The trail today passed through a variety landscapes. We started out with a big descent down deadman's hill through a mature forest of mostly hardwood trees. The next hour or so was spent passing through a variety of marshes, swamps and beaver ponds. The trail did follow the clear flowing waters of the Jordan River for a while, which made for pleasant hiking. We had an up close view of a pileated woodpecker too. It flew across the trail less than 10 feet in front of us. They are pretty cool birds. Early settlers called them "thundercocks" because of the sound they make drilling into trees. Pileated's are an indicator of a healthy forest because they need large stands of trees to survive.
The campground for tonight is really nice. It has a hand pumped well, vault toilets and picnic tables, which is the backcountry equivalent of staying in a Hilton. There are a couple other groups of hikers staying here, one with a rescue dog named Winston. Looks like we'll have someone to chase off any nighttime visitors to the campground!
Currently we are hanging out in the hammock listening to the Tigers on Mary's phone. If only we had a cold beer!
That's all for now. Here are some pictures from today's hike:
