Fall, Lake Manawa~

 Another sunshine day with a breeze & low 70's.  The Wabash trail is way too dry for me to enjoy.  I dropped Finn off with Doris & made the drive up to Lake Manawa.  At least though things are still bone dry, there's not the dust.  For the first time in history, the farmers in Nebraska were asked to stop harvesting due to the extremely high fire danger.  Heat & roaring winds are not a good combination.

Explorer in the empty parking area~

I drove in the east entrance to the park on East Manawa drive.  The west entrance is still closed due to construction on the road.  Things here are as super dry as anywhere else & there was decent wind blowing mostly from the south.

The walking trail~

The trees are just beautiful, mostly shades of gold against another clear blue day with just a few clouds floating by.  I rode my usual loop, just glad to be out.  

Virginia Creeper

I've been pulling out Virginia Creeper this season in our woods.  It takes over so quickly & was smothering out some of my hosta's.  I do love the red color it turns in fall, but trying to train it to stay where I'd want it is a tough task.

The old campground~

There's been nothing happening at the campground & I'm so glad of it.  From time to time the entrance points are reinforced with a few bigger logs, but otherwise it's a quiet refuge just off a very busy street.  I always look forward to a short stop here, before tackling the long stretch along the creek in the photo below.

West side along Indian Creek~

The wind was really gusting.  A couple times, I shifted Shadow's PAS gear up to Turbo just to make a little more headway.  Once I pass this section though, my reward is taking the turn into the beautiful tree lined park trails along the south side of the park.

Shadow at the edge of the lake~

I overshoot the parking area where the Explorer waits & take the trail out to my favorite spot.  The covered picnic area was occupied by a couple listening to music. I walked up the edge of the lake to a spot on the rocks, enjoying the sound of the small waves on the rock. It's just a short two miles back to the car.  I'd covered almost twelve miles.

Sun & Muck~

 Sunny, high 50's & not a lot of wind.  This - after days of freezing temperatures.  Mari Jo thought the trail surface was still frozen enough for a ride.  We were only out a short distance, when we came to the first of the soft spots.

Mari Jo & the bikes~

After getting around it, the trail dried out again, but not for long...  We felt committed at that point to continue on the four miles to the trestle.

Beaver's now have two dams'

It was totally a beautiful day - February?!  Nothing like last year!  We've had hardly two snow events, not enough to even call true storms, at least when it comes to inches of white stuff.  It has been cold enough to keep the remnants of the last snow, on the ground for days & days.

Upstream, Silver Creek~

It's easy to see from the solid sheet of ice still on the creek, it has been cold.  Even with the cold though, we've had a handful of days so nice & warm it could be spring.

Limestone on the tires~

On a few of the soft, boggy spots, I took the center of the trail, where there was still a layer of ice.  The ice was easier to get across than the slippery limestone.  We took the very edges of the trail wherever possible.  Our tracks sunk in about a half-inch in a few spots. It really wasn't much fun.  We need a few days of wind - which is expected - to dry it out.  

Back in Glenwood, I drove to the car wash to clean both the Explorer & the bike, covered in limestone & with muck on the tires.  It's been so generally dry; we're constantly warned of the fire danger.  Unheard of for this time of year...