(Overland Trail Hike, too) Gray, Overcast, Threatening Clouds and Warm

Chautauqua Gorge

Lunching at the Gorge

Chautauqua Creek

Chautauqua Creek

Up at 6:45 to a few quacks of the neighborhood duck.  Fortunately by the time I got downstairs, they, the ducks, moved on.  This morning is quite a contrast to yesterday, which was sunny, clear and cold, in the low twenties.  This morning it's cloudy and warm, about 46 degrees, with rain forecast for much of the day.  Too bad because I would like to get a walk or hike in but it looks like I am already too late, as I hear thunder off to the north.  And the rains have just started, peppering the lake, like gunshots, desperately needed if one is to believe the paper which had a fire watch out yesterday because of the lack of humidity and dryness.

Downed Trees on Overland Trail

Frozen Earth during Hike

Downed Tree Roots

We did take a great hike yesterday, on one of the best hiking days of the year, cool and clear skies, with the sun warming us just enough to make it a comfortable hike, neither too hot nor cold.  We drove twenty minutes to the entrance to Chautauqua Gorge, on  Hannah Road.  The Overland  Trail begins here, so we headed south towards Panama where it ends.  We walked a total of 90 minutes, a little less than a mile and a half out, to Summerdale Road, the same back.  The walk was fairly easy,  just a few dips or valleys, though we did follow parts of the gorge initially. It still looks like a late fall or early spring woods, trees leafless but lots of green leaves are beginning to fill the floor of the woods.  Two things shock us, always, as we walk.  The silence of the woods and absence of birds and any animals.  The only sounds are an occasional chain saw, a shotgun, the wind moving the trees, and our footsteps as we hike.  On this particular hike, we also were struck by the number of  downed trees, with roots like cookie monsters, climbing out of the ground.  I must have counted 40 or 50 littering the walk, some in clumps, some isolated.  My theory is that a tornado hit the area some time in the past couple of years, felling these giants, creating these 15-20 foot clods.  Amazing.

Hiking Overland Trail

After we returned to the park lot, we hiked down the Chautauqua Gorge and had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for a snack.  We were surprised at the forcefulness of the creek, much more energetic then in the summer, despite the lack of rain.  We were the only ones in the Gorge, on the trail, at the parking lot.  We decided not to walk more because of the high water and hiked back up the trail, much easier then going down.  We then explored a bit and drove off on Summerdale, to Lyons Rd, to a dead end where we could once again walk down to the Gorge though it's a much easier access, about twenty to thirty feet to the creek.  We are not sure of the parking, whether we are on private lands or not.  We did ask a neighbor who seemed to know very little, other than the fact that when he was much younger, he would go there to smoke grass, drink, and skinny dip.  We walked along the shore until it became too steep, then headed back to the car and home, stopping at the Lighthouse for some ground chuck and two bags of Utz chips, Evie's new favorite brand (as seen on Mad Men), one sweet potato, the other salt and vinegar.  Yum.

For dinner, I cooked burgers outside, with grilled onions, and we baked some sweet potato fries, to top it off.  Both were really good, one of my favorite meals, burgers and fries.  I cooked the burgers for about three and a half minutes on each side, which seemed just right.  We then watched the newest version of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and neither of us were taken with it, perhaps because we had seen the Swedish version before and I had already read the book.  It seemed long and convoluted, and I wonder how anyone who had not read the book could follow it.  It was faithful to the text, slavishly so I would suggest, and could have been cut dramatically.

As I finish this, the rain has disappeared, the sky has lightened to the north, the southerly wind has picked up, the lake seems active and its surface crinkled, like a wavy potato chip (it must be the Utz's).