Monday 2-1 First in Weekly Step Challenge

 First Place in 175,000 Step Challenge

I use a Garmin fitness tracker and each week I participate in a step challenge where Garmin randomly assigns me into a group with 10 other folks. I have chosen to participate in the 175,000 weekly challenge and this week I was first in my group with a total of 189,359 steps. Normally I am in 3rd or 4th place, I think I have only been 1st one other time. I assume most of the other folks in this group are probably runners, maybe not. Today we hiked about 7 miles which got me a good start on getting to my daily goal of 26000 steps.

Camping at Fort Parker State Park

We had a beautiful chilly day with a slight breeze out of the north. It started out with the temperature at 37 and by the afternoon it was in the high 50's.

After breakfast we went on a two hour hike. We took the blue trail that goes by our site to the day area. Then we took the floating plastic bridge over the lake to two hiking trails, Bur Oak Nature Trail (green) and Springfield ( yellow). Both trails are loops. We did the green trail multiple times yesterday so today we did the yellow trail. Springfield Trail is a 1.8 miles loop. The trail is an easy but you have to watch out for the roots that grow in the trail. The trail runs through the trees and is covered with leaves. During the hike we saw Springfield historic cemetery, it was established and dedicated Jan. 6, 1839. The cemetery is well kept up and has a sign that tells the history of Springfield. I walked through the cemetery and looked at the graves. Afterwards we walked across the street to where the trail continued. We walked by a meadow where a deer stood looking at us, it was only about ten feet away. The trail continued. We went down a cutoff because we thought maybe it would allow us to get to the other side of the lake to another trail. It took us to the road but it was fenced off so back to Springfield trail we went. We found out why you can't cross over the dam. The water from the lake goes over the dam, which forms a gorgeous waterfall. On the way back by the cemetery we walked through the group area. It was set up different than other group areas we have seen. It has cabins with heating and air conditioning, recreation building to play fuse-ball, game boards and whatever you want and a dining building. It was set up very nicely but there were no barbecue grills. By the time we got back to the Minnie we had hiked 4 miles. We had a super hike.

 

 Springfield Cemetery sign

 

 

 

An old headstone and grave

 

 

The Stroud Family section

Fort Parker dam built by the CCC

Fort Parker Lake

Larry finished reading a book on his Kindle. I did the Microsoft Solitaire games Daily Challenges and the Event: Two Game Tango Mini of 6 games (3 spider and 3 Tri Peaks). It took me 14 minutes and 41 seconds. I ended up in 8th place in my group. I also played some Mahjong games. Yesterday, I started playing a new game that's free called Microsoft Jewel, which is a matching game. I played this game some more.

At 2:00 we went on another hike for 1.5 hours. We hiked the Navasota River Trail (dark blue) from our site until it met up with the River Loop Trail (light blue). Then we hiked the loop, which was .9 miles. Then we hiked home. By the end of the hike we had hiked 3 miles. The trails took us through trees and over roots and rocks. During the hike we saw two armadillos in the down trees eating. We also saw an old one room house. It was in bad shape all the insulation was torn down inside. We walked to the boat ramp, which was very nice. When you're launching your boat be careful because there's a concrete wall and the Navasota River is only four feet deep there. We had another super hike.

 

Armadillo

    

The Navasota River at the boat ramp

Larry checking out the old building

In the evening I did a 40 minutes walk. I took the same route as last night.

 

 Another gorgeous sunset on Fort Parker Lake

Larry started another book on his Kindle. He said the last book he read was excellent so I decided I would read it on my Kindle. The book he recommended was West With Giraffes by Lynda Rutledge.