Coolin' It on Indian Creek Trail

Last night, just before we went to sleep, John said, "You wanna go for a hike tomorrow?" I asked questions, as I always do (often much to his dismay), and after getting some details, happily said, "Sounds good to me!"

This morning dawned gray and overcast... perfect weather for a hike. We are so blessed to live about a mile down the road from a beautiful state park, and that's where we headed at about 8:30 or so. Camera in hand, dog treats in pocket, away we went... in two cars: one to leave at the end of the trail and one to drive up into the park where the trail begins, at the Visitor Center.

From the beginning of the trail, hikers head down, down, down a path and some granite stairs to reach Window Falls. It's steep enough to give you a good workout, especially if you're going to turn around and head back the way you came, which we did not.




From there, the trail gets narrower and much more shady. The song of the water accompanied us, though surprisingly we heard few birds. And we saw no other people, though sad to say that there were signs (a plastic water bottle and a forgotten pair of socks) that people had been there before us.

Abby enjoyed the water, which was fun for us because although she has Labrador Retriever in her ancestry, she doesn't usually like to get her feet wet. Today, however, she walked right into the creek and cooled off. I tried to get some photos of her, but she just couldn't be still long enough. There were some nice little hidden pools, perfect for skinny dipping, and don't think I didn't think about it!

As we hiked, John noticed things like trees struck by lightning, places that looked burned, and we speculated about those. But typically, I turned my focus to things at my feet... like fungi.

All too soon, we reached the part of the trail where we'd parked our car. I could've spent the whole day on this trail, but Abby was pretty tired, and I was getting a little hungry too. So we headed back up to where we'd parked the truck, took in a final view of the mountain behind the Visitor's Center, and came on home, determined to do more hiking and enjoy the park and the nearby river more often.