September 16th, 2024

Howdy do to all of you!

Here we are on another busy Monday, hope your weekend was awesome.  Looks like this is going to be yet another Photo Safari Report but this one has a surprise, big Finish!  Almost like a Busby Berkley Musical Extravaganza! (if you've never heard of it, look it up. Google exists for this very reason).  Well except there was no actual music.  And that's not true either because there is always music playing in my head but since nobody but me can hear it (unless I am singing along out loud) I suppose it doesn't count. At Any Rate, this one will be the Big Surprise Finish Hike.

Joy and I, running out of ideas about where we could possibly go to hike that isn't flooded and/or closed headed to Oscar Schere State Park.  We asked the Ranger at the gate if any of the trails were flooded. He said that yes, pretty much all of them. Ratz.  BUT he said, the Green Trail is at least partly dry.  Ok!  We headed for the green trail.  We decided that we would just follow it as far as we could, then turn back and at least we would have gotten a little exercise in the sunshine.

As it turned out all of the green trail was almost completely dry except two small areas that we were able to basically walk around.  So yay to that!  Glad we took the chance.  

One huge surprise for us was an offshoot part of the Green trail that we have only ever seen closed was actually open for a change. You bet we headed down that trail ASAP.  The rangers close the trail during Eagle Nesting season as there are several active nests in the area.  It was 3 miles of new to us trail so it was exciting!

The photo at the top of the page shows an old eagle nest that was in the same area.  It's hard to express how massive these nests are.  I suppose the fact that the nest can be seen from quite some distance away is a fair indicator of it's size.  There were no eagles in sight (yet) but they'll be coming along soon.  They close the trails in October and they stay firmly closed through May. We got really lucky.

I didn't take a lot of photos on this hike Or at least not a lot of successful ones, but I had a great time walking and talking and looking at things.

Here are a few birds for you, just so you know my camera was in my hand:

I think I probably took more botanical photos than anything:

And then, of course, there was the butterfly, the leafwalker bug and the squirrel (not together!):

Maybe you could tolerate another Eagles Nest?  And a random "x marks the spot" of jet trails in the sky because, why not?

Clearly we were having a great time.  As hot and humid as it normally  is outside this time of year, it really wasn't too bad that day.  There was a nice breeze and enough shade as we walked along, that even though it was about a 3 mile saunter through the forest, we weren't as pooped as we normally would be just from the effort in heat/humidity.  If you've never experienced it, I promise you that hiking the same distance on a cooler, dryer day is a piece of cake.  In nicer weather Joy and I have hiked 7 miles and more with no issues at all other than perhaps being a might hungry afterwards.  Something about the heat and humidity just saps your strength and endurance normally.

Or maybe I shouldn't generalize.  Maybe it doesn't happen to you at all.  Maybe it's just me.  It's possible that other people, even most people, have no issues about exertion in those conditions at all.  So I will try to say, I instead of You from this point forward.

At any rate, the point is, that as we neared the end of the trail, while we could definitely tell the temps and accompanying humidity were rising rapidly, we were not in any way negatively impacted by it, for a change.  It just meant, yup, it's time to head on back before it gets unpleasant.

We weren't more than a half mile from the place where we began.  Joy and I were chatting as we walked along, side by side and I was adjusting the settings on my camera which I was holding in my right hand, adjusting with my left when suddenly I was not walking along anymore.  I was, for a very brief time, airborn.  And then, I was, by gravity, slammed back to earth. Honestly that's exactly what it felt like.

Yeah, that's kind of a big surprise finish eh?

I heard Joy saying, "Sam, Sam are you ok?"  After a moment of gasping for air, I said, "yeah I'm ok but I dropped my camera".  Other than having the wind knocked out of me for a minute there, I felt surprisingly fine.  I rolled from my side, where I landed, to my back and pushed myself to my feet.

My biggest concern somehow, was how dirty I was.  Joy handed me my camera and my glasses as I attempted, futilely, to 'dust" myself off.  Joy assisted and pointed out the tree root (nearly completely hidden on the trail) that I tripped over, and the dig in mark from where I tried to catch myself on the other foot (none of which I was aware of).  She reassured me that I fell rather gracefully (there is a shock) and asked me at least a dozen times if I was ok.  I said I was fine as many times back though I admitted that my hand was starting to hurt a little bit.  Still, there was no bruising, no swelling. I was sure I was fine. 

She drove me back to my house, we promised to talk again on Monday (today) if not before and went our separate ways.

Turns out I wasn't quite as fine as I thought.

But that'll be a story for another day.

Meanwhile, I hope you enjoy the Surprise Big Finish Hike. Stay tuned for Part II later this week.