Lords Hill July 21

Saturday July 21st was a rainy wet day. As the lazy clouds lifted themselves off the top of Lords Hill we decided to go for a morning hike. Grabbing rain coats and one of us, the smart one, wearing long pants we headed out the door. After stopping at Star Bucks for a tasty cup of coffee and a breakfast sandwich, we arrived at Lords Hill parking lot. It was a muggy warm day and ladies wearing long cotton dresses were stuffing small children into backpacks to be carried by their silent husbands. Hmmmm interesting way of taking the family hiking. As the family left the parking lot towards the trail we carefully put our water, snack food and rain coats in the trunk so they would be safe.

The trail was nice, wide, well maintained and perfect for talking and being gentle on a tender knee. We had chosen to go to the Devil's Butte and the West Loop Trail. I had remembered being there once before and being able to see my house across the valley.

We came to the end of Devil's Butte Trail first and the trees had grown up so we could not see across the valley where my house was. I wanted to see my house and there was an inviting extension trail that narrowed and continued towards the bluff, then down towards the creek. On the other side of the creek was another bluff, could it be the other trail West View Loop? Maybe, but first along the creek we found signs of a very active beaver that has dreams of making a rather large home. Unfortunately the creek was more like a swamp full of bugs. Being the kind of folks that rather look forward and not backwards we found a path around the beaver’s home and up to the trail on the other side, or so we thought.

This path didn't really go the direction expected, and certainly did not loop over to the other trail. How could we tell what direction we were heading anyway I had no compass? The trail did actually go somewhere. It ended on a great bluff making me wish the water, trail snacks and other picnic goodies were not in the trunk of the car. The nettles along this trail were healthy and were near impossible, the thought of going back through them seemed an unlikely choice. Especially when there was an old logging road heading off from this wonderful isolated bluff, we followed it. Hansel and Gretel would have been proud of our woodland skills with no bread crumbs to follow.

Soon it became clear this road was not going to the West Loop trail as we expected. Instead we noticed that we were on the eastern down hill side of the park looking west towards the park boundary signs about halfway up the hill. Finding another trail of sorts, not walked on by humans for years, we climbed the hill to discover the table at the end of the West Loop Trail, yippee...time to celebrate, Julia with her long pants soaking wet and I in my shorts must have bumped into more then a couple nettles during our adventure. This has sparked a renewed interest to go for an overnight hike to Lichtenberg Lake accessable only by following an old fisherman's trail which includes a log walk over a large growth of Devil's Club. As for this hike it was a fine adventure but unless I remember a brush whacking tool and the picnic supplies I do not think I will revisit this location again.