Thursday 2-10 More Hiking & Sunshine

 

Smile and have fun

We had another gorgeous day with the morning temperature at 34 and the high 73. 

I made pancakes for breakfast. Then we went on a 4 mile hike. We hiked all the hiking trails. Because they were in the open and we wanted the sunshine we started by hiking the Pond and the Prairie Trail. We hiked to the pond and turned around. We hiked back to where a short trail took you to the Prairie Loop trail (.6 mile). We hiked Prairie until it Y's to go to the playground. We walked the park road by the playground to the trailhead for the Tower trail (.6 mile) at the camping area. We hiked all the trails in the area. They were: Tower, Bluff (.4 mile), Cave (.2 mile) and Wash Tub (.5 mile). The distance of the trails are one way and at times we had to hike part of the trail twice to get to another trail. We hiked the Tower trail twice because we started on it and ended the hike on it. We didn't see any deer or people on the trail. The trails are very nice and not too challenging. At times you have to hike up and down hills using rock steps built by the CCC. You do have to be careful because you can trip over rocks and roots but overall the trails are easy. Today we did see the wash pond, it was off on a small side trail that led to a parking lot. The wash pond was almost dry, it use to be a swimming hole but over the years sediment has filled a lot of it in. When the CCC built the park they built a dam to make the pond bigger. We had a super hike.

Bridge we crossed

Today we noticed a flag hanging from the bathroom that had not been there previously, we were curious so we walked over and found out it was a no burn flag.

 

No Burn Flag

By the time we got home it was lunchtime. I made leftovers. I heated up the taco meat and a sausage link and made soft tacos. 

After lunch I played my games. Solitaire and Mahjong Daily Challenges and Event: Easy Street Mini of 5 games. It took me 8 minutes and 40 seconds, which put me in 9th place in my group.

After playing my games I took a nap. While I was napping Larry went outside and read.

After my nap I went for an hour and fifteen minute hike for 3 miles. I hiked the trails in the trees we did this morning. While I was hiking I said hi to a few people (a family of three with a friendly dog, a couple my age, a young guy and a young couple at on top of the tower. I had a great hike and I was glad I had shade the whole time.

After my afternoon hike I did a little housework. I swept out the Minnie, it's so small it only takes five minutes. 

An hour later it was time for dinner. Today we tried a new dish that we picked up at Aldi called Thai Coconut Chicken. It was delicious. It's always nice to try something new. 

After dinner I walked around for an hour and fifteen minutes, I ended up doing 26,000 steps for the day. Yesterday I over did my steps and my knees were hurting a little bit. I ended up coming in 7th place in my group.

After doing my steps I baked cookies and started a new book written by Derek B. Miller called American By Day.  

Cardinal at the pond

 

Sunset at Mother Neff State Park

Mother Neff State Park is a small park with great hiking. They only have about 3 miles of trails but they utilize all the land and the trails intertwine with each other. The trails are easy to hike.