Volunteer Trail

Today, we were back at Long Hunter State Park; this time to hike the Volunteer Trail. This trail is 5.5 miles one way out to a backcountry campsite.  However, off the Volunteer Trail is a 4-mile loop--that’s the one for us.

We don’t often do this trail.  The forest here is not very scenic and the section of trail along the lake is littered with plastic and Styrofoam trash thrown out by boaters and fishermen.  During the warm months, it often smells of dead fish which is plenty reason not to hike this trail.

We thought we’d give it a try today and were pleasantly surprised.  The leaves have turned so the trail was bathed in a beautiful golden glow as the sun shown through the yellows and oranges.  With a cool, crisp temperature this morning in the low 40s, there was no fishy smell at all.

This is a relatively flat trail with very slight ups and downs.  About half of the distance is along the bank of Priest Lake where we had some remarkable views.  The day started out very foggy, but by the time we reached the lake the last of the fog was lifting.

We wanted to do a little more than 4 miles, so we hiked the 1-mile nature trail from the Visitor Center parking lot.  This trails makes a loop through cedar glade so wasn’t nearly as colorful at the Volunteer trail. In fact, it was so strikingly different that you wouldn’t imagine it being at the same place on the same morning.

We got home in time for a late lunch and after showers we gave up the rest of the afternoon to chores in preparation for friends coming tomorrow.

That’s it for today.  Thanks for tagging along.