Thursday, October 23rd, 2008
Today was absolutely gorgeous. It was the perfect day for a hike, so that’s exactly what we did.
We jumped in the car and took a trip over to Gay City State Park. We have been to this park before, but missed one trail. Today was the day we were going to complete the entire trail system at this park. Last time, we nearly died from heat stroke, so we weren’t able to make it all the way around the red trail. We had to cut up the yellow trail. I remember my face tingling when we were about half way done. Man, what a day.
Today was different. It was about 50 degrees outside and perfectly clear. The leaves were all crunchy and there was no one around.
We walked down the yellow trail and hooked up with the red trail for about a 2 mile hike. Just long enough to get some exercise.
Of course, I had my camera on me. I wouldn’t want to let you down…
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Wednesday, July 9th, 2008
This was a long one. At least the air was nice and hot for us during the entire hike…oh man…
We knew which trail we wanted to hike when we arrived at Gay City State Park yesterday. We have been looking at the trail map and we (I) thought we knew exactly where to go. Sure, we started off great, but apparently, we were on the wrong trail from the get-go. I think we started off great because, well, at least we were on a trail.
By the way, Gay City State Park lies in three towns…Bolton, Hebron and Glastonbury. It’s pretty big and does the area just fine.
Ok, here is what I wanted to do - I wanted to start off at the yellow trail and go to the end. That would’ve been .8 miles. Then, at the end, I wanted to make a left onto the red trail for another 1.16 miles. I thought that would have brought us back to the road so we could walk back to the car. The problem is that we unknowingly started on the blue trail. I really don’t pay attention to those minor details sometimes.
Well, as it turns out, the blue trail went for .26 miles. It led us to the blue/red trail for another .4 miles. At this point, I said, “Hmmm…this is an awefully long trail. Mileage in the woods certainly seems to take longer than the same distance on the road.” We made a left onto the red trail and walked .91 miles and then (finally) made another left onto the yellow trail for .8 miles. About another .2 miles and we were back at the car. It took a lot out of us, being over 90 degrees and all.
The good thing is that we saw some pretty cool stuff. I could’ve done without the fly that was flying around my head the entire time, but otherwise, it was a good walk.
Here are some photos…
This is the very beginning of the trail. I thought this was the yellow trail. Apparently not.
About half way down the blue trail, we arrived at the Blackledge River. It’s nice a shady and a great place to sit down and take a break. There is a nice bridge and a picnic table. How do you like my Summer haircut?
Back in the day, Gay City State Park was a mill town. Today, all that’s left are some foundations and cellar holes. The top photo above is a foundation that is right next to the brige that goes over the Blackledge River on the blue trail. The lower picture is a cellar hole that (I think) was along the yellow trail.
This is just a random shot of a big Oak tree. We we saw it, I thought that it was pretty straight. The photographer in me wanted to get a neat photo of it.
We haven’t seen any mountain bikers yet, but there are lots of them in these trails. Probably more mountain bikers than walkers. It can get a little lumpy though. Near the wetlands of the red trail, the trails get quite rocky.
This is the lake (swamp) that lies in between the blue trail and the yellow trail. It’s not really a clear lake and I believe it may be responsible for all the rocks and insects.
Finally, a little cooling off at the pump in the camp on the blue trail.
We were going to go back today for another hike, but it’s pretty bad outside. I mean hot. Maybe later on this afternoon or something.
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Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008
I am starting to notice that ths area is pretty energetic. We see more people on bicycles and walking than we know what to do with. It kind of reminds me of when I lived in Atlanta…people were always out after work doing something.
Since I am energetic too, I fit right in. I actually went for my first bike ride up the road yesterday. I had to pump up my tires a little bit, but everything went very well. I would like to swap out my mountain bike tires for some street tires though.
Yesterday evening, we decided to head over to Gay City State Park to do a little walking. We have been hearing good things about this park and its large trail network.
Since we really had no idea where to start after we pulled in the park entrance, we decided to pull into the first parking lot and start walking.
This is the entrance. I believe the park closes at sundown. There is a fee if you want to visit on the weekends, but I think during the week is free.
We had a map, but forgot it back at the house. We used this one to see where we were going to walk. I would estimate our walk was about two miles.
The trails are nice and wide (well, most of them). They are rated…easy, medium, difficult. Since many people use them to ride their mountain bikes on, this is helpful.
All the way in the back, there is a lake that youngsters can swim in. It reminded me a lot of Lake Tonetta back when I was a kid.
There are tons of parks around this area, and from what I hear, they are very well kept up. We are planning on going back tonight to do a few more miles. It was nice to get my heart pumping again. Between this and the lawnmower, I should be in good shape.
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