Today was the monthly hike with the Spirit of the Woods Chapter of the NCTA. It was combined with the Healthy Active Manistee Festival. We thought there might be quite a few people, and the city even paid for a shuttle bus. But the morning dawned gray and rainy. Loren had called me last night and asked me to be the leader, since she was sick. No problem... I was going anyway.
As it turned out, the two guys only hiked a short distance. Yes, those are Loren's dogs (you've seen them before!) they are begging for a drink from Dave, her husband. He couldn't do a long hike because he just had back surgery, and the other guy didn't have time to stay very long. The view is from the top of a nice hump just off the trail. I know, you can't really see anything much, but there are some hills off there in the mist!
So for most of the hike it was just the other gal and me (and Maggie). She was new, but is pretty excited about the trail, so I hope we see a lot more of her. It was a longish hike for the chapter at just under seven miles. It drizzled just a little bit most of the time, so it wasn't a great day for pictures, but this big rock with lichen and moss was made beautiful by the damp.
Both of us were in the mood for a good hike and walked right along, with only a stop to eat our lunches. We finished the distance in 2 hours 40 minutes (which included the lunch time). The time doesn't matter at all... it wasn't a race. But last fall a group of us hiked this section in the other direction, and it took forever. In fact, we didn't make it as far as we had planned. We were about ready to proclaim this section the "Bermuda Triangle" of our trail section.
But I guess we can't claim anything strange after today. The people who stayed home because of the weather missed a great hike!
Oh, you want to know about that sign? It's on a private road that the trail crosses, and they dress the post for some holidays. I guess Halloween is lasting a long time this year.
11 comments:
you are always an inspiration Sharkbytes for not allowing weather to stop you from a hike. glad you had a beautiful hike today.
Sounds like a great hike. Glad it didn't start pouring at about mile 3.5! :-)
The sign is weird, if it is found inside the jungle.
I'm glad you had a great time hiking. Pretty scary Halloween decoration on that post.
Those people who stayed home because of the weather really did miss out didn't they? Sounds like you had a pretty darn good day. That sign is pretty cool.
Looks very autumnal. What season is it there?
I'll bet it was nice to get out and hike again, eh?! It doesn't look very "spring-like" yet--is it warming up by you? Things are really greening up here! Yeah!
Wow - you wouldn't want to bump into a sign like that on a dark and windy night!!!!
What wonderful pictures though - a fabulous hike.
Glad you had such a great hike, Joan. I've just finished watching a documentary called, "Under Our Skin" about Lyme Disease. I worry about it because my daughter-in-law and son run with the dogs in the woods and Laura, especially, does a lot of camping. They always check the dogs for ticks as soon as they get back in ( and often find them ) but, after seeing this documentary, I am so much more aware of the really long term problems caused by Lyme disease and how often it is misdiagnosed!
betchai- well, I'm not crazy about hiking in the pouring rain, but it really only drizzled, so who cares!!!!
Ferd- me too, but if it had... we would just have gotten wet.
rainfield- the "jungle" intersects with lots of summer cabin access sites.
Icy- I've seen it as a snowman... much more welcoming with that decor.
Ann- We used to get really good turnouts for our hikes. I'm not sure why the groups are so much smaller now.
Unplug- Hi! Thanks for stopping by. It's spring, but it's coming very late, and this is an oak forest- those trees leaf out very late anyway.
Lin- the green is popping! But the oak trees are always some of the last to leaf out.
Polly- The hikes are pretty much all fabulous, not all the pictures are. I'm totally addicted to being out.
Carmen- The deer ticks are more likely to carry it than the wood ticks or dog ticks. We just check ourselves when we get home. Ticks take a while to attach, and even then they have to stay attached for several hours before there is enough exchange to cause the illness. It's not too difficult to be watchful.
Your blogs arouse my interests in travelling !
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