One day, no rain mud hike

This was the beginning of the trail and I figured there would be water on it from all of the rains and the overflow of the Kickapoo River. It also came from the bluffs on the west side of the trail.

[It was too wet to stay home and try to do yard work...so off we went..]

As of April 15th, all dogs at the Reserve must be on leash so I had Charlie tied with a cord to my belt and guided Hannah with my free hand.

The cords are different lengths so Charlie can walk ahead of her without her nagging him.

It mostly works. I'm still getting the hang of it.

Not all of the trail was muddy and wet, only about a 1/4 mile stretch. In the other areas, the water had receded. Both sides of the trail had water in it.

The dogs were fascinated by watching a turtle and by watching frogs. We saw Swans and Sandhill Cranes, an Eastern Phoebe, and Red Wing Black birds.

No pictures, my hands were full!

I did get some great water-ish pictures that were interesting. This is overflow into the low lands from the river.

This is not a trail you want to stand around on when the mosquitoes and deer flies awaken.

We hiked with bluffs on one side and flooded low land on our right. It was kind of crazy and interesting.

Even the some of the bluffs had water running out of them. That is how saturated the land is.

This is20 seconds long. I just thought it sounded so beautiful. I've never witnessed this before, but probably because I've never explored this area just after so many heavy rainfalls.

I found more beautiful flowers and even got a few shots of them while wrestling Hannah, who thought she should be involved.

Charlie did his own thing.

It got quite warm in the valley so we found some shade and the dogs had water and some rest before we headed back.

The dogs really had quite a bit of wrestling and play through the muddy wet section of the trail.

They were ready to go home, but needed a bit of cleaning up first!

The late afternoon was dedicated to baths and supper on the porch. We all relaxed and watched the sun go down.

Another day in the books for April with a successful hike.