Hello Hikers!
Wed Oct 4
YMCA land and big overgrown fields at Ecovillage, West Hill
We spent 45 minutes walking in the YMCA tract, which is heavily wooded — lighting and shadows too poor for me to attempt any photos — you can get an idea from these two shots at the start of the trail what it was like. Annie did take a number of woods shots — link below.
Out of the woods and into the brushy fields of Ecovillage — this is Rachel Carson Way, the main entrance to the development. It has a great casual country feeling.
We rarely get to walk through overgrown fields like these, especially on a wide mowed path, and I really enjoyed it. My only complaint is that there are a lot of big utility poles sticking up on this Ecovillage property.
There’s a mishmash of trails here and it can be confusing. Tiger sketched a map using Google’s satellite view and we did well following that.
For reasons too complicated to get into, our hike broke into three groups early on — two of the groups never got into the fields — one made it over to Coy Glen on Elm Street Extension instead.
Official head count: 17H and five D. We also had a first-time hiker who set out to join us but she found she’d misunderstood where we were meeting and she’d left her phone at home — so she didn’t get to hike.
More photos:
Saturday Oct 7
Six Mile Creek — south side rim trail starting at Crescent Place, South Hill
Official head count: 30H, eight D
More photos:
Sunday Oct 8
Malloryville countryside — with Bob B
This is a viewing platform in the middle of the Malloryville bog — there’s some significant plant growing in the middle of the enclosure but I missed what it is because I was distracted trying to get a shot — there’s some very nice woodwork inside the bog but the plank boardwalks can be treacherously slippery and slimy — one of the hikers slipped and fell, landing first on her ass, then her elbows, and then immediately smacking her head on the boardwalk — this person was Tiger — no serioius damage
Here’s a view of the beaver dam — Bob felt the top was too soft for us to walk on, so we forded the stream just below the dam — lots of tremendously gooey mud — one hiker toppled over while crossing and got wet up to her waist
Jack V in the Fall Creek flood plain — here’s what he was photographing
This hike has wonderful variety — I’m putting it onto my Top 12 list
Official head count: 22H, nine D
More photos:
Bob B got two iPhone shots of the stream crossing at the dam, which was a bit exciting for all of us — see here and here