… and a quick stop south of Hillfield Rd to remove some of a huge tree that fell in the trail.
On November 25, I set out to explore around the upper section of Hunters Creek. I drove further upstream than I should have; in part to get away from some hunters that were parked on the road. I enjoyed a nice, albeit short, hike down a small stream and into the swampy lowlands that are the headwaters of Hunters Creek.
After returning to my car, I drove to Great Lake Road to approach Hunters Creek from the other side and I found that the Great Lake Rd was closed. It looks like it is permanently closed, which is sad, because there are some beautiful sights to be enjoyed on the Great Lake (not to be confused the the Great Lakes on the border between the US and Canada!).
The photo above is an ancient cypress tree on Great Lake. It is a unique lake to explore, although I’m not sure you can get to it, now.
I decided to try to get to Great Lake Road via Holsten Creek Rd, but I get tired of driving on forest roads pretty quickly so I stopped before reaching Great Lake Rd and hiked in by Holsten Creek. By this time, Fred Bear had joined me, even though I told him he was likely to get wet and muddy if you followed me on this adventure.
After a short hike down Holsten Creek, we drove back to Hillfield Road for a short hike on the Weetock trail (south of Hillfield) to inspect and partially clear a large tree that recently fell on the trail. It didn’t just fall across the trail, it fell onto a large portion of the trail, so we had to shift the trail a little and clear a pathway through the wreckage.
Here is a photo (below) of the passage, after we completed the task as best we could.
Finally, here are some more photos I took over the course of my meanderings, and here is a link to a map of my journey …
