Walks, Hikes and Wanders #17: To the Lake!

You are probably wondering what has happened to me. It's been two weeks since my last post, and I'm two hikes behind and haven't written about my knitting in ages. Well, I am back, and today I'll tell you about a hike, and later this week I'll share an update on my knitting.

On July 24, Mr. D and I headed back to Wallace Falls State Park. Really? Two weeks after we were last there? Well, this time, we planned a hike to Wallace Lake, which is a ten-mile round trip; the longest hike I have done so far this summer.

We started out on the Woody Trail, which leads to the turn-off for the falls, but we didn't go that far. Instead, we took the Railroad Grade Cut-off, which leads to the Greg Ball Trail.

The trail is named after a a "trail angel" who was the driving force behind getting it built. There is a plaque alongside the trail commemorating the late Greg Ball.

Not far from the plaque is the latest thing in outdoor toilets. 

It looks like a rest room in the middle of the forest, but rather than regular plumbing, there is a state of the art composting toilet inside, along with lots of toilet paper, hand sanitizer, and a big bin of sawdust (to help the composting along), as well as several informative signs describing the composting process that is going on.

Once we were really on the Greg Ball Trail, we encountered several surprises in the forest. The first was this amazing clump of Indian Pipe, a fungal "wildflower" that coexists with its hosts, the giant conifers in the forest.

Next, we took a little side path and enjoyed the view of the North Fork of the Wallace River.

A little further up the trail I spotted this cairn partially hidden in the  underbrush.

After about two-and-a-half hours of hiking, we finally reached the lake, and what a beautiful lake it was!

Don't you think I should go back again sometime soon?