Hi All,  Today’s hike was one of mystery and terror as we kept losing two hikers.  One hiker, Carolyn, who shall remain unnamed, was leading our new hiker, Paula, but they kept getting lost although only 10 feet behind Effie, Jody, Leigh, Janice and Marsha. The trail was slightly different today as leaves are starting to turn and summer blossoms are fading away, but it is not that much different to cause that unnamed hiker, who has traveled that path many times, to cause such mystery on the trail.  But then again, the trail does change drastically each week and each hour. Fortunately, that unnamed hiker had homemade sugar cookies for us at the end of the hike, which made looking for her well worth it.  We didn’t know it at the time that she had cookies, so it was with great TOWNIE spirit that we looked for them and not from knowing that we were going to be richly rewarded.   One of our regular hikers did not attend today, so a couple of us had forgotten, or maybe lost the skill, that helped us find potties in the woods. We persevered and found appropriate bushes.  Several of the hikers had been on the TOWN outing at the Wildflower Center the day before, so we eagerly tried to identify plants and bugs.  We found some beautiful fuchsia plants, possibly amaranth, that beckoned weary hikers to come for a closer look and rewarded the hikers with a display of fuchsia flowers that cast a startling contrast to the creek bed that housed the plants.  It is possible that we had one hill today, but as we ascended in elevation on the way home from the creek bed, each few steps of incline revealed a noticeable increase in temperature. The humidity reminded us that Summer is not willing to let go entirely and allow Fall to offer us cooler days.

Until next time.. Happy Trails, Marsha