Experience has taught us to usually discourage people from hiking on the South Lake Trail -- a lack of scenic overlooks, complaints about mosquitoes, and generally overgrown vegetation. At this time of the year the bugs are gone and the vegetation has died down. Wednesday, I decided to hike this trail and was amazed by what I found. ( I forgot to take a camera.) There are several interesting trails that are hid by foliage during the Summer months.
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| Mayhew Lake |
Just off the South Lake Trail there is a trail that runs from Birch to Moss Lake. There is a really large cubic rock, that sits next to the trail that has a raspberries canes growing on top. (Of course there is no way to reach the top of this rock). Another interesting aspect of this trail is the large amount of driftwood that can be found along the rocky shoreline where the trail runs into Moss Lake. The noise of the water flowing from Birch to Moss Lake is a welcomed hiking companion.
I can upon a flock of 11 ducks after hiking one of the spur trails off the South Lake Trail that runs into Birch Lake.
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| Topper Lake Trail |
East Otter Lake was frozen over but I had to stop and watch minnows swimming in the stream between the beaver dam and East Otter Lake. (This is the area where Summer hikers have have trouble finding the Trail.)
I found another trail that goes over to Dunn Lake starting from near Partridge Lake. After spending nearly four hours hiking I came home to a worried wife and a very comfortable easy chair.
Yesterday I took a short hike over to Topper Lake to take a couple of pictures for this blog. We finished the day by transporting a car to the eastern trail head for the Border Route Trail for a couple of hikers. We want to encourage everyone to make an effort to stop at the Portage Brook overlook just off the Arrowhead Trail -- once again I forgot to take along our camera. Just another reason for us to revisit this remote corner of Cook County.
