Hi all,

We had 7 strong hikers today: Jenny, Effie, Lisa, Kim, Debbie, Carolyn, and Marsha.  We had no canine companions, as Junko is still on vacation and will be returning from her adventure today.

Despite not having our loyal canine friends we did go 4.1 miles. Last night I had just a brief shower of rain which was enough to leave it extra humid today. That did not deter us from our mission of hiking. It did however leave the air filled with the scent of varying types of scat. It seems that winter will be coming early this year as much of the scat was filled with persimmon seeds as the trees are now ripening. Coyote, raccoon,  opossum  scat, oh my!

Additionally, there have been sightings of mice and rats being more active as they are seeking shelter. According to the Farmers Almanac, these are signs that we will have a more cold and wet winter. We can only hope.

Our wild life sightings were limited to a lizard and a toad today, but it was a big toad. We did hear a few birds in the background, but they sounded so unenthusiastic caroling their morning songs. There was no water in the creek at all.

We did have the most unusual sighting today, the traversing of the land by four APD officers chugging their way up the creek bed on ATVs.  They had a hard time of it and appeared to have gotten stuck on several occasions. We TOWNIES, not to be outdone, sped past them on our sure -footed soles, secretly smiling with our fast -paced hiking,  leaving them far behind and wistfully gazing after us as we distanced ourselves from them.

We have all returned from recent trips and vacations and spent much of our conversation  longing for our next trip. Jenny tantalizingly regaled us with tales of the cool weather in Oregon. Highs of 70’s. Unheard of. 

Carolyn took one for the team and was the horse fly attractor today, with much appreciation by us TOWNIES who were not bitten by the seemingly 10 pound  flies.

 Over all it was a good hike. The days are getting shorter and the promise of cool weather is soon to be here.

Until next time…..

Happy Trails,  Marsha