clumps of green pine
trees. Baby Anna (our youngest hiker yet!) got a chance to get out of
the carrier and stretch her little legs. As she peered thru
the rungs of the platform, she appeared to enjoy the view from this
giant playpen!
After the break, we hit the trail again, gradually looping
our way back down the hill, through the oaks. Dave, Tom, and Scott took
off ahead for awhile while the rest of us took our time on the slick hills,
trying to avoid a fall in the mud. They must have had good
traction. Sheila, did you happen to check what kind of boots they
had?
At the bottom, we crossed the stream on man-made stepping
stones. Tyler and Ted would hang out here all day if they could.
There's something about water and kids...
Most people had "places to go...Things to do...",
so we were unable to add on an additional loop, although it would have been
nice. I will definitely plan on doing a longer hike there next
time. Even though shorter than usual, it was a wonderful hike with a
great group of people. Thanks Vicky for guiding us out of the
park on the back roads. We made it home with out a wrong turn!
PS: April is looking like a full month for me, so I may be
looking for someone to lead a hike while I'm hiking in AZ (maybe even the
Barb
January 21, 2006 - Whitewater State Park
Everyone rolled into the park around 12:30 (and I wasn't even
late this time!!!)... Barb, Tom, Tyler, Amy, Lisa, Linda, Dave, Julie
and Larry. After looking at the trail map, we decided to start out the
hike with a warm-up walk thru the campgrounds to the Coyote Point Trail, a
trail that Dave described as a "gradual" hill, rather than starting
on the steps that lead directly to the top of the first bluff. "Gradual"
being defined as "Holy Cow! How long is this
hill!" The scenery along the way was pretty awesome (when I
wasn't looking directly at my feet so I wouldn't trip on a rock or tree
root!). You could look across ravines, under the rocks jutting out
from the sides of the hills, and up the bluffs, seeing EVERYTHING since
there aren't any leaves or shrubs in the way this time of year. We
didn't encounter much snow, but had to be cautious at times due to
the patches of ice created by the trekkers packing down the
trail in the months before us.
Once on top the hill (or "mountain" depending on
whose vocabulary we listened to... right Julie???), we took a break and
Larry shared some healthy options for snacks and energy supplements
(Sharks?). The bluff top also provided us with some spectacular
views. The Lookout on Coyote Point was amazing! The
angle of the sun lit up the bluffs across the valley and made the rapids
on the river sparkle! Because of the unusually warm temps this year,
the river wasn't as ice covered as it should have been. Oh yeah,
the weather was a balmy upper 20's I think, with SUNSHINE.. YEAH!
When we got back to the parking lot, an hour and a half
later, no one was ready to call it quits, so we took on another trail
that I'll call the "No-Trail Trail". We
left the swimming beach area (NO, we didn't take a dip this time!) and headed
up the steps to another lookout point and Chimney Rock (a mini cave), then
backtracked across the side of the hill, to another lookout point.
Amy yelped (nervously giggled) a few times at the treacherousness of the
trail, but chose to wait to pass judgment on the trail until after she
arrived back to her car safely. Once down on flat ground again,
she determined it to be "Fun!". The "No-Trail
Trail" led us up even higher, through a few ravines, and along
the steep side of a hill, where we all had to practice our mountain
goat abilities, using the side of our feet to dig into the leaves and
sporadic patches of snow to avoid sliding down the hillside.
I think Linda was wondering if this was in the job-description when she
signed up to be a member of LIKINGHIKING... (Yep, just read the fine
print for "Difficult" under hiking levels.) 12 year old
Three-plus hours later, we ended back up in the parking lot
where Lisa's adventurous spirit persuaded us to imbibe in some other
type of spirits at a local establishment, the Elba House.
What a great hike!
PS: Am I the only one whose calves are
screaming today?
Barb
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Wildflower hike at Forestville/Mystery
Cave
Hikers, from left, Amy, Dave, Linda, Donna
and Lisa on the Sinkhole Ridge Trail, with an overlook of the
One photo is of bluebells, while the other
features trout lily (aka dogtooth violet) and not-quite budding bluebells
that we at first thought were part of the same plant. DOH!
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