Parvin Impromptou Trip (w/ photo!)

After having a totally sluggish morning (gosh I hate having allergies!), I decided to fight sloth by getting out on a trail again. We didn't have a "chase car" today, so I needed a loop or out-and-back trail. I have been to Parvin State Park before, to hike and swim, and I knew they had several loop trails. Once we got there, we looked over the trail map and decided to hike Parvin Lake Trail.

This turned out to be a great choice for my beginner companions, because they got a real, hands-on lesson in keeping an eye out for blazes and how to read a map. At one junction (at Second Landing, where the Nature Trail and the Long Trail come in) they needed to orient themselves to the map, investigate the signs and blazes, and chose which trail was the Parvin Lake Trail. As it turned out, apparently most people hike this trail from the fishing landing and go clockwise, based on how the mileage signs were oriented. We parked at the main parking area across the road from the beach and hiked counterclockwise. I assured them we weren't hiking it "wrong", we were merely having our mileage count down instead of accumulate LOL.

Photo Op on a Felled Tree





By and large we really enjoyed this hike, although toward the end it was less than happy-happy-joy-joy because someone needed to tinkle and was insisting on indoor plumbing <grr>, but once we found the composting latrine near the fishing landing her mood improved. Another valuable lesson learned: you should acquiesce when Mama tells you that you should at least try to go potty...

Tomorrow I'm going to recon Wenonah Lake Trail. I'm pretty sure that will be Friday's hike.