18 July 2024
I did not sleep well last night. The traffic noise just never stopped. Definitely not the peaceful night in the woods I had imagined.
On the plus side (I think), there was no trace of whatever walked through my site last night (so it couldn’t have been too big if it didn’t leave any tracks, right?). I did wander around my site as I ate breakfast to see if I could spot anything in the woods (also to keep the bugs from eating me):
New brand of oatmeal needs less water, noted.
Today’s hiking plan is to take the yellow trail over to the purple trail, then hit up Pulpit Rock and the green trail on my way out:
The yellow trail is mostly a connector trail, but it’s wide and woodchipped and I love it!
Finally, a good view of the lake!
and so many ducks!!!
They were scooping with their bills and ?eating the green? I dunno, but they looked really cute while they were doing it:
Turtle sunning himself:
Finally! A well-marked fork!
I had originally planned on hiking the outer purple loop, then retracing my steps a bit to check out the inner passes, but the first part of the outer loop was basically all uphill and while it ran along the lake, there were no good views through the trees:
Definitely not a trail I want to hike twice. Plus, the downhills were muddy:
So when the outer loop offered me two paths and labeled one as ‘easy’ and the other as ‘steep hill’, you bet I took the easy one!
Thank you to whoever put those logs there- it made crossing this mud-patch much easier!
Back along my yellow trail, I stopped for a snack along the water:
Not-quite-a-mirror, but still pretty!
Following the trail up toward the boat/kayak launch, I found this branch teepee:
Still pretty even with the green floating around:
Fish trail:
This little guy was singing up a storm!
I had to creatively time my shots to keep the bright orange kayaks out of my shots:
I followed along the water’s edge, rather than take the trail back, but the beavers were hard at work here and eventually I had to rejoin the real trail:
Moving out of the main park area, Pulpit Rock was next on my list, however, it is just as poorly marked as most everything else here and I drove by it the first time.
Yes, you do want to turn onto that sketchy gravel path and even though the sign says Fern Dell Gorge, this is where you want to be:
There are a ton of signs posted with information on past residents, but the bugs here are BAD so I just snapped this picture of the topography and glanced at it long enough to know that going counterclockwise (instead of following their numbers) gives you a more gradual incline, so that’s what I did:
So don’t take that nice looking path beyond the sign?
Sorry, but that’s where the views are!
So I’m not sure if this is Pulpit Rock, or if you are supposed to be able to see Pulpit Rock from here? There were some very unhelpful signs, but this is a very nice rock with a very nice breeze that kept the bugs away.
Back on the road again, I also drove past this the first time, because it’s only marking is 2 thin yellow posts- that sign is too far back to spot until you’re already past it:
From what I gather, this is the newest trail in the park, and it’s definitely not as well maintained as the main park:
A snake!
Hello, friend!
There were a few muddy areas, but nothing too terrible:
I liked the way these two rocks came together with the distant tree in the middle:
Also, it was around this section that I spotted the viewing area of Pulpit Rock, though I couldn’t get a good shot through the trees.
I managed to squeeze through here with my pack on!
Someone didn’t survive this…
Another trail created by ticks:
And one last roadblock (though this one was easier to get through):
All in all, I put in almost 8 miles today. Short of the 10 I was shooting for, but I’m still pleased with how well my pack carried the additional weight.