Straight Lake - October 30, 2020

111 miles done ~ 2170 miles to go.  

Straight Lake. (7.8 miles)

  

Close to getting my 40 mile challenge done. Took the day off to drive up to Straight Lake. 

 

I decided not to wear my ice cleats to hike in and I made it pretty far without needing them. As I neared the lake itself there were some icy spots.

 

 

Today was all about the birds. On the drive to the trail there was a field full of Sandhill Cranes. And then a pond full of swans, geese and ducks. As I got onto Hwy 48 two bald eagles flew over and landed in a tree. And that was just the drive. As I approached Straight River a flock of ducks took off. I must have very heavy footfalls because as I approached the lake I scared up two bald eagles. A lone black duck took off as I stepped onto the stones crossing the outlet. Then I saw the two swans who didn't take off. But a bunch of ducks did.

 

 

Wonder Marty hiked with me today and found a moss that looked like a pine tree just his size. You can see some of the snow we struggled with. But amazingly the oak leaves marked the trail well and it was well traveled so not as much snow on the trail itself.

 I remembered coming across this boardwalk right after it was built. It still is quite amazing. The deer are even using it. Cheryl and I hiked this in summer and I don't remember seeing the river at all and there were only a few views of the lake. It is nice hiking in fall when all of that pretty water can be seen. And on the way back I scared up one last large bird. I'm not sure what it was. It had white marks on it's wings. Perhaps a goshawk?

Marty and I did the short road walk and then a half mile in on the Straight River segment. We had to see the big white pine marked on the map. However, we saw multiple so who knows which is the "one". Walking along the cornfields was a little creepy; I kept thinking of Children of the corn. The sun finally came out and was melting the snow and you could hear the ground sucking it in.

Nice day for a hike.

 

Stats for the trip: Roundtrip miles to get to trail: 145

Costs: $6.87 for gas