21 July 2022
Wow! I was not prepared for the heat! I grew up in Mississippi during some of the hottest summers ever and I don’t think the heat hit me as hard as it did today. True, I was a lot younger then and we didn’t have air conditioning and I was more used to the heat, and true, I spend a lot of time at home in properly chilled air, but I didn’t think it would hit me this hard. Luckily, with age, comes a bit of wisdom. When I hit the 1.4 mile mark on a 3.5 mile hike, I realized I needed to cut it short. It was either that or heat stroke. I packed 3 liters of water with me and I put a severe dent in the reservoir before the hike was through. I also didn’t have a dry stitch on me. All this with a perfectly level trail.
The morning started off rough. I started with a case of diarrhea and when I got to the park (6.6 miles from the hotel) I had another run (again, no pun intended.). Fortunately, I found a public restroom close to the trail head. It was close. I suspect the diarrhea was due to the Benadryl I’ve been taking for the itching that has plagued me since at least January of this year. I decided to forgo the Benadryl last night and I suspect my gut was telling me it didn’t like the change. Unfortunately, I should have taken the Benadryl because I kept waking up and having to slather on a coat of Sarna for the itching all night.
Lake Louisa State Park is interesting. There are six permanent lakes and several seasonal lakes in the park with Lake Louisa as the largest. The park not only has RV camping, primitive camping, but also campsites for people with horses, cabins, eco-camps, and glamping sites. I passed some of the eco-camps. The tents were solid white but they were in an open field in direct sun, so unless they were air-conditioned, I couldn’t think of a more miserable place to camp.
The ranger suggested I try the Nature Trail which started near the beach of Lake Louisa – the only place you are allowed to swim. The entrance to the beach is by a walkway through a cypress grove.
There was some kind of contest going on. There were cyclists, runners, and swimmers. I asked someone if it was a marathon of some type but no, but there was some national group training. There must have been three separate things going on.
As I made my way back to the trail head and began to gear up, I almost got run over several times by several runners who apparently took my jeep and the point to turn the curve. If I had taken a step backwards, I would have been wiped out.
The trail head for the Nature Trail was unusual. It had the requisite board with all kinds of postings. It only lacked one thing – a map. Luckily, I had picked one up from the ranger station.
Trails markers at Lake Louisa are numbered 1-55. The Nature Trail markers are 21, 23-29, 31-35. It’s more confusing. If I were to hike Dude’s Loop, I would have to find markers 5-7. The problem is there is no trail head to Dude’s Loop. To get there I would have to park at marker 28 and hike to markers 12-14, 4, and then 5-7. So even though Dude’s Loop is only 0.5 miles, you have to hike 2 miles to get there. Anyway, I started at trail marker 21 for the Nature Trail.
It started off nice and shady.
Once you are along the trail aways, you come to the first marker. I was surprised how well the markers were maintained even though they look as though they had been put there in the last century.
You know me, I can get lost in a parking lot. I was leery of the system but as I hiked the trail, it became apparent even I could follow the trail and markers.
It was shortly after the above photo that I decided discretion was the better part of valor. The Nature Trail is a 3.5 mile, one way trail. As you might expect, I stopped every few feet to take photos of plants along the way and that kneeling down, getting back up, the sun, the sand all took a toll. It was only 84F but it felt like the time I was doing my masters thesis at Tishomingo State Park when the temperature was 106F and the humidity was 100% and it was not raining. I was soaking wet from perspiration and was seriously drinking water.
I reached marker 25 and opted to cut the trip short and head back to the jeep via the park road. In total I did 1.8 miles with an elevation gain of 23 feet. Who knew they had mountains in Lake County?
There wasn’t much wildlife along the trail but there were plenty of wildflowers to keep me busy kneeling. There were a couple of spots that looked like there were gopher tortoise villages.
There were plenty of mushrooms out even though it was very dry. I did find one of my favorite pore fungi, the earthstar.
OK, it’s time for a story to show you how mean I am. When my cousin Jimmie and I were kids, we would often catch a bus at my grandmother Ruby’s house. It was the local pickup for several kids. One day, a giant puffball (click to see photo) appeared in my grandmother’s yard. It must have been a foot in diameter (at least to a kid like me). Giant puffballs are like earthstars except the outer layer doesn’t peel back to form a star. I already had experience with these and Jimmie and I convinced a kid we didn’t particularly like to take a running start and kick it. He disappeared in a cloud of spores. By the way, giant puffballs of that type are edible.
I rode around the park for a while and I have to admit, it’s a beautiful park. However, don’t go there expecting a lodge or restaurant. I did stop at Dixie Lake, one of six permanent lakes in the park and took a couple of photos.
My friend Holley suggested I eat at Branch and Root restaurant. I looked it up on my GPS and found it was 2 minutes away from my hotel by auto. I made reservations for 5:30 and showed up at 5:10. The hostess seated me immediately. And then I waited. And waited. And waited. One of the reviews of the place said the food was good (4-4.5 stars) but the wait staff was excellent. The restaurant wasn’t really busy but there was only one waiter. He looked at me but never came over to the table even when he was at the table next to mine. Later, a second waiter showed up for work and he immediately went to wait on a table that was seated ten minutes after mine. I finally left after 15 minutes without even getting a water glass filled. I ended up at Taco Bell.
Tomorrow I head for Stephen C. Foster State Park in Fargo, Georgia. It should be a 3 to 3 1/2 hour drive.
Stay tuned!