as you probably know, if you’ve followed our little family story until now, whenever we go on a long vacation, derek is always sure to work in a day or two for me to go on a bigger, longer adventure, usually a hike. sometimes anna comes with me. sometimes not. on this occasion, she somewhat reluctantly joined me. could possibly be the last time.
we found a hike that was reported to be a little over ten miles. it was a network of trails that formed a loop that first took us pleasantly and gently through the woods, along the mosquito river. lots of bridges and waterfalls.
and beautiful flora and fauna. and a toilet.
eventually, we reached the tops of the cliffs of pictured rocks lakeshore. for four or five miles, the trail meandered in and out of the woods, and up and down to the water. new vantage points for a lot of fantastic scenery. we stopped many times for snacks. lunch. and to take a million photos. here’s a small fraction of them….
the last stop along the “coast” took us down to chapel beach, where chapel creek flowed out to the lake, and chapel rock marked the last landmark before we turned our hike inland. incidentally, chapel rock was also the first landmark we saw on our sea kayaking a few days before.
ok. this is the part where i tell you about the conditions of the trail. everything was lovely when we were out of the woods along the coast, but when we dipped back in here and there, and for the rest of the hike back to the car from chapel rock, things took a turn.
there. was. so. much. mud. not just mud. full blown ponds washing out the trail. sometimes we could make our way around the slop. other times fallen trees served as makeshift and precarious bridges. eventually, we failed enough times, slipping up to our shins in mud and water, and gave in to the elements. by the end of the trail, we were a complete mess. quite sore. and a little bit miserable.
we were never so happy to see the parking lot as we were at the end of this adventure. and we sure did treat ourselves at dinner (and dessert) that night.
i think the total was 12 or more miles. i ended up with some serious plantar fasciitis after this one. and we will talk about it for ages.