Back in June, my buddy Mike took me out on a real nature hike. No trail...no bathrooms! I know some of you think I've lost my mind, but it was a blast...other than I learned my "hiking" boots were really "trail" boots. I'll be buying new boots!
Anyway, we set off on foot into the J.T. Nickel Family Nature and Wildlife Reserve and I thought, "Well, for a lack of a trail this isn't so bad!"
Famous last words. ;)
We quickly got into denser woods and dry stream beds (which by the way are not really dry, there is water running beneath the rock!).
When first arrived we took pictures of black eyed susans and I snapped a shot of a blue heron fleeing a pond!
Next we started to encounter some water falls! Minature in scale, but very cool!
This one is about a 8 to 10 foot drop! Very awesome...we had to hike around it and then double back to take pictures. We decided climbing down a mossy waterfall probably was none too smart!
While we were looking at this waterfall, we kept hearing some serious running water...like a high powered hose. So we investigated and found this little "fountain!" Made me wonder if anyone had seen that before! We were like Lewis and Clark WITH cameras! Sweet!
We also found interesting rock structures and nature always finds a way...as evidenced by the root pushing between the rock!
On the way out, it hit me where we had gone downhill, we must now go up! And it was hotter! Mike quickly outpaced me on the way back, but I managed to keep up. Especially since he stopped to wait on me! HA! With him being the director of the nature conserve, I guess he has just a smidgen more experience trucking through the woods! ;)
