If someone told you to take a hike today, you should not have taken their statement personally, because today is “National Take a Hike Day!”

So, here’s a little factoid for you – did you know there are a whopping 60,000 miles of trails across these United States?

So, it is easy to pick a trail – any trail – and go for it!

It is too bad that “National Take a Hike Day” fell on a weekday, and our Saturday is scheduled to be still another sogfest.  Sigh.

This morning I took to the trail at my favorite nature nook, Council Point Park.  There, I was joined by plenty of other walkers, along with my sidekick Ann Marie, who met me this morning.  You might recall that back in September my walking buddy and I decided to get together for a walk-and-gab session before the bad weather set in.  We got that walk done, and, happily, we are still waiting for the snow to fly, (those flurries a week or so ago, were just bothersome and didn’t accumulate), so we decided to have a second rendezvous.

Besides all the walkers, squirrels galore greeted us on the trail today, and those furry friends sure made out like bandits.  We counted three other people besides ourselves who were doling out peanuts to eager squirrels, who came right up to the tops of our shoes to grab their favorite treats.  We went around two complete loops, and, though the sun had not yet put in an appearance, if you were bundled up, it was not all that bad.  That blustery wind yesterday skimmed still more leaves off the trees and bushes, leaving them nearly bare and exposing all the big nests high up in the branches.

The heron is still missing, but there were geese grazing in the grassy areas and ducks paddling down the Ecorse Creek – it was so peaceful that we hated to tear ourselves away from the Park and get on with the rest of the day.

The perimeter path gave us plenty of steps – four miles worth of them.  I’ve already added these four miles onto my 2017 tally, as I strive to stride to 900 miles walked this year.

In conjunction with “National Take a Hike Day”, I’ll leave you with this quote:

“Of all the paths you take in life, make sure a few of them are dirt.” – John Muir