Time Out!

I've been watching the weather and for the past few weeks, it has sort of sucked. It has been hot/humid or rainy/stormy, it seems nearly every day. Any day that it is decent has been a lawn mowing day.

At least with most hot nights, it has cooled off enough to open the windows and enjoy fresh air. Hubby needs the AC so he can breath easier during most days.

Sunday morning was foggy again, but nice and cool. I helped hubby get his breakfast and since he was doing okay, I decided to try something different.

I left early, just after 7:30 to go hiking. It was sunny on our ridge when I left, but very foggy on the drive up 131 along the Kickapoo River. That is normal for our area. 

My goal was to continue working on the Trail Challenge and I had figured out a route that I wanted to take which would complete two very long sections of trail.

I parked and headed out in the fog.

Bridge 10 and the Kickapoo River:

The trail head for Hay Valley Trail [heading North] can be found on Dutch Hollow Trail just a bit south of Bridge 10 on Dutch Hollow Trail.

I was doing Hay Valley from Dutch Hollow going north 2+ miles and then at the intersection for Bail Out trail heading east to Hwy 131 and back to where I parked.

I am so happy that I invested in super moisture wicking light weight pants and shirt. Many parts of the trail go through tall grasses and other weeds. The pants actually resisted the water for a while, but eventually I got pretty wet. 

I didn't mind as I figured the pants would dry off. I wasn't uncomfortable at all and I kept on trucking. I figured the trail would go into the woods soon and I wouldn't have to deal with waist high wet grasses and weeds.

Foggy forest just above the River.

Spidey Webs!

The Muck Hole!

The Muck Hole was a bit of a challenge and it was here I sort of wished I wasn't hiking. It was here that I wished I had thought to bring a 'hiking stick'. Oh well.

Shoes and pants can be cleaned so I made my way through and it wasn't as bad as I expected.  I crossed a shallow stream and was back on my way up towards the fog and the ridge.

Bluff edge overlooking the River
below which I couldn't see

because of the forest canopy.

More cool spidey webs!

Other noteworthy parts to the trail. 

A rubber bridge or perhaps you'd call it a boardwalk. 

I wonder if my mule would walk 

over this? 
I doubt I'll ever know

as I have no truck

to pull our trailer.

Neat Rock Shelter! 

This is worth checking out in

the middle of winter!

A hole in the rock wall!

A place to chill out next to 

the rock ledge 

and cool creek water.

I found the intersection of Hay Valley Trail and Bail Out Trail. I've had two hikers with me that I've taken past these signs. Finally I got to check out Bail Out Trail.

It is noteworthy that it was probably an old road at one time. It is rather straight and wide.

I traveled this section rather quickly and came out on Hwy 131 as planned. The walk back to where I parked was easy and not unpleasant.

Route:

Things learned. 

Early morning is great, but I need to be prepared to get wet in the morning dew. 

The bugs were minimal except when I stopped in areas with tall grasses. 

Cool mornings are the best in my opinion. However, I really want to do this hike in each of the seasons. 

I'm looking forward to a late fall or early winter hike. And of course, a spring hike to see all the amazing spring flowers along Hay Valley Trail.

Section 40 is definitely going to be one of my favorite trails.

I was home by 10:30, just as hubby was waking up from his morning nap. 

My timing was perfect and I had my inner peace restored.

Bear & I

I know it is silly, but I sometimes like to take my favorite old beat up Bear with me. I think it is fun. Bear was purchased at a Thrift Store and was piled in a shopping cart with other stuffed animals. $1 each. He had a fancy Christmas sweater on him that I took off. 
He was intended to be a woods bear and after losing him twice to floods, he got tossed into the wash machine and became my pal.

I want to take him to the bluff with me yet this year so I can have coffee and just sit with him. 

I think a photo of him reading a book on a bluff would be a fun thing to try too....

So, Bear & I headed out before dawn and arrived at the KVR buildings while it was still dark. I stuffed him in my backpack and off we went down to the river bottom and took the short muddy and wet path to old 131 and viola, we arrived.

It was far from spectacular but I decided to watch and see what would present itself. 

I could hear the Sandhill Cranes calling out. Wow! Are they ever noisy! I think they flew overhead and landed in the pond behind me. But the brush was so dense as was the fog, I never got to see them.

This is really difficult stuff to work with: heavy fog and low light. So I actually brought a tripod so I could steady the camera to do some 'minimalist' type of photography.

I walked around and then decided to see what interest, I could find in this spot of the pond. It looked really bleak.

Focusing was really hard. The camera couldn't find what I wanted and so I went to manual focus and even that was difficult.

The grass clumps were interesting and that little island behind the first clump was host to a family of Canada Geese this spring.

A different look in that same area...

And one more closer look at some grasses.

Bear started to complain that I was ignoring him so we took a short walk to for some other things of interest.

And we found a cool spider web.

When the sun burst through the fog it gave a whole new look to the place. The fog got heavier for a few minutes. The photo below is a six second exposure.

Bear and I shared some coffee from my thermos and hiked back through the muddy trails to the 'Ru.

On the drive home the sun would come out at moments and when we got right down next to the river, all light was shrouded by dense fog.

I had to pull over and stop.

I'm still undecided on the above photo. Should I have shown more reflection? Should I just crop it to the two right trees? 

But I am happy with this as it is. I think if I brightened it a bit, it would make a great black and white canvas type photo.

Side note: A friend of mine sent me an email asking for scenic photos of interest. She specifically said she wanted people, bicycles, and happy sunny photos. No fog shots as they make her sad. These are for publication in a brochure for tourism in the area.

Hmmm. I do Infrared, fog, forest, and rarely people photos. I happen to love my fog shots. 
They are so wonderfully moody. 

Bear says I should do what pleases me. I like Bear's advice.