The Declue Trail at Greensfelder, approximately 6.7 miles. Took me three hours. From 1:20 to 4:20. Sunny, about 55 degrees. Many, many trail bicyclists, but no hikers. A few people on horse back. I overheard one young biker say to his older companion, (after they passed me for the second time). "That's a long hike. A long walk, must take three or four hours!" I'm smiling to myself--don't young people hike anymore? The older companion says, "I used to go on hikes that lasted all day in Colorado. They weren't loops. . ." and their voices trailed off into the woods.
When the leaves fall, the interesting fungi and mushrooms begin!
Still can't help but notice the trees that have just fallen--or blown over. They are numerous. More numerous than they used to be because of storms? I couldn't say.
It was almost warm enough to take off my boots and run my bare feet over the moss--like I did last December 31st on the Rockwood Reservation part of the Green Rock Trail, but today there were just too many bikers--and since I feel in better shape, and just had an iron shot--I wasn't so inclined to stop.
Waiting for bikers to pass, I noticed these berries. . .
Nostalgia: I remember when Katherine Hoelscher and I hiked this trail frequently the fall and winter of '99-'00. We'd always start by hiking into the woods to find a horse shoe that she and a friend had hung from a tree branch. I have no idea where that location is now, but I enjoyed wondering if the shoe is actually still there. . . Katherine liked to drive her SUV type Range Rover out to Greensfelder on snowy weekends. I'd go over to her house off Ivanhoe in Southwest City and we'd pack up her dog Lucy and my dog Sam, a few six packs, and of course, Katherine always had cigarettes back then. Sam was a puppy--and he'd usually run off in the snow and I'd have to call and call him for awhile before he'd show up again. Katherine would get annoyed, but she'd usually go hiking with us again anyway. Once, on a Saturday, we saw a family of deer walking silently through the snow. Sam took off then. When he surfaced, we sat in Katherine's vehicle and drank a few beers, watching the snow fall. When I got home, a frantic Paul (who'd I'd been dating for only about three and a half months) had left five or six messages on my answering machine. The last one was from the Famous Bar, where he was having a few beers. Of course, we met up later that evening.
More nostalgia: This is the wall where Paul took a photo of me on a hike in 2002. I had on a red flannel shirt. It's in my first hiking binder, I think.
Some of the old trail markers remain. The new ones are orange plastic squares with drawings of maple leaves on them.
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