June 27th, 2008
Well the weekend was forcasted to be hot, so I made sure to get out early before it warmed up too much. The book said that this hike followed several little foot path's along the river and then came back along an old rail bed trail. The thought of just meandering alongside a river sounded like an adventure to me so I headed off.
It was a lot harder to find than I thought it would be, but once I got there the sound of the river (the Cedar River) was calming and I headed down the trail. It actually started out along the old rail bed as well, so the trail was wide and paved with gravel.
The high school down the road had brought their track team and the trail was packed. Before too long, you would start to see these little trails head off into the trees and brush. So, I got brave, and a little tired of the traffic, and took one. It went back to this large pond.
Oh, and did I mention that the "trail" was completely overgrown? I was ducking and pushing aside branches the whole way back. Here is the trail heading back to the main trail. Do you see it?
(hint: it starts in the bottom left corner and goes to the middle right before swinging back off to the left again.)
Pretty soon I found another small trail off on the river side, and thus began the real adventure of the trip. The trail varied between the above and a little more clear.
I walked through more spider webs than I could count, and there were very few moments where I was not touching some plant except where the trail broke out along the river.
Honestly, I was a little frustrated with it. It wasn't a nice little walk out in God's green Earth, it was work! I was so glad to get to the turning point of the hike, an old rail bridge. The little side trail I was on came out underneath it.
I went around to where the main trail goes across the bridge and took lots of pictures.
Old bridges just open up all kinds of opportunity for creativity. This is my "dreamy" pic.
I just took the main trail back out, and 2/3 of the way back the older guy and his dog caught up with me. He chatted the whole way back about all the different animals out on this trail and the one's he'd seen and the one's he hadn't. Eventually, he finished and walked on ahead. How cute! 
This hike was about 3 - 3 1/2 miles but it really did go by pretty quickly. It only felt like maybe two miles. I guess all that pushing through the brush makes time fly!
I just need to make a few shout outs here. Thanks to Devo for putting me on her top ten! And Dana, these italics are for you!
Next to come, pictures from the Fourth of July - I haven't gotten them downloaded yet, but there should be some good ones in there!
