Yay, I think this is going to work! I'm going to start with what we did today and then try to go back and fill in the first part of the trip as I have time.
Sam Campbell was a naturalist who wrote books and gave talks at schools, etc. when my parents were kids. They both read his books and heard his talks. Then when I was a kid, I read his books and now I'm reading them to my kids.
So when we realized that on this trip we'd be relatively close to where he lived we decided to check it out.
This morning it was raining so we went to the little museum in town. It had a video of him talking about his animals and some of his things including his guitar
And his typewriter and cameras
By afternoon the rain has stopped so we headed out to hike near the island where he lived.
It was a gorgeous hike through the woods. I love how the moss completely blankets the ground in the marshy areas.
The island where he lived is owned by someone else now but we were able to hike to a spot where we could see it across the water.
I also got a cute picture of Little Bit and her Papa teasing each other on the bench at the lookout spot for the island.
Then we started down the trail toward Vanishing Lake (a lake mentioned often in his books). The trail sign said it was 1/4 min but we hiked much farther than that. Also, while the earlier part of the trail was well marked, this had no markings. Finally, much to my older girls' disgust, I said we had to turn back. I had no cell service or internet, then last time I'd had internet, it was predicting thunderstorms in the evening and I just didn't feel it was safe to keep going deeper into the woods at that point. We did find a place where we could kind of see what we think is Vanishing Lake through the trees and across a Marsh.
My dad had gone back for the car in case it rained but by the time he picked us up, and I again had internet, the threat of rain had diminished so, the big girls, my mom, and I did at least finish the last part of the trail.
We saw 2 woodpeckers and what we think was a red squirrel. But the woodpeckers were too high for good pictures and the squirrel was too fast. I also found a tiny frog crossing the path so caught it to show the girls. I think Lexie got pictures of it but I didn't.
It was a fun hike, but I was frustrated that the people at the museum told us it was 1 3/4 mi. My dad's Fitbit said he'd walked 4 miles and he didn't go all the way to Vanishing Lake. He also hiked back to the car on the road rather than through the woods which, on the map, looked to be similar distances but might have been a little longer or shorter. Regardless it was more than double what we'd been told! Most of it was well marked and even with heavy rain earlier in the day it wasn't muddy except for one marshy area near Vanishing Lake where we had to walk across some fallen logs to keep from wading. The lack of marking near the lake, and very inaccurate distance (the sign said 1/4mi and it was at least a mi before we turned back) made that part frustrating to say the least.
Driving back to the campground we passed Spirit Lake, another lake he mentioned in the books.
So despite the rain and inaccurate info, it was a fun day!
Sam Campbell was a naturalist who wrote books and gave talks at schools, etc. when my parents were kids. They both read his books and heard his talks. Then when I was a kid, I read his books and now I'm reading them to my kids.
So when we realized that on this trip we'd be relatively close to where he lived we decided to check it out.
This morning it was raining so we went to the little museum in town. It had a video of him talking about his animals and some of his things including his guitar
And his typewriter and cameras
By afternoon the rain has stopped so we headed out to hike near the island where he lived.
It was a gorgeous hike through the woods. I love how the moss completely blankets the ground in the marshy areas.
The island where he lived is owned by someone else now but we were able to hike to a spot where we could see it across the water.
I also got a cute picture of Little Bit and her Papa teasing each other on the bench at the lookout spot for the island.
Then we started down the trail toward Vanishing Lake (a lake mentioned often in his books). The trail sign said it was 1/4 min but we hiked much farther than that. Also, while the earlier part of the trail was well marked, this had no markings. Finally, much to my older girls' disgust, I said we had to turn back. I had no cell service or internet, then last time I'd had internet, it was predicting thunderstorms in the evening and I just didn't feel it was safe to keep going deeper into the woods at that point. We did find a place where we could kind of see what we think is Vanishing Lake through the trees and across a Marsh.
My dad had gone back for the car in case it rained but by the time he picked us up, and I again had internet, the threat of rain had diminished so, the big girls, my mom, and I did at least finish the last part of the trail.
We saw 2 woodpeckers and what we think was a red squirrel. But the woodpeckers were too high for good pictures and the squirrel was too fast. I also found a tiny frog crossing the path so caught it to show the girls. I think Lexie got pictures of it but I didn't.
It was a fun hike, but I was frustrated that the people at the museum told us it was 1 3/4 mi. My dad's Fitbit said he'd walked 4 miles and he didn't go all the way to Vanishing Lake. He also hiked back to the car on the road rather than through the woods which, on the map, looked to be similar distances but might have been a little longer or shorter. Regardless it was more than double what we'd been told! Most of it was well marked and even with heavy rain earlier in the day it wasn't muddy except for one marshy area near Vanishing Lake where we had to walk across some fallen logs to keep from wading. The lack of marking near the lake, and very inaccurate distance (the sign said 1/4mi and it was at least a mi before we turned back) made that part frustrating to say the least.
Driving back to the campground we passed Spirit Lake, another lake he mentioned in the books.
So despite the rain and inaccurate info, it was a fun day!
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