Yay for one Fall Break Day. I left the house messy after the plumber left and headed out to St. Charles. The Lewis and Clark parking lot contained, literally, 50 cars. Ugh. But just a few miles down 94, the parking lot of the Lost Valley Trail was entirely empty. I bought a bottle of water in Defiance and started hiking. The trail's a bit different than the last time I was here. Parts have been rerouted and now you can hike through the woods behind and above the scary contaminated True Detective looking lake instead of along the road in front. I'm not sure how many miles I did on the "short loop", but it took me 3 hours and 45 minutes. I had to hurry home for dinner plans at 8.
I've never hiked this trail in October, but it's extremely beautiful. The trees are changing colors and the sky yesterday was completely blue--no clouds whatsoever. The last two miles, I encountered three bikers, and older woman who was booking and a young man whose device of choice was blaring music as he rode. Of course, I had to step aside--one reason I've stopped hiking this trail very often. But I can't believe there weren't more cyclists out today, especially after I saw so many hikers at Lewis and Clark. There's also a shooting range nearby, so the woods were filled with shots for awhile near the end of my hike.
So many shots made me think the deer would be scared away, but when I stopped to lean against a tree to remove my hiking boot for a few minutes, I heard something in the brush and saw a small deer leaping away into the trees. Each time I've been hiking this October, I've seen deer.
I know I've taken pictures of these devices before (fence posts? A pulley?) no doubt a part of a farm that was once on this land pre-WWII, but as the years go by, I find myself imagining more and more about the people who inhabited this land.
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