Cold - 12 degrees when we started - but sunny and not as windy as yesterday. Difficult to find appropriate hiking spots. We had stopped at the end of Fox hollow Rd. where we sometimes hike across the large meadow to a snowmobile trail through woods. The open meadow was a sheet of ice so we left that for another day and continued on to Walden. There was some ice getting down to the trail from the parking lot but after that footing was pretty good on the trails.
Frozen beaver pond
Besides the loop trail there are quite a few trails that the bikers have made. They are much narrower and sometimes ill defined and not on the maps. We decided to explore today and that is why the map shows gaps and question marks. The second trail we took had little and then no recent use and soon we were bushwhacking. Eventually we came out on the loop trail and took that to the rail bed. Kelley wanted to take another side trail and that led to others and eventually we found ourselves on the West Trail in City Forest which we took to a trail we take to get to the rail bed. This also had little use and we again found ourselves not on the usual trail but eventually we came upon the rail bed anyway. That took us to the place where the snowmobile trail comes in and we took that, thinking to go to the small trail that leads back to the loop trail. The snowmobile trail is open and exposed to full sun and was icier. There was another snowmobile trail on the far side of the easement that we had not taken but I thought I knew where it went.
It led us through the woods to another trail that we had been on in the past and that took us to a marshy area. We turned back to the main snowmobile trail and the trail back to the Loop Trail.
Again the snowmobile trail had been icy and the small trail and the Loop Trail had not. I think it had to do with the amount of sunlight each received .
Kelley waiting patiently while I consider a possible picture.
The Loop Trail took us uneventfully back to our car. A pretty good hike on a pretty day. Only a few icy patches. The only people we saw were a couple running on West Trail as we neared it. Kelley ran to see them and I heard them tell her hello but they ran on before I reached the trail 2 hours
Do you follow a guidebook for all these trails or have you hiked them so often you don't need one anymore? You do so many different trails.
ReplyDeleteHi Kim- Mostly I am familiar with the trails. Have been hiking them a long time and since Kelley, we hike every day. I post the maps as a guide for others who might be interested in the trail. When we find a new trail I like to have maps. I started the blog in hopes of a dialogue with other hikers to learn about trails I didn't know. That hasn't happened much but it's been fun to share information with other hikers and I have learned about some new trails from readers.
DeleteNice picture of Kelley at the end!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Faith- she's hard to get against the snow
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