It did get hot in the afternoon, but the morning was cloudy. A spritz of rain fell on me. This is looking back up the lake with the rain clouds approaching.
Early in the day, I passed this nice campsite created by the Sheyenne River Valley Chapter of the NCTA.
Look at the cool custom fire pit work!
Only a little bit of the trail was mowed today, and there was some really tough going. But the big difference is that I was mentally prepared for it. I did fall twice, but not into any mud pits. Here's another of the challenges the chapter is facing (not to mention the Corps of Engineers). In many places the hills surrounding the lake are slumping. The prairie sod just doesn't have a lot of cohesiveness. This picture shows an area that affects the trail. The trail is supposed to cut right across those lines of shifting soil. It's a lot like an earthquake in slow motion. And it made the walking a challenge too!
One of the challenges of getting good pictures of the white pelicans is that they are very shy. It's hard to get close to them. But I came around bend and startled a raft of them. They all spashed and thought about flying away, but in the end they settled down again.
Another neat thing that happened today was I met a lady as I was walking past some cottages who was releasing two monarch butterflies that had just come out of their chrysalises this morning. She says shes been doing this since she was a child.
And, it was moving day again. Many thanks to our last hosts, Chris and Alicia Hoffarth and their daughters Stephanie and Marissa. They have been trail friends since before they even had the girls!
It was fine with me that a few portions of the trail today were easier walking through campgrounds or past cabins. The other parts were tough enough. It took me 7 hours to do the 11.5 miles. There is just no walking fast through the grass and especially not when you have to cross areas the cows have trampled. I had three cattle herd episodes today, but they all opted to run away. Yesterday's encounter included having them run right up behind me.
Miles today: 11.5. Total miles so far: 2744.4.
 | See Lake Ashtabula |
2 comments:
That is a cool fire pit.
I can see how it would slow you down walking through there. From the looks of that one picture it would be easily to trip and fall.
Ann- the footing was the primary issue
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