4/1/14 City Forest

We had rain all day Sunday and melting snow and I spent the day trying to keep water out of the house. Monday was dreary and I had clean up to do so Kelley went to the nursing home for the day.  Today sun and warmer temps but  no idea what the trails were going to be like so we headed for the nearby forest.

Kelley wanted to go down to the beaver pond and we did. It was still frozen over but she found some water running out of it.

The West Trail was packed snow with some minor glazing but not bad. Surprising how much snow remains.

At the end of West we got on the old rail bed. No one had been on it in awhile and there were only some old ski tracks- still not too bad if you could stay in the tracks. Once we got to where the snowmobile trail  joins it the walking was easy.

We checked out a side trail to see if it was still passable- it passes through a marshy area and is only usable part of the year. Not today.

We continued on the rail bed to a spot where a small stream crosses it and it was also no longer frozen and we turned back.

The unnamed trail that we take between the rail bed and West had not been used in some time and was the worst part of the hike. Both of us broke through the crust and in places the snow was knee deep - even Kelley was unhappy about it.

Back on the West, Kelley spotted a woman and her dog ahead of us and raced on to meet them. The dog was still a pup and very energetic and he and Kelley began to play. Good fun for all. I took quite a few pictures but between the contrast and the motion I didn't get any I liked. I will post two anyway.

It was good to be in the woods on a sunny day and  in spite of the uneven conditions it was a good hike.  3 hours