Spider Webmaster

Mother of the Groom duties and work travel has really invaded my blogging time lately, however, I have still managed to get in three hikes.  This post is about a hike to Big Bone Lick State Park on Wednesday, August 22, 2012. I was blessed to get to hike with my brother, Mark and his wife, Carolyn, who reside in Flagstaff, Arizona. They were in town to help us celebrate my son Nick’s wedding. Brother Joe also joined in the fun. Mark and Carolyn are seasoned hikers so it was great to share this experience with them. We hiked 4.94 miles in 2 hours and 34 minutes.

Before setting out, we went into the Nature Center and checked out the awesome displays of old dinosaur bones and descriptions of the past. We were amazed to find out the story of how the very large animals; mastadons, wolly mammoths, and grounds sloths, got stuck in the swampy mud and couldn't get themselves out. They would fall victim to other creatures that could navigate their way around the sludge due to their smaller size. Outside of the Nature Center is a life-sized diorama - pretty cool!

It was early in the morning, the combination of the fog and the old forest created an awesome setting. As we started out on the trail we followed the signs to the bison observation area. You can tell by the pictures how foggy it was. The area in which the bison were contained wasn't very close, so it was hard to get a good picture. Carolyn shared that there was a little "love action" going on, but I missed it. We were off to a good start.

We hiked along the fence on a gravel trail towards the Cedar Run Trail which would take us into the woods. Because of the prehistoric significance, as we entered the forest all three of us couldn’t help but comment on the fact that we felt like we were walking among the land of dinosaurs. From time to time we saw deer running through woods. This was the second week in a row where the spider webs were overtaking the trail. I'm not sure if it's the time of year or lack of hikers, but it's always helpful when I have my trekking poles with me so that I can swing them in front of us to break the webs. I didn't bring them along, so Mark had the genius idea of using a long stick. We each took turns being the "Spider Webmaster" for the group. It was quite a busy job and if you look closely in the pictures you will see what looks like a spider condominium community. Along the sides of the trail were lots of groups of spider webs. We reached a clearing with a picnic table and a sign and used the map and Endomondo to figure out where we were before proceeding.

The next part of the trail traveled along the fence marking the outskirts of the park. On the other side of the fence was a cattle farm and we were greeted by lots of cows. After hiking uphill for a bit we reached a nice overlook of the valley below. By now the fog had cleared and it was a pretty scene of the surrounding farmland. We eventually reached a small lake and sat down to take a brief break and refuel with a snack and water. I steered us wrong on the next part of the trail and we had to backtrack to get back on course. I guess it wouldn't really be a hike without some trail confusion! Once we got ourselves back on track, we hit the most confusing part of the trail. We traveled up and down and weaved back and forth and had to keep checking in with the compass and the Endomondo map. This provided us with some much needed confidence because the trail was not clearly marked at all.

Eventually we reached the trail head for the Gobbler's Trace trail and we took that trail to get back to the parking lot. This was a great hike. Good exercise and great company. I would definitely return to hike these trails again. Thanks to Mark, Carolyn and Joe for joining in the adventure!

44 hikes down and 16 to go!!!!!!