A week later. This time the goal was to hike from Central Park to Duthie Hill Park. Looking at the trail map, my calculation was about nine miles. Turns out it was more like 11.33 miles. Math has never been my strong suit. Although, I did double-check the trails on mapmyrun.com and still got about nine miles. Maybe we went a different way than I planned?! Whatever the case, it was a great hike. And our longest together yet.
Part of my goal making it to Duthie Hill Park was to check out the two log bridges on Len’s Trail. Being that they are called out on the map, I was prepared to be impressed. I kind of have a thing for bridges. Spoiler: they weren’t all that impressive. I mean, they’re nice and all but they’re standard bridges. Not necessarily worth noting on the map (in my opinion). What is impressive, is this super long boardwalk. I’m not sure why it’s not called out on the map?! Waaaay cooler than the log bridges. It’s closer to Duthie Hill and feels like it goes on for days. The slats are all different widths, and the way they put it all together where the bridge has angles, beautiful craftsmanship.
The log bridges and the impressive boardwalk. Pictures don’t so it justice. And it wasn’t possible to get one shot of the entire thing… it went on and on.
Additional pictures from the trails I didn’t hit last week. I like the log that looks like it’s wearing a hair piece. And the mossy tree branch over the trail. So pretty.
Okay, other than the super cool boardwalk, these are my favorite hike sightings: That foot tree! It was even more impressive in person. I mean, it straight looks like a foot. How fun is nature?! And the super thick bark on one random tree… no other tree around had similar bark. The one start of skunk cabbage, looking pretty before it gets all stinky. And the five tree trunks all aligned and cut at an angle. I’m curious why those five trees had to be cut down.
Favorite hike sightings.
It was a super great hiking day for us. And we scored. It wasn’t very busy, likely because the weather forecast was questionable. We scored on that front also. Mostly. The forecast called for rain and hail, and we managed to be just out of the area where all that happened. We did get hit with the tail end of a hail storm and hiked through some misty rain. Nothing compared to what was going on elsewhere.
I was zonked when I got home. And frozen. It was colder than I planned for, and my hands felt frozen. I lied down in front of the fireplace for a good hour to warm up. And then I took a hot bath to completely unfreeze. Physically I felt great. I was just tired and wanted to veg out the rest of the day. Which is exactly what I did. The next morning I went for a run and was back to having the energy I needed to make it through the day. I’m really digging all this hiking business. And I’m continuously thankful we live in such a beautiful area with so many hiking options.
Jumping Raccoons 