Bixhoma Lake brings back a few memories of when I lived in Haskell. My boys and I spent a few Saturday afternoons fishing there....never catching anything big, although I did catch a 5 pound catfish there once (which is a huge fish for me!)
In recent years, since I have started this running thing, I have wondered if there might be any trails around the lake. A couple of years ago, I tried to run around the lake. There are gravel/dirt roads around 2/3 of the way, but where the lake turns into more of a narrow finger and eventually a creek, the going was rough and the briers were thick. I did make it around, but it was not a pleasant run.
A couple of weeks ago, I had a sales call near Lake Bixhoma, and took a drive back to check things out.
You can imagine my delight in finding this sign pointing up a hill!!!! I did take a 1/4 mile hike up a steep newly cut trail just before dark, but turned around when the trail was getting too hard to find in the waning daylight.But yesterday, I had a little more time to do some exploring!
I parked on the northwest corner of the lake near the new trailhead. After a couple of pictures, I was climbing. I made it to where I had been a couple of weeks earlier, and again, the trail seemed to fizzle out. There was a sign about the area that said something about the area having an grove of "old growth post oaks", some being hundreds of years old. (Just how old are trees anyway?) Since the trail was called the Ichabod Crane Post Oak Trail, I imagined a lot of tall craggy scary trees. Where the trail ended, and I looked around for 5 minutes or so to find any sort of a further trail, I noticed there were a lot of fallen trees. Old fallen trees.
Maybe what this trail simply led to a tree graveyard? I paid my respects, and headed back down the hill.From there, I headed around the lake to see if there was possibly a new trail that circled the lake!
There are about 2 miles or so of gravel roads that make for a nice (short) run. I suppose one could treat it as an out and back to get a 4-5 miler in.
I hit the end of the road, and there were no trails beyond that point, but there were lots of briers, so I headed back.
On the way back, I kept an eye to my right to see if maybe I had missed anything trailish. That's when I started seeing interesting trees.
I also found a trail that led straight up a steep climb, and of course, I checked it out. This side of the lake was gated off, and had seen no camping or picnicking for quite some time, but at the top of this hill, the trail led to an old campsite of sorts.
This could have been a chair, or maybe a toilet. I did not investigate.Back down the hill and back to the car.
I would have liked to have had another hour or so to do more snooping. This area would be an awesome place to cut some trails. I need something to do in my spare time, right?
Darkness was falling. It was time to go, since I did not have my headlamp with me.
Bixhoma Lake is a great place to watch a sunset.
Total miles for the day: less than 3. (I did not have my Garmin, but I am guessing near 3.)Tick count for the day:
Just this one--the first of 2010!
No comments:
Post a Comment