On Today’s Walk: Two New Trails

Gravel walking trail next to a lake, with part of a metal barrier (to block cars) in the foreground.
Starting the first walk

After a solid week of gray skies and rain, the sun came out today. My son agreed to explore a new-to-us walking trail in the area. The Philips Lake Trail seems fairly new, and looks as if it was put in as an amenity to nearby businesses and apartment complexes. You don’t feel like you’re out in the country, but it is a nicely built walking path. A map told me it’s 1.4 miles around the lake.

The first 0.4 or so, we fought through swarms of gnats. But we finally found the point where the wind was blowing them away from us, and the rest of the walk was pleasant enough.

We even saw a spot where the city (I assume) recycled some Christmas trees to help promote fish habitat (I assume.)

Lake with old Christmas trees partially submerged

After we finished with this path, we decided to explore another area literally right across the road. Because we are both gifted with stamina and a sense of adventure, at least in moderate amounts.

Gans Creek Recreation Area has a cross country route laid out, with facilities for events. But nothing was scheduled today. It was a little soggy in places, so we didn’t traverse every bit of it. But we got another mile and a half or so covered, for a pretty respectable amount of ground covered in one day.

Notice the lack of a single cloud in any of the photos. Beautiful blue skies all day. Don’t get me wrong. I’m grateful for the needed rain we received. But nothing puts me in a funk like several days with no sun.

Time spent outdoors really is a remedy for whatever ails me. Outdoors is where hope comes alive for me.

We even got to hear some peepers loudly announcing the approach of spring.

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Author: thedamari

I live in Missouri, a more beautiful place than many realize. I love writing, reading, walking, bicycling, and making lists. I’ve written poetry since I was seven. A few years ago I branched out into short fiction and memoir pieces. I also perpetually have a novel in progress. My brain pursues ideas at a brisk pace, wandering all over the map. This blog represents one of my efforts to keep up with it.

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