Lake Hope - Hiking the Furnace Trail

Today (1/3/16) we headed out to Lake Hope State Park.  Neither of us had been there before, so really didn't know what to expect.  We figured it was near Burr Oak and Hocking Hills so it was going to be similar.  Originally we had planned to do the Zaleski State Forest Backpacking South Loop (Lake Hope State Park is within the State Forest).  That was going to be a 10 mile hike and when we woke up we decided we weren't up for that, so we chose the Furnace Trail, an out and back hike of 6 miles.

We started at the trail head along the western edge of the lake.  A grey, chilly day with a temperature of about 33 degrees.  The trail is ranked moderate, but it is on the easier side of moderate.  It follows the edge of the lake and is relatively flat. with only 545 feet of elevation gain.  Several nice views of the lake, and a nice mix of forest types.  We saw all the common "winter" birds of Ohio, a couple of deer and lots and lots of beaver sign.   What we didn't see was a lot of people.  Only 2 others in fact.  Pretty amazing to have the park to ourselves.  And, even better, pets are allowed, so Maple was able to come.

At three miles you arrive at the Hope Furnace.  A few picnic tables, a pit toilet and a water fountain.  Across the street is the trail head for the Zaleski State Forest Backpack Trail.  You can walk SR 278 back to the parking lot, a couple mile walk, but we didn't want to do that, since we had maple, and the road shoulder was narrow in a few places.  Besides, it was a nice walk through the woods.  We ate lunch, checked out the furnace and headed back.  All total it was 6.26 miles.  Maple had a Blast.  We had a blast.  And 6 miles was about perfect for today.

Hope Furnace along the Furnace Trail at Lake Hope State Park

First on the First 5k

This was the second year that we have done the First on the First 5k.  It is a great way to start of the New Year.  This year I was hoping that we would smash our time from last year, as we have been so much more active than we had been the year before.  Before 1/1/15 I had not trained for the 5k, heck, I really had not been exercising much at all, and our time was over 42 minutes.  This year, I had not been training either, but I have been moving all year... walking Maple, hiking, running, kayaking.  Our time this year was 37:21.  Perhaps not smashing our old time, but damn near.  A personal best for me, and I ran the entire time... so good day running.  Setting us off down the right path in 2016.

Kayaking Weeki Wachee

I reserved us three kayaks to paddle the Weeki Wachee river through Paddling Adventures for Saturday morning after Christmas.  It is roughly a 2 to 2.5 hour trip if you don't stop along the way to swim or explore, so they rent kayaks and canoes out from 8 a.m. until 11 a.m.  The trip is from Weeki Wachee Springs State Park to Rodgers park, a 5 mile float downstream.  They have a shuttle van that picks you up and takes you back to the launch.  You can also launch a private boat from Weeki Wachee for a small fee.  They will even haul you back from Rodgers park if you wish, but the shuttle stops running at 330p.m. and they charge a bunch of money if you are late.

The spring starts at Weeki Wachee Srings State Park and flows out to the gulf, going through the state park as well as through the Chassahowitzka Wildlife Management Area, so wildlife abounds.  If you go in the winter months, there is a good chance you will see manatees!  As the ocean water temps cool, the manatees seek out the warmer waters of the spring fed rivers, were the water temperature is more constant.  We didn't see any manatees (dang it!) even though there had been reports of 9 hanging out in the river the entire week.  We did see anhingas, great blue herons, little blue heron, a nice big white-tailed deer buck, and a rattle snake swimming along the shore.  Oh, and tons of fish, because the water is crystal clear.  The last mile or so of the creek has houses on the north bank of the river, but the rest of the float is mostly undeveloped.  It was well worth the money and time.  I recommend going early, that way you are pressed to make it to the pick up point.  Be sure to make reservations.

Pine Island Sunset

We drove 16 hours to  Florida to spend time with my parents for Christmas. It was a quick trip, we left home on Thursday, Christmas Eve and coming back Sunday.  As usual, we have to get out into nature so sunset on Christmas seemed like a good time as any!  And it turns out the East Coast Florida girl had never actually seen a Florida ocean sunset.  We drove out to Pine Island, Florida to a municipal beach and park, mys sister and nephews in tow. It was only about 20 minutes from my parents and a really cool drive through the marshes to get to the beach.  The place was pretty packed when we got there.  Guess everyone else had the same idea.  There was plenty of room so it didn't really matter.


We immediately saw some cool birds, black skimmers all lined up near the breakwall, like they were on the deck of a carrier.  In addition we saw some shorebirds that turned out to be dunlin and ruddy turnstone.

Dunlin (Calidris alpina)

Black skimmer in flight

Ruddy Turnstone (Arenaria interpres)

Black Skimmer (Rynchops niger)

The beach area was pretty cool.  Had a nice little shelter house, a playground, observation deck and even a snack bar.  Cost 2 dollars to park at a self pay station.  Lots of palm trees.  And of course... sunsets.