Let’s go for a hike!

The next day was an adventure hike to Unwin Lake. It was reported to be two miles with some elevation with lots of vegetation and roots. This sounded fun so we packed our day packs and headed to the trail head on shore. Boy, were we in for a surprise. At first, the trail was clear with some roots and trees, but nothing we couldn’t easily maneuver through.

Then we found the swamp, with fallen trees as a bridge. With help from walking sticks made from branches, everyone crossed safely.

Next was the forest of fallen trees, some too big to go over, so we had to go under. Sue was the only smart one, she brought gloves.

Jake was having a blast as he ran between all of us to make sure we were all safe.

Then there was the elevation, we just kept climbing. Finally, we reached a peak at 1.2 miles in and we weren’t even near the lake. The next stretch was straight down with some zigzags - it might have been doable going down but definitely a challenge coming back up. It was a group decision to call it quits and head back the way we came. We had been on the trail for over 90 minutes, and while we had some snacks and water, we weren’t as prepared as we should have been. We realized the identification of a “moderate” hike was not correct, it was more like difficult or extreme.

So we took a picture to show we were there and all in one piece and started back.

We came across this beautiful fungus growing on the trees. Some were as big as a dinner plate. And yes, there were plenty of jokes about who was the best ‘fun guy’ on the hike.

Trails are for walking and talking. A most interesting conversation was Sue explaining how her family had to make a distinction between a whine and a statement and how the tone of voice played an important part. A statement would sound something like“boy this is steep hike” or “sure glad we made walking stickes”. A whine sounds more like “are we ever going to get to the lake” and “why didn’t we bring enough to eat”. By the time we got down some of us had lost our “statement” perspective and we laughed. We were all very hot and sweaty, and a swim was a must. I think some may have even napped.

It remained hot all day so we had a dingy happy hour in the shade of Eric and Sue’s boat and planned out the next few days destinations. It was a great day!