Of course, along with the many, many benefits of summer come a few of the downsides: mosquitoes, poison ivy, and ticks, none of which were an issue back in March. Still, it could have been a lot worse. The mosquitoes mostly ignored me and focused on biting Mom. The one tick I spotted crawling on my leg was unable to penetrate my Pete Sampras-like mat of leg hair, I think that same shield somehow protected me from the poison ivy as well.
The hot summer weather also brought plenty of storms--in this case, very strong storms. We seemed destined to take as long as possible returning home at the end of the day, battling two bouts of hail and the sounding of a tornado siren in Lindstrom, MN. The last thing the already-soaked ground of western Wisconsin needed was more rain, but that's exactly what it got. All in all, it was another fine day, with eight miles of hiking and plenty of much-welcome early summer sweating preceding the storms. Like the two previous posts on hiking trips, I'll let the pictures tell the story:
Lake O' The Dalles Nature Trail. A little too much lake, not nearly enough trail today...
Mid-80s, humid, and sunny. Could have been a little warmer though.
Summer clouds, before the storms rolled in.
This could be one of those stock desktop backgrounds that comes pre-loaded on Windows PCs.
Overlooking the high waters of the St. Croix River.
Temperatures held in the mid-80s into the early evening.
The views from the trail were spectacular, with a few notable exceptions.
The skies started to look like impending death on the drive home...
...and only got worse upon arrival.
A little too much late, not nearly enough trail today...
ReplyDeleteLate to the LAKE? Zing!