I went and spent the weekend with friends. We had a lovely day at the beach. Sadly, all of my creatures were too lazy to get out of bed as early as I headed out. My camera didn’t manage to make the trip either. I guess I will just have to go again. I hope you enjoy the second half of Gavin’s hike.

Gavin on a Cairn
There were several piles of rocks along the path as we headed up. They were great spots for Gavin to do a bit a climbing and soak up a bit of sun on the chilly morning.

Adding a Rock
Gavin found a cairn that was just getting started. I placed a rock next to it and Gavin stood on it and put his rock there as well.

Gavin’s Snowman
A bit further up the trail, there was some snow. Gavin ran over and started making a snowman. The snow was like little ice crystals, but he worked until he got it to stick together properly. “Can I bring it home?” Gavin asked. I had to tell him no. I didn’t think that it would last to the bottom of the mountain let alone all the way home.

Reading the Sign
In search of more hiking trails, we crossed the street to the lake side of the highway. Gavin clambered up the sign to read it. The Boys and Girls Club planted new pine trees in the park.

Post Along the Beach Trail
We decided to take the beach trail and walk by the lake. This post was beside the trail. It didn’t seem to have a purpose. Maybe it lost its sign. Nothing would do but for Gavin to get his photo taken on it.

Gavin Finds Owl Castings
The next post we came across did have a sign on it. It also seems that it is a favorite roost for an owl. There were owl castings all over the ground. Gavin wanted to open one up, but I decided not to do that.

Gavin Walks on Water
The beach was a lovely sandy one. Sometimes the beaches by lakes are not. The lake its self was frozen around the edges. Gavin called, “Hey! Look at me! I’m walking on water.”

Frozen Lake
Gavin helped me pick up some snail shells and driftwood along the beach that will be appearing in future projects. We finished our walk on the beach and headed back across the road to the Deadman’s Creek trail head.

Stump Throne
When were heading up the trail we looked back and saw a really neat chair made out of a tree stump hidden in some trees just off the trail. It was near where we parked so instead of hiking back down, we decided to check it out when we were finished.

Close Up of Gavin Sitting on the Throne
The chair was quite throne like. Gavin felt very important sitting on it.

Group Photo
It was time for us to head home. We hiked between 3.5 and 4 miles. We hiked over dry dirt, mud, snow, ice, and sand. The trail had signs marking plants and other things of interest. We plan to go back in the spring and see everything in bloom.
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