trail 9, chain o' lakes

 I know, I know, the state parks project is over. But working from home — being stuck at home all the time — really wears on me. I want to be outside more. So Sunday morning, I dragged my family from their nice, cozy house, and we all went on a hike at Chain o' Lakes.

We've been to Chain o' Lakes a few times now, but only to kayak, so it was fun to see it from land too. Turns out there's a butterfly habitat at the start of the trail we picked (note to self: go back in the spring/summer!), and then the trail winds up and around a hill, around a lake, past another lake, and finishes back at an old one-room schoolhouse. The ground was frozen, and there was ice on the lakes, but it was warm enough that it kept cracking and groaning. The sounds were fascinating and almost mechanical. In places where the ice was really thin, we got to watch shelves of it collapse. So neat!

There was only one wooden boardwalk/footbridge on this trail, which was kind of a bummer because I love those sorts of features, BUT I was consoled when I realized there were amazing ice crystals that had formed in between each of the boards. I'm sure you'll be surprised (no you won't) to learn that I immediately dropped down to lay on the cold, cold ground to take pictures of it.

We also had to cross a small stream with no bridge, with was fun, but the best part was that there was a huge dam. No beavers, but we saw plenty of evidence of their work.

While I really like these hikes, they're sort of hard to coordinate. Henry is a very (unbearably) early riser, so we really have to leave early in the morning or we risk losing his attention/interest/good behavior. This, unfortunately, was not one of the days where we've been up and ready to go at the crack of dawn, so by the end of the hike, Henry was pretty much in full meltdown. I'm thinking next time maybe I will just go with one or both of the big boys, and let Henry hang out at home with Mike. We'll see. We're still perfecting the system.