It was a cool, sunny Sunday morning; Feb 23, 2025. I drove down the field road and parked in the field near Holsten Creek on the east side of HW58. I parked close enough to my trail entrance that I could return to my car, if I wanted to exchange gear, as the temperature was climbing with the rising sun.
I hiked down towards the creek. I stayed generally with my trail but I also left it to explore the surrounding area. At one point, early in my excursion, I set up my hammock chair in the sun and just took in the warm sunshine while enjoying the tranquility of the forest.
After hiking about a half mile up the creek, I encountered a pink blaze that I hadn’t seen before. At first, I didn’t think much of it, then I noticed that someone had been chopping a trail through there. Of course, I had to investigate. I didn’t have to follow the trail for long before I saw where they had used a chainsaw to cut a chunk out of a large tree trunk that was across their path. I realized then that this wasn’t just some hunter trying to improve his access to a favorite perch.
Where the trail crossed soft ground, I could see that there were footprints from at least two different people. Of course that made sense, since someone was carrying an industrial strength weed-eater and someone else was toting a pretty hefty chainsaw.
The trail tracked very closely with the stream (not the creek, but a significant tributary) and continued all the way to the firebreak that surrounds that rectangle of private property in the middle of the forest. The firebreak had also been freshly bulldozed. This was definitely a forestry project, but for what purpose? My guesses ranged from a survey to a research project to access for a flood control crew. If anyone happens to know what they are doing out there, I’d love to hear from you.
I’m posting a screen shot from Google Earth of the GPS track I laid down (at the bottom of this entry) while following the trail. The trail they cut does make it easier to find one’s way through that stretch of woods, but it’s not the most pleasant place to hike, since it does follow close to the creek in the swampy lowlands, you must always be on the guard for cypress knees and they left a lot of “stubble”. If enough people hike on it, it might turn into a decent trail; at least for the dry parts of the year. During rainy times, you’d never make it through with dry feet.
After I explored whatever it is that Forestry is doing out there, Fred joined me and we went for another hike in the Holsten creek basin. I showed him the “trail” and we pontificated on it’s purpose. When the sun was setting and the air temperature was dropping, we stopped next to Holsten Creek and relaxed for a while in our hammock chairs. We could hear the sound of running water and there was wildlife all around us. Had I been dressed for cold weather, I might have stayed out there a lot longer. We packed up and got back to the vehicles just after sunset. It was about 50 degrees Fahrenheit (10C), at that point, and cooling off pretty fast.
+ There are no comments
Add yours