Tick Magnet

I'm a little behind on my blogging and I was going to try to combine the last four hikes into one blog. After downloading the photos, I realized it just wouldn't be fair to the great places that I've been to recently. I wouldn't be able to paint a picture of the happenings and the surroundings of each hike. So, I really have my work cut out for me catching everyone up on these outstanding hikes.

On Monday July 8th, Cheryl, Morgan and I set out in the early evening to hike Winton Woods. Well, that really isn't the true story. We were heading out towards Oxford to hike two trails, but I got turned around on the highway and we made the spontaneous decision to hike Winton Woods when we inadvertently ended up on the exit off of the highway that takes you to this park. Although certain aspects of Winton Woods are more city like, there are some pretty wooded dirt trails that make for some great hiking.

After hiking along Winton Lake on the paved trail we reached the Kingfisher Trailhead. This trail is dirt, gravel and decking. We headed downhill to Winton Lake Creek. Because of the drought conditions the water was really low. It was still very beautiful along the creek because it was heavily wooded. Parts of the trail felt like you were hiking through a green leaf tunnel. Very cool! There were some ups and downs and twists and turns that provided us with a nice little workout. We passed a sinkhole (that I honestly wouldn't have noticed if it weren't for the sign.) The sign said that the sinkholes are created when the limestone beneath the surface of the soil is dissolved by acid bearing water. We finished up the Kingfisher Trail by hiking uphill and headed back to the trailhead.

There was one small portion of the hike left, so we headed across the park road to a small loop around a wetland restoration area. There were many layers of limestone rock they made a basin for the water. As we hiked around the loop, Cheryl was re-hashing her intimate experiences with the ticks from our hikes the previous week. I must admit, just the thought of it makes me start itching! She sprayed herself down heavily before we set off to hike to prevent a re-occurrence. Joe had previously shared with me that the ticks fall down out of the trees. So when she was hiking under the trees, I teased her to stay out from under to avoid her tiny little friends. We headed back to the car via the paved trail feeling we'd gotten some good exercise.

When I got home I received a picture of a tick that Cheryl found on her when she was undressing!  YIKES! Morgan and I didn't have any ticks on us. Cheryl now has a new nickname: Tick Magnet! Not really sure why they are attracted to her. Maybe they can tell that she has a big furry dog at home. Who knows?

This was hike number 37 - 23 more hikes to go!  I would definitely go back to this park. It's nice to know that it is only about a half an hour away and has a deep woods feel to it. Watch for another post very soon. It's catch up time!