It wasn’t particularly warm out but the sun was shining and
we were ready to explore.
From our new apartment it surprisingly only took us a little over 30 minutes to drive to the park. Just before the entrance we saw a small group of Bison, but that would be the only wildlife we experienced while there.
While we were paying for our park pass the girl at the desk told us about a few trails we could walk/hike on and a small loop to drive around that USUALLY allows people at least a glimpse of the Bison herds in the area. Like I said before, we didn’t see any. I guess they were all snoozing somewhere else. We did find some lovely red Adirondack chairs to take pictures in though.
Further up the road we parked in what would be the campground/beach area if it was summertime. Directly ahead is the small island that people take canoes out to, but it was very clear that people have been walking and snowshoeing out there over the ice as well. I am very timid about walking on ice because 1. I fall easily enough without the ground being slippery and 2. I’m terrified of it cracking. The point is I walked out anyway. The snow cover kept it from being at all slippery and all the other people on it gave me enough confidence that it was thick enough to hold me.
The island itself is very small and only takes a few minutes to walk around the whole thing and beyond that there isn’t really anything to see on it. We took a few pictures, enjoyed the view from a hill and I climbed a fallen tree.
Back across the ice we went in search of our hiking trail. We initially took one wrong turn and ended up at a dead end, but saw a woodpecker along the way so it’s all in good fun anyway.
Once we got on the proper path it was quite nice. Warm enough in the sunshine to make me regret wearing a big jacket but cold enough in the shade to remember that it isn’t spring yet. The first part of the path is along the edge of the lake over what I assume would be like a marshy wetland area in the summer months and the second half of the loop is more inland and tree covered. Most times we stuck to the path but once or twice we wandered off to see what was between the trees.
Having made it through the paths we found ourselves back at the parking lot considering if we would do another hike. We still had enough daylight but I found that I was an uncomfortable mix of too hot and too cold all at once. We wore both feeling pretty sore from the amount of hills we had to climb on this hike as well.
In the end we decided to call it a day and start heading home. We will definitely be coming back here for more hiking and certainly for some canoeing in the summer!
From our new apartment it surprisingly only took us a little over 30 minutes to drive to the park. Just before the entrance we saw a small group of Bison, but that would be the only wildlife we experienced while there.
While we were paying for our park pass the girl at the desk told us about a few trails we could walk/hike on and a small loop to drive around that USUALLY allows people at least a glimpse of the Bison herds in the area. Like I said before, we didn’t see any. I guess they were all snoozing somewhere else. We did find some lovely red Adirondack chairs to take pictures in though.
Further up the road we parked in what would be the campground/beach area if it was summertime. Directly ahead is the small island that people take canoes out to, but it was very clear that people have been walking and snowshoeing out there over the ice as well. I am very timid about walking on ice because 1. I fall easily enough without the ground being slippery and 2. I’m terrified of it cracking. The point is I walked out anyway. The snow cover kept it from being at all slippery and all the other people on it gave me enough confidence that it was thick enough to hold me.
The island itself is very small and only takes a few minutes to walk around the whole thing and beyond that there isn’t really anything to see on it. We took a few pictures, enjoyed the view from a hill and I climbed a fallen tree.
Back across the ice we went in search of our hiking trail. We initially took one wrong turn and ended up at a dead end, but saw a woodpecker along the way so it’s all in good fun anyway.
Once we got on the proper path it was quite nice. Warm enough in the sunshine to make me regret wearing a big jacket but cold enough in the shade to remember that it isn’t spring yet. The first part of the path is along the edge of the lake over what I assume would be like a marshy wetland area in the summer months and the second half of the loop is more inland and tree covered. Most times we stuck to the path but once or twice we wandered off to see what was between the trees.
Having made it through the paths we found ourselves back at the parking lot considering if we would do another hike. We still had enough daylight but I found that I was an uncomfortable mix of too hot and too cold all at once. We wore both feeling pretty sore from the amount of hills we had to climb on this hike as well.
In the end we decided to call it a day and start heading home. We will definitely be coming back here for more hiking and certainly for some canoeing in the summer!
