- Joined
- Nov 18, 2010
- Messages
- 6,118
Yesterday saw me and the blonde one off to visit a place she hadn't been to in close to twenty years; Sherwood Lake. According to her, their family would visit this area regularly when she was growing up, and after getting a look at it, I can see why. Absolutely beautiful place, and allegedly the fishing is fantastic. Trout, Muskie, Pike, Bass, the ever present Catfish, and the like. A man-made lake, I say they did a heck of a job with it. Boats are allowed, but only with trolling motors, no real outboards. Also allows for any type of paddle craft as well. We were a little worried that due to the governement shutdown there might be an issue, but all that was closed off were the camping areas, which it did say were still accessible on foot. Anyways, we started off checking out one of the beach areas, then crossing a really nice little bridge to a small "island". From there, we grabbed our packs and headed down one of the trails. Here are the pics.
There were several areas where trees were downed, I imagine during the storms last summer that hit this state pretty hard. The trail we were following circled the entirety of the lake, and was a really nice place to hike. However, after the last pic there, we hit a fork, where we could continue down near the banks of the lake, or go up into the woods that are part of that forest. We opted to head down by the lake, and that may or may not have been a wise idea. About twenty meters after the fork the trail narrowed incredibly, with one side being lake and the other being a very slight ridge or hill, say maybe 8 feet high. We got about twenty meters in and had to duck under some overhanging tree branches, when Misty commented that the area looked like a place where bears would wallow around near the lake. Not two seconds after those words came out of her mouth a very large huffing sound came from the top of that ridge. She swears it was a bear (having been around several and being familiar with the types of sounds they make). Myself, not having any experience with bears, thought it sounded like some very sound advice to just turn around and get the heck out of there. No idea if it saw us, or if it would've crested that ridge to see what was making a racket, but just as discretion is the better part of valor, and cowardice is the better part of discretion, we beat feet on out of there, gun drawn and more than a little bounce in our steps. Needless to say the walk back was not photographed. So, while the hike was cut short, it was a very beautiful walk around a really lovely place and I definitely think we will be getting back to that area in the near future.
I got a few really good pics of my Magua, and a couple good ones of her Hornet as well. All in all, not a bad day, and I really enjoyed getting outside again.
The sign for the Monongahela National Forest called it the "land of many uses" which I found incredibly amusing. Definitely better than a land of few uses. Anyways, hope ya'll enjoy the pics.
There were several areas where trees were downed, I imagine during the storms last summer that hit this state pretty hard. The trail we were following circled the entirety of the lake, and was a really nice place to hike. However, after the last pic there, we hit a fork, where we could continue down near the banks of the lake, or go up into the woods that are part of that forest. We opted to head down by the lake, and that may or may not have been a wise idea. About twenty meters after the fork the trail narrowed incredibly, with one side being lake and the other being a very slight ridge or hill, say maybe 8 feet high. We got about twenty meters in and had to duck under some overhanging tree branches, when Misty commented that the area looked like a place where bears would wallow around near the lake. Not two seconds after those words came out of her mouth a very large huffing sound came from the top of that ridge. She swears it was a bear (having been around several and being familiar with the types of sounds they make). Myself, not having any experience with bears, thought it sounded like some very sound advice to just turn around and get the heck out of there. No idea if it saw us, or if it would've crested that ridge to see what was making a racket, but just as discretion is the better part of valor, and cowardice is the better part of discretion, we beat feet on out of there, gun drawn and more than a little bounce in our steps. Needless to say the walk back was not photographed. So, while the hike was cut short, it was a very beautiful walk around a really lovely place and I definitely think we will be getting back to that area in the near future.
I got a few really good pics of my Magua, and a couple good ones of her Hornet as well. All in all, not a bad day, and I really enjoyed getting outside again.
The sign for the Monongahela National Forest called it the "land of many uses" which I found incredibly amusing. Definitely better than a land of few uses. Anyways, hope ya'll enjoy the pics.
