Governor Dodge

3 July 2024

This summer has not been a good year for hiking- we’ve had rain the majority of my days off, so, with a 1-1.5 day break in the system, I decided to try my luck at Governor Dodge State Park:

It looks like it’ll probably rain tomorrow, but if I’m lucky, I’ll be able to get some morning hiking in before that starts.

As with my last overnight park stay, there was no one at the site the night before, so I was able to stash my car at my site, though this one isn’t quite as shady as the last:

And you can kinda see off to the right-hand side of the picture that the road runs quite close to my site. Hopefully that won’t be a problem later in the evening when I want to sleep.

My site also came with its own resident bird:

This catbird was squawking up a storm when I arrived. Hopefully he doesn’t poop on my car (or my tent!) as there are a lot of red berry trees surrounding my site.

Today’s hike is brought to you by this delicious scone I picked up from Great Harvest Bread Co. before I left town, and I’m glad I grabbed it- the coffee shop I was planning on stopping at nearby the park decided to close early. Lame.

Gov. Dodge is a pretty large park so I cropped its trail map so you can actually see:

I put a star at the Cox Hollow Campground where I’m staying; my plan is to hike the Lost Canyon Trail and the Meadow Valley Trail today, then head south and do the Pine Cliffs Trail and the Mill Creek Trail tomorrow morning.

A short connector trail from my campsite (which isn’t marked on that map, by the way), leads to this trail junction, with the Meadow Valley following that bold, gravel path, and my Lost Canyon Trail splits off to the left:

Fortunately, my path is nicely shaded:

And, because I checked the topo map beforehand, I knew to hike this one clockwise to avoid having to go up the steepest inclines:

Unfortunately, topo maps don’t warn you about mud:

This was arguably one of the worst spots, I mean, there were a lot of muddy areas, but knowing I would have to slog my way back through this part if I turned around kept me moving forward.

I spotted several of these tiny (thumbnail-sized) frogs hopping around:

At first I thought they were crickets, but their hops were too short and awkward.

The batsignal for maple trees?

Cool rock outcropping along a bend in the creek:

I took a short side trip down the Stephen Falls Hiking Trail- there were several downed trees, but the path (while soggy) was still easy to follow:

Stephens Falls:

Finally, a good use for all that rain we’ve been getting:

There is a staircase leading back to my Lost Canyon Trail, but I decided to backtrack along the Falls side trail to get back to my main path:

That proved to be a bad choice.

This is what was waiting for me:

And, if you manage to traverse that, this downed tree:

I couldn’t see a clear path past the tree, and climbing over it with my pack on really didn’t sound like fun, so I trudged back through the muddy stretch (which also wasn’t fun), went back along the Falls trail, and climbed these steps that will rejoin me with my path:

Farewell, waterfall!

Top of the falls:

I expected the source river to be a bit more robust than this. Huh.

I debated taking the Lost Canyon Trail back toward the roadblock, but honestly, it’s hot out (83°F / 28°C) and I’m getting tired. This hike hasn’t been much fun and walking in the sun? Definitely not fun.

So, I continued onward and found this old spring house:

The water coming from it was cool and clear, and if I had my filter on me, I probably would have refilled my water bottle (I had already finished off one at this point):

But there were a ton of these creepy crawlies on the wall:

and probably some other bugs I can’t see, and I didn’t want to risk getting sick, so I might be making a stop back at camp to refill and refuel after this loop.

Trail snacks that won’t make me sick? Black raspberries!

My brambles back home are just starting to ripen so this was a delicious surprise, especially since this stretch of trail was sunny and draining:

Little white moth along the trail:

Fortunately, the trail cut back into the shaded forest. It’s a bit hard to see in pictures, but down there is the Falls trail:

This would make for a nice shortcut if you feel like scrabbling up the rocks. I, however, am ready to be done with this hike, and following the upper trail I’m on currently on is the shorter path home.

It is, unfortunately, just as muddy as the lower path:

But the views from up here are gorgeous!

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Finally, 4 miles later, I made it back to my campsite. After refilling my water bottles, eating a few snacks, throwing myself a little pity party and getting a bit of a pep talk from Matt, I hit the trail to do my second loop.

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Conditions definitely hadn’t improved- still hot:

Still muddy:

But a bit cloudier and, since it was later in the day, a bit birdier, though this Eastern bluebird seems to be having a rough day as well:

Red-headed woodpecker:

Unfortunately, it’s also buggier. So, it’s time to test out my bug head net:

Dorky, yes, but it was effective, if a bit warm.

This sign was probably placed here by ticks:

Not the cave:

Cave!

I didn’t have a flashlight on me, and this place kinda gave me the creeps, so I didn’t investigate any further (though a sign did tell me bats live here).

Back on the trail, I found a couple Eastern commas:

This guy was in rough shape:

A rare view of Twin Valley Lake:

Another side-quest? Don’t mind if I do!

Do not go this way:

Cave?

There were several birds swooping in and out, and I could hear the chirps of young birds inside. I think there’s another cave a little further up, but honestly, I’m exhausted. This loop turned out to be much longer and up-hillier than expected and I just want to be done.

Another view of the lake:

Geese on the lake:

A bench facing the thicket- not sure what you’re supposed to be watching… I mean, there are berries on those bushes so maybe wildlife comes through? But I think people sitting on the bench would probably scare them away:

This is the kind of sign I like to see going my direction (I looked at the topo map for this loop too, and while there are lots of ups and downs, going clockwise gives you slightly less steep ups):

A “nice” thing about this trail is that it’s shared with horses, so while you do need to watch your step at times, there’s more gravel on this path, so if you can find that mixed in among the muddy areas, you can sometimes find a slightly less treacherous path:

Unfortunately, as I was picking my way through that mess up above, I spotted a Scarlet tanager (a really pretty red bird), but by the time I found solid enough footing and got my camera out, he had taken off 🙁

However, I did not slip and fall like this unfortunate person:

It was shortly after this point that my trail intersected a parking lot and I gave up.

I’m sick of all the mud and trying to pick my way along the trail; I opted to follow the road back to my campground. It did mean a rather wicked incline (that I had totally forgotten about from the drive in), but I did spot this little turtle, who I think has a leech on his back end:

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Back at camp, the bugs were as bad as ever. I tossed all my gear into my tent before it was fully assembled to minimize the bugs that got in, but having to lift my head net every time I wanted to take a bite of dinner got old real fast. I ate in the car.

Today was a 10 mile day; tomorrow… well, we’ll see how tonight goes. I’m exhausted, but neighbors have moved in and they seem like they might be loud. Good luck me!

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4 July 2024

Ugh. Last night was rough.

Every 20 minutes or so, the campers across from me would go get something from their car, but every time they opened it, the headlights (which were pointed right at my site) came on and every time the closed it, it beeped as it locked. That continued until 1130 or so.

There were kids to one side of me (though the parents did quiet them down around 11pm) and a rowdy party to the other (not directly next to me, but close enough that the sound carried).

If it weren’t for all the bugs still attacking my tent, I might have gone over to say something.

I finally managed to fall asleep a little after midnight, but was awaken at 0444 by the birds. I tossed and turned for a few more hours before finally giving up.

Today is not a hiking day.

I made breakfast, broke camp, and broke the no-food-in-the-tent rule:

I like the long looped hikes here, but when it’s wet, it’s muddy and miserable. The heat didn’t help either, but I probably wouldn’t come back- there are so many other parks to visit!