Hiking Coyote Run Nature Trail

We decided that this would be a good day to hike the only hiking trail in the park, the Coyote Run Nature Trail. We had a flyer with a rough map of the trail. It was described as a 5 mile trail, 2 1/2 miles in and 2 1/2 miles out. We drove to the trailhead in the Heron Harbor Parking Area. The trail is wide, well marked, and for the most part, easy walking.

We didn't run into any downed trees across the trail or steep slopes, though part of the trail was a bit washed out or had roots across it, and there were some mild up and down hills. On a side trail near the halfway point is a composting toilet, similar to ones we saw at Walden Pond. The composting mechanism is in the lower part, which is the reason for the steps.

Most of the walk was through the woods, without much variation in terrain or plants, except for some deep creek beds that showed evidence of serious erosion. We didn't see any wildlife at all except for plenty of butterflies. They refused to pose, so we haven't got any photos. We did see one novel plant: a cactus, and we heard the telltale rustling in the leaves that told us an armadillo was foraging nearby.

The trail map doesn't show it, but my GPS indicated that this cross trail is actually a county road. It clearly doesn't get too much vehicular traffic!

We saw several signs with arrows pointing to "AVA," but were puzzled because we never came to anything marked AVA. Google led us to the answer to the mystery: AVA stands for American Volkssport Association. This hike is an official event for participants in the organized walking program.

We ate our picnic lunch at a table overlooking the lake. It was in what is usually the beach area.

Here's what the beach area is supposed to look like:

Here's what it actually looks like now:

Later in the day we walked over to the Deer Haven area to check out what the Y group was up to. Along the way we took photos of the various tribes' displays. Some of the pumpkin carving is quite creative. We suspect the dads were involved.

When we got to the Deer Haven area, we realized that the gathering was in the Buggy Whip area. We were too late to watch the program. Everyone was heading back to their campsites. Many of the girls were wearing their vests, and some of the dads were wearing headdresses--presumably the leaders of each tribe.

On the way home we heard this critter rustling around before we saw it. About the time I snapped this shot, the armadillo had just realized that we were nearby. It acted a bit startled and moved off, but not too far. By the time we'd walked ten more steps, it was back eating.

Ken napped for a while when we got home. We had planned to go back to check out the haunted trail, but Ken wasn't feeling too great. He still has his cold or whatever it is.