Hiking (Slowly) with some Family!

Today we were joined by my sister Squirt and her daughter Princess! Princess is the same age as our middle girlie, so whenever they are together they are thick as thieves. Hopefully one day Little Man will join us, but he begged off for today. Maybe if I plan a hike to Washington's Crossing or some other historic place...

Anyhoo, today we hiked some of the Wenonah Trails again, but this time on the East Side of the railroad. We started on the connector from E. Pine St. and S. Clinton St. (hi Patrick family!!), and again I was glad I had the official Wenonah Trail Guide which we picked up at Town Hall. Without it, I would never have known that the trail head was the "paved lane" at the end of S. Clinton and looks like the neighbor's driveway. Even so, some of the twists and turns on this trail don't exactly match up with the map (I guess that's why they called it a "guide" -- it's more of a vague suggestion LOL). This trail head marks the beginning of the Garden Trail, and quickly you come upon a flagstone path which leads to this:



As you can see, they left without me! Luckily, Squirt was with them...

According to the plaque, the original pond was created in 1913 as part of the Greene estate and recently the area was spruced up, including a stone bench to sit and enjoy the quiet, by the Women's Club. The kids missed the "quiet" part, but one of them spied the deceased frog floating in the pool. "It's not yucky, it's the Circle of Life, girls!" Sorry, no pictures of Mr. Floaty...

We crossed a bridge over the Monongahela Brook to pick up the Monongahela Brook Trail. At this point was one of the "huh?" moments: there was a trail marker, but it did not say Monongahela Brook Trail. It indicated street names, neither of which was on the map. We chose to go right, and quickly figured out it was the dead end at the Mantua Creek. Okay, double back and go in the other direction to get back to the trail. Lots of sloping, tight, winding up and down trails here, lots of fun! Oh, and a short boardwalk over a bog, too =). According to the Guide, this section was used by Native Americans in the area, and I have to admit, if you let your imagination run a little you can easily imagine yourself hunting game with a bow and arrow here, especially while up on the ridge...

Ok, so then we crossed over Bark Bridge Road, and expected to hike to a T intersection at the Eldridge Trail, named after a local naturalist. Nope! Next thing we knew we were coming out to E. Pine Street, and looking for the connector to the Comey's Lake Trail. We ran into a young couple out walking and they were not sure if the dirt road in front of us marked "Private Property" was the connector either, but we decided to go for it. As it turns out, it was. We quickly saw a trail post for the Comey's Lake Trail and set off.

The Little One took the lead for this bit initially, and although Squirt and I figured out we were likely on the path less travelled, we were still heading along the lake so we weren't concerned. Shortly the Tea House came into view, which was where we planned to take a quick granola bar break:

Photo from Matt Reddig at www.localhikes.com

The Princess and her Buddy

The Little One and Aunt Squirt

The Oldest is just like her Da -- never without a book!



After our snack we set off again to complete the loop around the lake. Once we reached the dock, it was hard to figure out if the way around the lake was private property or not. Afterward, I checked the comments on the Guide and it is, but they allow egress. We tiptoed through the last bit of that loop ("pretend you're ninjas!") and out to the connector. At that point we headed back to the cars, since a vote in the Tea House about whether to try to make our way to the Monongahela Brook Loop Trail (not to be confused with the other trail) was in favor of calling it a day.

If you check out the east side if the rails on "informal" map below, our route pretty much worked out to be the red bit, the orange trail, the west side of the blue trail, the teal loop back to a bit of the blue before heading west on the road (below the label "Playground") back to the cars, roughly 2mi:

(Borrowed from Wenonah Environmental Comission site)

I think if we hike this section again I'd like to do red-orange-south part of blue-pink-north part of blue-road.

Have I mentioned yet that you really need the Guide for a lot of the "insider" info??

It was nice to hike with family, especially Squirt. Reminded me of our Girl Scout days long ago...

The Oldest wants to add: "I think that hiking with family is sometimes frustrating like it can be at family dinners but it is also fun and a new experience. I recommend it if you don't mind your relatives, because otherwise it's fun! Especially if you're hiking with my cousin, Princess!"